One of the things that really nags at me about the 3DS is how I have to keep going back to the included games after either a period of time, after earning some more coins, or whatever, to be able to fully enjoy them. I’m specifically thinking about the limit on how many coins I can earn in one day for walking. I took a fairly short walk to the mall, around the stores, and home. I already maxed out my coins for the day and had only walked around for an hour. This earned me the right to hire five wandering heroes in Save  Mii, but what if I was ambitious and wanted to get a little further in that title? Why shouldn’t I be able to head back out for another walk just so I could hire some more kitties to fight ghosts? You can apply this same rant to earning coins to unlock more AR Games.
The first time I experienced something like this was with Master Of Illusion. You weren’t allowed to dive in and spend hours on hours learning magic trick after magic trick; the title required you to come back another day to learn new tricks. Something like Animal Crossing could be blamed for a similar tactic, but at least with that you feel like time is actually passing in a world created to entertain you, rather than following some arbitrary rule of how much will be revealed to you in any single day. Another title that suffered from limited content per day was Personal Trainer: Walking. It was another well-produced, first-party Nintendo release that didn’t have much to offer for a single sitting; you had to come back the next day to unlock another feature of the software.
It all leaves me feeling like I’m missing out on some social aspect of Japanese culture that might make this sort of thing okay, or that it’s a tactic to stretch the longevity of some extremely fun and cute games. Anyone else ever notice this or have more examples?
yeah the coin cap is really annoying. I walk to and from work and carry it with me all day. But I only get 5 min o gameplay.
I walk about a mile each day, and I really wish i could get just a bit more than ten coins out of it!
I'm one room away from finally rescuing my king, and I've become rather fond of this goofy little RPG's gameplay–It is frustrating to only be able to play it a minute a day–Those cat-knights charge an outrageous fee for a couple of attacks! 🙂 I'd be very happy if the reward at the end was an unlocking of a coinless version of the game.
Hey–Maybe this game was stretched out to last until more software arrives! 🙂
Nintendogs limits you to 3 daily entries per dog for each of the 3 competitions, but it's always–like Animal Crossing–been designed to be played in brief sessions over a long period of time.
Bottom line regarding the coins though: Right now the walk-gameplay ratio mirrors our economy a bit too accurately!
It has nothing to do with japanese culture. It's just a kind of games tailored to people that can play only 10 minutes a day. If you're not part of that group, those games will not work right for you. The most successful example of those games is Farmville in Facebook.
Umm… has anyone else had the heroes in 'Save Mii' go from kitties to puppies? It happened in my game a couple weeks ago… now when I hire a hero I get puppies instead of kitties. (Perhaps it's tied to the Mii questionnaire? – Cats or Dogs?)
Anyway, I admit I was a bit frustrated with only receiving 10 coins a day… I max out on my walk to work in the morning! I'd like to earn perhaps 20 or 30 a day but I suppose that would make the mini games go by too fast. I'm almost 'finished' with Save Mii and when I am done, I plan on using the coins to play some AR games…. shamefully, I have not played the AR Games at all yet. (I did buy 8 3DS titles already though to keep my system busy!)
Overall, I'm addicted to playing Save Mii… I just hope that when I beat the game that there's another map or perhaps a chance to play through again with higher level characters or something. If not, maybe the Big N will do an update and add more in the future because I think it's a wonderful, yet simple RPG that has me coming back for more each day!
@frstOne
Agreed.
Nintendogs is definitely a good example, but I think it's because that game's a sim. When I run out of stuff to do with my virtual pet, I just play with my real dogs, of which I have three.
It's like that because that way you don't exploit the system by having your 3DS on a stroller riding a conveyor belt on a loop. Also, it allows you to enjoy the games in smaller bursts and not rush. Really don't see a problem with how it has been implemented.
i don't like streetpass. It's not for me.
What EdEn said. Exploiting a pedometer is very easy, and people would definitely rush through the applications that way. Also, some people don't walk very much in their daily lives, and the benefits of walking are through daily practice of short walks, not long walks in a few days – so that way there's a motivation to do it daily.
I'm guessing Nintendo realizes that I would not go to work or school if the playtime was limitless and, like a bar tender, cut me off for my own good.
street pass sucks. if you spend two hundred and fifty plus dollars on a system where the developers keep you from having fun we have a problem. i played my 3ds for 2 weeks and havn't touched it yet besides to take a few 3d pictures. there just isn't enough content for it to validate its existence. nintendo has always done me right, but i am just a little perturbed that they come out a system and it can't hold up to what it promised. if their next update fails i am going to just sell my 3ds. At least w/ the dsi they gave out 1000 free dsi points w/ the system. I got bored of ar games and beat pilot wings in a week. they need to have more grown up games and apps for it if they want to compete w/ everyone else. I grew up w/ nintendo meaning their game base is getting older and need different apps and games to keep them connected to what they love. does anyone agree w/ me. I'm 27 and have loved nintendo, i just feel like i've been done wrong w/ the 3ds 🙁
Ya know, I think that settles it. I'm NOT getting a 3DS. And if the rumors on Wii 2 are accurate, I'm probably done buying Nintendo, period. Sub-par hardware, libraries full of shovelware, and one stupid design gimmick after another. Sony and Microsoft aren't that far behind, either. Going "mainstream pop culture" was the worst thing that ever happened to gaming. The industry could use a good makret crash, get everyone back to basics and focus on game design and quality instead of making games whose designs are determined by social network metrics and tweenie wishlist bunk.
@Kale:
😛 You might just want to stick to PC then. No "gimmicks", just plain ol' games – with each market clearly spread apart from one another.
However, you are looking at all this in a rather simplistic manner.
Not looking at it wrong, just looking at it from an angle that wouldn't really help the gaming industry the way you'd want it to.
It'd be much more effective to support the industry by continuing your search and purchase for good software. Supporting it more by getting word out of hidden gems that need to be noticed by other players.
By simply looking at the new market that's being worked on (and is being hammered out to become a common part of the market to ensure the gaming industry's importance to the public) and hating it completely despite being completely able of ignoring it and supporting the devs and projects that really pertain to your market… you will only encourage devs to just support the "tweens" and "pop culture" since you're refusing to support them with their "serious" works.
A good market crash will definitely happen in the home console market if the casual market gets *complete* control of sales… but it won't revive immediately. And while it's down, several projects and developers will lose their chance from ever coming out. …and when it revives, it most likely will take a completely new direction that won't allow the said projects and devs from reaching their peak.
Give up on these markets if you wish, but if you found the "hidden gems" (which were only hidden due to the fact of bad marketing), your home consoles were worth their purchase. Even the Nintendo Wii has enough games to make it far worth its price.
Buying into the consoles don't encourage the casual market, it's purchase of casual games or no-purchase of non-casual games that really affect the marketing strategies of companies.
@ Holly,
I'm quite worried that your first priority is your virtual pet's 'needs', then you attend to your own dog :p
I definitely wouldnt say nintendo failed with the 3ds, however they definitely stuffed up the launch. once eshop, and games such as OOT , resident evil, metal gear , mario kart, mario 3ds, kid icarus etc., and the potential for mroe updates and games, the system will have been a worthile buy. but yeah for now im not playing mine, waiting for oot and resident evil which are next released i believe
I think this 10 coin limit is one of the worst things Nintendo thought of. They started good by promoting exercise, but fell far short. 10 coins can be gained by short walks we usually take anyway. Why NOT promote and reward us for extra exercise if they can?? Just give us more ways to spent coins. For example, Pilotwings could have purchasable hints, plane colors/decals, developer artwork/commentary, etc. There are SO many possibilities, so why limit us like this? If done right his would prolong 3DS life and quality, as well as it's players', who will want to exercise more as a result.
This is at this time far below usual Nintendo quality and if it doesn't improve, I will be moving on to something more rewarding.
@Meta03:
And what of those that exploit the pedometer system?
The ones who shake their pedometer-type things to get more steps?
As in, those who shook their Pokemon pedometers instead of going outside to walk?
How do YOU enforce that? You can't. But you can restrict it.
This way, those who walk got the benefits of 10 coins AND walked.
While those who just shook it… just got the coins…
Walking and exercising has other benefits and other rewards. The 10 coins is a nice attachment.
FOCUSING exercise FOR points is a sad reason.
So having an infinite amount of points wouldn't exactly be the best…
As those who just exploit the system would be gaining more than they deserve, and those who actually do exercise would see those who cheated and find no reason not to just shake their pedometers themselves.
…10 points is enough to encourage someone to get out of their house, but not enough to force them to get competitive over it. It's a smart move. Really it is.