Why does the 3DS hate game saves?

Share your perspective. Keep it thoughtful, welcoming and on topic.

1. Why so much hate for the system in the last days? I have only read stuff like days on this site, instead of critizicing it in a constructive way. Infendo, try to be more intelligent like your site says.

2. well thats what ya get from a pacman game that isnt pacman. all he needs to be doing is eating tictacs and running away from ghosts….nothing else

3. At least Nintendo isn't part of this third party nuttiness yet…& I had no plans to purchase those hobbled titles anyway…

4. @Soma – This sort of game behavior is unprecedented and unique to 3ds, so it's a legitimate question. No need to assemble the Nintendo Defense Force.

5. I clicked through this link in my RSS Reader assuming it was an excerpt to a full post containing some actually commentary or at least what game(s) you're referring to, but alas there's nothing here. 😐 Sorry if I'm offending anyone, but I feel short "posts" like this should be kept on places where brevity is encouraged (ie. Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and if you're going to post an actual article it should be more than half a paragraph. Otherwise, you're basically letting the comments write the article for you and that's lazy.

   That being said, this whole situation is really stupid. I'm not gonna boycott anything over it, but it's amazing how developers still don't understand how options and control in a game are key to people enjoying it. In addition to companies deciding I can't erase save data or have more than one save file, I also hate when games don't allow you to toggle subtitles, don't allow you to control the music and SFX separately, and those that don't allow you to customize button controls. I swear, if I'm ever involved in the programming of a game in the future it will be my mission to ensure as much as possible is customizable in the Settings/Config. It just makes everything more accessible!

6. i wouldn't say this is a 3ds problem, more of a capcom problem. capcom has been acting very odd lately…

7. I agree with nin.

   I wonder if there is chaos at Capcom offices since a lot of the talent have gone else where and they don't know how to think straight.

8. Greed. Oh wait, a logical reason.

   Meh, it's not the 3DS that hates them, but a bunch of corrupt companies who'd rather deny their users basic functionality in games in some vain attempt to kill used game sales. Most 3DS games don't have this stupidity.

   And it's not just Capcom, Namco I think does this as well with Pac-Man and Galaga Dimensions.

9. I too am wondering why the title of this "article" implies a problem with the 3DS (as if there's not enough negativity already?) when the problem is actually with the design of a few specific games, all of which are 3rd party creations.

10. I am about one more "article" like this away from deleting infendo from my RSS feed.

11. "Greed"?? Are you serious??

    I think we've become so accustomed to buying and selling used games that we feel it is perfectly fair to do so… While being legal, the practice of buying and selling used games clearly hurts the developers and distributors of the games. So why is it unfair for them to fight back with mechanisms that tie the game to the original buyer in a reasonable way? No game resets and one-time use DLC codes are a perfectly fair way for a developer to reward the original buyer. If you are buying something used, you should not expect to get the item in pristine condition, and games should be no different!

    (By the way, I saw this method applied first on the DS game "Age of Mythologies", but there was a hidden button sequence you could press to reset all game saves… maybe there is something like that stashed away in these other games' software!)

12. Whatever their excuse is, they're trying to kill the used game market. There was murmuring about Sony and/or Microsoft doing it this generation using write-once sections on their optical media, but no doubt it would have driven per-unit costs way up. Nintendo is still doing the expensive solid-state media thing, so that doesn't bother them. If enough people buy crippled third-party games like this, Nintendo will follow suit on first-party games. If not enough people do, Capcom, Namco et al. will scream that the 3DS is a no-good, unprofitable platform for them, when the reality is that nearly no one is willing to pay 40-50 bucks for a 5 hour game anymore.

    From my perspective, all they've accomplished is to ensure that I won't buy their games… not that I'll buy a 3DS either, even at a third off, until I can root it the way I've rooted my last two phones. The electronics industry's tide has changed rapidly (see the EA CEO's recent comments) and all of NIntendo's sandbagging won't keep the tidal wave from overtaking them.

    Also, if reselling something hurts the original manufacturer, it's their fault for not taking that into account in their business plan. It's never the job of a market to prop up failing business models, no matter how it may look from all the lobbyist-written US laws passed in the last century. Somehow the game industry has survived 30 years of used games just as the record industry has survived 70 years of used records and publishers have survived centuries of used book stores and libraries. Paintings and sculptures go back even further. The claim made by some that video games are somehow different because people take better care of them is disingenuous at best, given all the pristine used books and CDs I've bought in my life. The first sale doctrine has been around a lot longer than the game industry, and they were well aware of it, whether or not they planned adequately for it. You don't get to say "Well, we figured our artistic work would be afforded more special rights than previous artistic works, because ours is more expensive to make and mass-produced" unless you can buy enough lawmakers.

    All of which will be moot once physical media are no longer viable and prices are a tenth of what they are now, since it's a lot easier to claim you're "selling" a service when it's not tied to the presence of a physical object. But as of now, that's what the reality is. Buying or selling used artistic works is neither illegal nor unethical.

13. With all due respect, raindog469, you are arguing from both sides of the issue…

    1) No, the "no game reset" and free one-use DLC will NOT kill the used-game market: it only gives a small (and well-deserved) extra perk to the first buyers;

    2) Developers and distributors are, indeed, taking the used game market now into account… hence the "no game reset" and free DLC perks! It keeps the used game market intact while encouraging the sale of new games a bit.

    On the other hand, I do agree that $40 for a portable game is way too high… that's when I buy used games! In fact, about 75% of my game purchases are used games. But if I find one of those special new game perks to my liking, I will buy the game new, and that is that. No need to boycott the whole industry just because some buyers are getting more content for their extra money…

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