Satoru Iwata discusses the new Nintendo Network

News - Wii U and 3DS to get player accounts and proper DLC as well as downloadable games

Nintendo has detailed some of their plans for the new Nintendo Network which is to support the Wii U and the 3DS.

Players will have their own accounts and for the first time Nintendo will offer downloadable content for games as well as full downloadable titles.

Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo outlined the service saying: "The Nintendo Network service is our network platform which will cover the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U. Unlike Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which has been focused upon specific functionalities and concepts, we are aiming to establish a platform where various services available through the network for our consumers shall be connected via Nintendo Network service so that the company can make comprehensive proposals to consumers. For example, competitions and communication among users, as well as the sales of digital content, will be covered within the Nintendo Network."

"While we are on this subject," he continued, "when we discuss anything relating to add-on content, our remarks are very often reported by the media by their attaching such modifiers or notes as 'the ones used for social games.' Please note that Nintendo, as a software maker, does not plan to deploy businesses where our consumers cannot know in advance which item will appear as the result of their payment and they have to repeat the payments and, before they know it, they end up spending a huge amount of money in order to obtain the items they originally wanted to purchase. As a software maker, Nintendo believes that its packaged software should be sold to our consumers in a form so that the consumers will know in advance that they can enjoy playing the software they purchased just as it is."

"For the digital sales of the content, we are also considering the future possibility of digital distribution of packaged software, which is often referred to as 'software download sales.' This concept was built into the design of the Nintendo 3DS, and we already have the necessary infrastructure. We will prepare the same infrastructure for the Wii U. However, we have not decided the concrete timing of when we will start it. Also for the Wii U, we are planning to introduce a personal account system compatible with Nintendo Network. With this, for example, the ease of using a video game system when the hardware is shared by multiple family members, which has been a challenge we needed to tackle, shall be improved, and we will also be able to construct and offer the system by combining a variety of different services and content," Iwata added.

Thanks IndustryGamers.