Used Nintendo Wii-U buyers can download previous owners' games

Discussion in 'News and Article Submission' started by Rick, Jan 8, 2013.

  1. Rick

    Rick Moderator

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    Buyers of used Nintendo Wii U consoles may be getting something extra: the ability to re-download games bought by the former owner.

    A user on the NeoGAF forums claimed getting this "privilege" after buying a used Wii U, theorizing the games could be linked to the console itself.

    "Whoever owned the console before me purchased multiple games, meaning all the games he purchased are available to redownload for free... This is with a new account btw I setup as well. Games are clearly linked to Console itself," said user DSN2K on the forum.

    "Advice to those buying a second hand WiiU's...check all the games on the Store...you might be in for some 'free' games!" DSN2K added.

    Eurogamer said this is despite any old user accounts being removed and the hard drive wiped clean.

    It said the user in the NeoGAF forum got free access to games such as Trine 2 and Nano Assault Neo.

    "Download history is linked to your console, not your user account. The reason for this appears to be that licenses for downloaded content are tied to a specific Wii U console, not a single user account. This tallies with the fact that all users of the console can access downloaded content, regardless of who purchased it," it said.

    It added a users' account Nintendo Network ID and any download purchase history is tied to a single console.

    Because of this, it said there is little choice at present for gamers when trading in Wii U, except to leave access to downloaded content on the console.

    This could be bad for people who may later reconsider their trade-in and bad for Nintendo, which cannot stop "free games" becoming available.

    "The only way to recover an ID from another Wii U is by sending it to Nintendo's customer support - and that's something only Nintendo of America has confirmed it can do," it said. — TJD, GMA News

    Source: Used Nintendo Wii-U buyers can get previous owners' games | SciTech | GMA News Online | The Go-To Site for Filipinos Everywhere

    Looks like they took the extra step than the xbox 360 and listed everything bought for free. Buy used consoles and possibly get x amount of games.
     
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  2. Michael_T

    Michael_T Addict

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    Nice find. Maybe instead of buying a new PC i could buy a used WiiU.
     
  3. Trebor

    Trebor Dolphin Fan

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    But there's no way of knowing what games someone has purchased.... Unless they state so when they sell it on Ebay or what not. Actually could be a good thing for some sellers who've made a ton of purchases on their console (makes it more attractive to the buyer if he/she likes those games :) ).
     
  4. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

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    I guess this is like the 360 then, downloads are tied to the console and the profile that downloaded it.

    Even if i deleted my profile and content from the hard drive, when someone downloaded a trial of an arcade game i owned it would work as the full game on that console regardless, until i did a licence transfer anyway.
     
  5. MasterChief

    MasterChief Addict

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    I wonder if Wii-U games are linked to the account and console or just the console? it would be pretty bad if your Wii-U ever failed and you lost all your content.
     
  6. Dark Scyth

    Dark Scyth Moderator

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    License transfers don't actually affect the previous person to have the license. You could license transfer and both consoles would still have the ability to play the full game.

    I'm kinda wondering this myself. Chances are consoles are going to start failing sooner or later. I suppose it could go in for repairs but if it can't be fixed, I can only wonder what would happen with that. Though I think it is also linked to the account that purchased them too.
     

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