The Wind Waker HD Bundle Exemplifies Wii U’s Digital Problem

I really like The Wind Waker HD, and I personally haven’t even had a chance to play the demo yet. Okay, that’s not entirely true, but I haven’t taken the opportunities presented to me to play the demo at this point. Not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t need to play in order to sell me on the concept. I thought it was a good move from the day it was announced.

Setting aside the little content additions and subtractions (Removing the Tingle Tuner is technically removing content… while adding Tingle’s Island into the main quest along with the Miiverse stuff and Swift Sail would all count as “new content”), there was one recent announcement that irked me in the wrong way: the leaked trailer showing off a Zelda themed Wii U bundle.

Now, I am not opposed to themed consoles, and no matter what you think of the design on the GamePad it’s still nice to have this option out there – but the problem I immediately thought of was this: as a current Wii U owner who would gladly double dip for the collector’s value alone, where is the real value in that package for me as a consumer? What I mean to say is, what is the point if I have to use a separate Wii U account and can’t play any of my digital content on it? I could easily come up with an excuse to run two Wii U’s in my household, but I can’t excuse needing to double up my digital library. Heck, Nintendo’s digital policies are exactly why I haven’t sold my Wii U for a new one.

Why sell it? As a launch day buyer, my console still locks up time to time. I would assume a newer model no longer has this issue present. Except I can’t sell it because I would lose all of my Wii U purchased digital content. This isn’t right. This also isn’t a new problem either.

The 3DS runs under the exact same policy, so if my 3DS XL ever bites the dust I may as well kiss my digital games goodbye. Nintendo’s flawed idea for an account system has been well documented, but it never truly hit me how flawed it really is until now. I can’t even own two systems anymore if I want to go digital. Why can’t Nintendo tie games to accounts instead of to the console? I mean, they have proven they can tell what games I purchased, but they have nothing in place to allow me to transfer that content, let alone log in with my account on another system? Why not?

One could say this revelation in regards to the Wind Waker bundle is pointless. After all, they didn’t make that bundle for the early adopters. It’s to entice new sales and get more Wii U units into more homes. If The Wind Waker HD isn’t enough to entice Zelda fans to buy a Wii U – a Zelda themed Wii U just might be, especially if they just consider Wind Waker HD as sort of a bonus on top of the collector’s value.

Still, it keeps making me smash my head against a wall on their current policy. No, this isn’t new, but it’s clearly something they need to address. Here is hoping the next time my Wii U freezes it doesn’t burn anything out. God forbid I lose hundreds of dollars’ worth of content simply over a flawed system. Call me a sucker for going digital to begin with, but how will Nintendo improve a system they have if they don’t see a market for it? I have faith they will change their minds someday, but it might be too late at that point for this current Wii U owner. One thing is for sure: The Wind Waker HD will be a physical copy for this guy. GameStop just gained one more additional sale this holiday.