Less than two days before the Nintendo Switch launches worldwide, Nintendo has finally given us a look at the console’s digital store in an informational video.
When you awaken the Switch from sleep mode, you’ll see a lock screen with a sidebar on the left featuring three tiles with the latest “featured news” updates. You can access the Switch eShop through a link in the system’s news feed — a button for which appears on the home screen — or directly from its own button on the console’s dashboard.
The eShop storefront offers a simple tile-based interface listing nine new releases and their prices. On the left, you can scroll through four options: search, recently released games, upcoming titles and a place to enter download codes. The search allows you to filter results, but only via two categories: price range and genre.
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Once you link the Nintendo Account you’re using on your Switch with the Nintendo Network ID you’ve been using on your Wii U or Nintendo 3DS — a process that you must undertake on a device with a web browser (i.e., not the Switch itself) — you can merge funds that you already have in those accounts. After that, you’ll be able to spend that money in eShops across all of your Nintendo devices.
Just like with the Wii U and 3DS, you don’t have to buy games directly through the Switch. Once the console launches, you’ll be able to make digital Switch purchases on the eShop website through a desktop or mobile browser. That content will automatically download to your Switch, whether it’s awake or sleeping.
Plenty of questions about the Switch’s network-connected elements remain, even though the console’s launch is imminent. For more on the Switch, read our review.
Nintendo Switch Unboxing and Impressions
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