Previously launched as a full-price retail title for the Nintendo Wii U, Tank! Tank! Tank! has now received a digital release on the console -- with a rather unique monetization approach.
The Namco Bandai-developed title will be completely free to download when it launches on the European Wii U eShop later this week.
However, users will only be able to play each of the game's modes three times per day, after which each exhausted mode will be locked out until the next day. Players can then choose to either wait 24 hours, or purchase the separate game modes to fully unlock them.
Namco Bandai isn't the only studio that is playing around with Wii U digital pricing. Companies like Broken Rules and Frozenbyte have been jostling with the prices of their games on the online Nintendo store since the console first launched late last year.
So is this a "play the modes 3 times in a 24 hour day and then wait for midnight for them to be unlocked again" type thing or is it "wait 24 hours from the third play before they become unlocked again" type thing? If it is the latter, it is a no go. If the former, I can support the idea.
The latter option is too much like Facebook games and their cool down systems where it is based on the last play session and not any specific realtime days and hours. That is one of the most abused and most complained about systems in social gaming.
@ E Zachary Knight - Hopefully and for the sake of the European fans, it is the former and not the latter. In any case, this is an interesting approach from Bandai Namco (or Namco Bandai if outside of Japan) in regard to introducing the game to the public. I own a physical copy of Tank! Tank! Tank! and have no regrets buying the game as the Wii U version of the game has even more stuff than the original arcade game (not to mention, the game cost as much as a game for the Wii), so to me, the game is a great choice for Namco Bandai to test the waters and see if it can use a different approach to selling the game, which would appeal to fans of the original arcade game. If the company's strategy works, then they could use a similar approach to couple of their other games.
@ Leon T - I'll admit that an online feature is the only thing that's missing out of this game and that feature would have been great for it, in my opinion. I don't know if Namco Bandai felt that the feature would have raised the cost of the game (remember that Tank! Tank! Tank! is only around $50.00, unlike other Wii U games), believed that the online feature would mess with the game's "at home" multiplayer experience that's supposed to give a similar social multiplayer experience as the arcade game, or both, but regardless of the reasoning behind Namco Bandai's previous decision, it would be nice if the company would create a free enhancement patch that would add an online feature for the game that would allow players to get together and to help each other out (at least, for the multiplayer mode as the story mode may be more complex for the online feature).
The latter option is too much like Facebook games and their cool down systems where it is based on the last play session and not any specific realtime days and hours. That is one of the most abused and most complained about systems in social gaming.