(When electronics starts behaving erratically, change caps in the power supply. More often than not it helps. Often even works for thrown-out hardware.)

Secondly, Nintendo specifically says that software from the Wii can be transfered to the Wii U. When he purchased his Wii U, he was under this understanding.

Given that Nintendo specifically states that purchased WiiWare and Virtual Console games can be transfered to the Wii U console he has every right to expect that this would be possible.

This is a decision you make, and decide to live with, at the time of purchase. Caveat Emptor. I think it’s great that he wants to raise awareness. I think it would be petulant to expect $400 bucks, or pity for being out 400 bucks worth of games that worked fine until the machine got broken.

That doesn’t make the situation this gentlemans fault. He wasn’t made aware that the migration system would fail and that there would be no other method to extract the software, he found this out only buy trial and error after he had paid for the new hardware. He is now warning others about this problem.

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/126582-oem-versions-what-they-tied.html

At the same time this is the reality that DLC and downloaded games present to the consumer.  It makes it easier to consume and distribute software, but without access to the installer and files it is on the vendor for migration support.

Nintendo could have just pissed everyone off from the get go and not support migration in the first place.  My problem with the article and a lot of comments here is the fact they are focusing on the failure of the transfer.  That seems to be stemming from a hardware related issue, not a software/DRM thing.  The real problem here is that Nintendo didn’t (or doesn’t want to) think about this scenario as a possible issue.  Especially since I think it is probably going to be pretty rare.  Like I said in another comment, Nintendo should have the power on their side to transfer/authenticate you from one system to another.

The DRM is not there for your benefit.  

Alternatley, I -asked- if -perhaps- your POV had some bias.

I think that was a yes to my question. My proof – being attacked as a person for sharing my contrary opinions as my own and asking questions that I wanted answers to. I asked you for your opinion, you gave me my own. How childish.

Hey, if it works to get you free things, why wouldn’t you attack people and tell them who they are, and hold them responsible for your presumptions, instead of sharing your beliefs and asking questions to get things like an adult.

Meanwhile, you’re huffing and puffing about someone you don’t know getting upset about something that I think actually would be fairly upsetting.  You seem offended somehow that this guy would be upset when you don’t think it’s justified.

Even if this guy’s being a little ridiculous you are being way more ridiculous.  It’s fun watching you get upset about someone you don’t know getting upset, though, so keep up the good work.

It’s on a machine that broke. He’s not being shortchanged by anything but time and decay, and also the one thing within his control -his own expectations-. I think he could manage those better.

As to your assertion that I have it out for him, perhaps it is you who has it out for Nintendo, and so I appear that way to you?

tl;dr: He broke his thing, and wants someone else to be at fault.

Sounds like he just wants the content he already paid for.  You’re making shit up.  You must really have it out for this guy.

The people who buy the devices early when they are often at their most flawed, are the ones who made the device a success in the first place by giving game publishers the confidence that enough customers will buy their games.

Punishing an early adopter of the Wii who has obviously spent a great deal of money on their “beloved” device and became an early adopter of the Wii-U is like flogging your base supporters after they re-elected you president. Only some people will get to change their vote when they see the bloody mess you’re making.

The DRM that is presented here is a proof of purchase so to speak.  I think Nintendo should have a way to verify and change your account from their end if need be, but I don’t really see an issue with them tying the hardware to your account.  If they didn’t why wouldn’t you just share your purchases with your friends (aiming that more towards the income limited teenage crowd).

As far as the process itself, I don’t see anything wrong with it.  Nintendo gives you a free tool that basically automates the process.  The only way I could see it being easier is to:
-not require the Wii U to format and do it’s thing first.
-or do it totally via the could, so no memory card.
But in the case here, there would still be a likely chance that the copy would fail (due to some unknown hardware issue.)

Like I said I agree that Nintendo’s handling of the situation is showing their lack of forethought.  Microsoft has been handling issues like this for more than a decade (ie Windows activation.)

While I do feel bad for the person in question, early adoption has its inherent perils and I have little doubt that some sort of fix will be issued in due course.

So, his best option = don’t buy a nintendo to replace the old one you didn’t break.

he seems to have chosen otherwise, and wants us to lament his free choice. I can’t.

Hello, Toyota my car broke, fix it.
Hello, Acer, my monitor broke, it shouldn’t do that.
Hello, reality, yeah you suck.

Nintendo isn’t working for the DoD and building aircraft that need triple redundancy.  Memory fails, boards fail, hardware fails – that’s a fact of life.

(Unless this is directly related to some shit components or some other way of being extra cheap.)

tl;dr: He broke his thing, and wants someone else to be at fault.

So, let me see if I have this straight:
-He can’t copy/use the tool because his Wii has some type of problem.

Yup, that’s all DRM’s evil fault.  Not like it could be an actual hardware problem.  Perhaps the tool does a “ghost” like copy and there are failing sectors which is causing it to crap out (sectors that he isn’t even using).  Perhaps it’s a non-directly related software issue, like file table stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, I get his beef with having purchased said $400 worth of virtual stuff and not being able to move it to his new machine.  I almost feels it’s more about the saved data and customizations then it is about the actual games, but both are issues just for different reasons.

The only real lesson I took away from this is the newer the game system/hardware, the more complicated it is.  Sometimes shit breaks.

-oh and from the article it doesn’t appear anything was nuked, his Wii still works.