And once it's shut down, we can't download any more games that we already own, as well as buy more right?

I'm curious if they will ever allow us to just download all the games we legally bought since in most cases if you bought more than a few WiiWare games the Wii's internal memory isn't big enough to hold your whole collection.

maybe deal with it when they make an announcement about it if it ever comes to that?

edit: if you super paranoid download all the games you know you'll want so you have them.

I'm not paranoid, it's a simple question that I haven't seen any news about so I was curious if I just missed some presser.

I was hoping they would do something like what Sony has been doing and what I hope to see Microsoft do as well, and that is to integrate the existing online store into the new consoles that are coming out. (Sony is doing this slowly with the Vita and I would be really surprised if they didn't do the same thing for the PS4)

I just hope Nintendo is smart enough to do the same thing.

I doubt the Virtual Console stuff will ever be shut down, since it would make way more sense to transfer all of that functionality to the WiiU and whatever other consoles they make in the future. They might update it and change it, but I think the only way it can disappear entirely is if Nintendo goes belly up, which most likely won't happen.

Nintendo had mentioned at an E3 Q&A that they were working on a way to port content over to the Wii U so you could bring your Virtual Console games with you. That was something I really wanted to know about the Wii U, and it was a big enough deal to me that I remember Giancarlo Varanini was the first on my list to tweet it. I'd bet the Wii U's eShop will do the same with Wii content that the 3DS eShop does with DSi stuff. Most of the DSiWare is still there. The DSiWare Store is still up, too, and they still seem to release one DSiWare game per week.

I'd guess the DSiWare store probably moves more games than the Wii Shop Channel though, so it's hard to tell, but it has been more than a year since the 3DS eShop launched, so you can consider that.

If I had to guess, I'd say the shop will be up for years to come, but it'll be even more barren of new content than it is today.

@super_mario_john said:

I doubt the Virtual Console stuff will ever be shut down, since it would make way more sense to transfer all of that functionality to the WiiU and whatever other consoles they make in the future. They might update it and change it, but I think the only way it can disappear entirely is if Nintendo goes belly up, which most likely won't happen.

I am pretty sure that is what will happen. They will have DS games for the eShop of the 3DS and you could transfer your games over. I guess they will have the same transfer between Wii and WiiU and keep all the existing games up, VC and Wiiware and then add WiiUware and probably Gamecube games to VC. I wouldn't be concerned about it. I think Nintendo will get this right.

They're working on it but don't surprised if some might not make it over though since it does tend to happen from time to time

Got it, thanks guys.

After my Wii to Wii U transfer, I found I have $38 in credit to buy stuff. I think I bought a 5000 point card for like $40 a couple years ago. Never got around to spending close to all of it. Wish I could use that money on the Wii U store. Need to find some VC and Wiiware games to blow this money on.