Technical difficulties have delayed the release of both the PokeBank and PokeTransporter apps with no new release date in sight, Nintendo confirmed in a press release on their site on Wednesday.
For millions of Pokémon X & Y owners in North America and Europe, the Dec. 27 release of the PokeBank and PokeTransporter apps couldn’t come soon enough, but server delays and security concerns have left the potentially nifty game extensions up in the air completely. Giving gamers the ability to send Pokémon from older games to the new Pokémon X and Y titles, the PokeBank and PokeTransporter apps were also supposed to come with Celebi, a fairy/grass Pokémon not found in the main game.
The news is a perplexing one, considering Nintendo doesn’t have nearly the online pressures of Microsoft and Sony. But with over six million copies of Pokémon X & Y sold since its release, the game, along with several new online Wii U titles, have put more traffic on the Nintendo servers than expected.
“Due to the high traffic, players are having trouble setting up Nintendo Network IDs and downloading content in the Nintendo eShop on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS,†Nintendo said in a press release on their site on Dec. 26. “We truly regret the inconvenience, and wish to reassure everyone that providing a solution is our top priority. We apologize for the delay and thank you for your continued patience.”
While Nintendo points to server issues, video game websites the likes of Kotaku and GameFaqs say the game’s security issues are the main concern. According to reports on Kotaku, hacked Pokémon from older games can still be transferred to the new games.
Evidence of Pokemon with unreleased abilities and other obvious hacks, such as a level one Gengar, are proof that Nintendo’s attempts to secure the service have failed.
“I just wish they would stop worrying about trying to stop the hackers,†said Michigan gamer Michael Buonvicino, 33. “They won’t be able to.â€
For other gamers looking forward to the new service, all they can do is hope Nintendo can learn from its recent hiccups and provide the service they promised for the holidays.
“Nintendo did a lot of things right in 2013, but there were definitely a lot of release dates that were very close to each other including the newest Zelda and Mario game coming out on the same day,†said Jordan White, a founding member of Streetpass NYC, a group of gamers who meet up and play Nintendo 3DS games in various locations in New York City. “With these application delays, we hope that Nintendo and the Pokémon Company might be able to fix the reported issues, besides the server load, such as the addition of hacked and altered Pokemon that make the ecosystem for the game franchise unfair for the people that play in it.â€
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