Retail downloads coming to the eShop, starting with NSMB2

Nintendo have confirmed at an investors meeting that they will introduce retail downloads to the eShop when NSMB2 launches in August. They say they will sell both retail copies and digital copies of every Nintendo-published 3DS game afterwards. They also say that download codes of 16 characters can be purchased at retail if you don't feel like buying eShop cards. The good thing about that is that retailers are being allowed to set the price of the codes so finally some sales will be seen on Nintendo's digital content. The bad news is that Nintendo doesn't feel the need to lower the price of the digital copy compared to the retail copy which is a bit of a rip-off. Storage looks like it will be an issue too but hopefully my 32GB card will cover me. I don't plan to download too many games as I like having the real copies with boxes and manuals. If I do download something I will probably buy a physical copy too. What do you guys make of this news?

As I wrote in the Wii U post, They should give anyone who buys the retail copy a free digital download. Well...now that I think of it, it probably would backfire. I can see someone buying a retail copy, and selling off the download copy. Unless Nintendo can find a way to prevent this I suppose I won't be downloading any retail games.

This could come in handy for some people if it takes off. Sometimes games will sell out or go out of print. Having the download option will be perfect in this situation.