Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball Lets You Negotiate Its Real-Life Price

Well, this is cool. Nintendo announced in its Nintendo Direct stream earlier today a game called Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball. Kind of odd and random, I know, but here’s the fun bit – players can haggle in-game character Rusty on the price of paid game portions once the demo expires, and depending on your persuasion skills, you can actually talk down the game’s real-life cost. The games start at $4, so I imagine significant savings are possible if you’re convincing.

That said, Rusty looks like a tough eggshell to shatter, and he’s clearly more focused on baseball than anything else. The game consists of baseball-related mini-challenges, revolving around hitting, catching, pitching, and umpiring. Mr. Iwata says the game is being developed around the theme of “good feelings,” so… I suppose that’s nice.

Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball will be made available for free on the 3DS eShop in April, and post-trial it seems the cost will depend on the individual user.

What do you think? Is this a creative way to pay for extra content, or is it just annoying? Given that the game is actually the localized edition of Darumeshi’s Sports Shop, released in Japan previously, it must have at least gone over OK across the pond.

As long as Rusty stops making that creepy face from the above image, I can quit shuddering in fear and go download the game.