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Nintendo 3DS Launching On March 27 For $250
Sam writes "Nintendo executive Reggie Fil-Aime today revealed US availability and pricing for the Nintendo 3DS at an event in the Nintendo World store in New York City. The 3DS will launch on March 27, 2011 with a retail price of $250 and will be available in two flavors: Aqua Blue and Cosmo Black. There will be roughly 30 games released between the launch day and E3 2011 (June 7 to June 9). These include Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Madden NFL Football, The Sims 3, Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D, and LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars. The device will have the same form-factor as the DSi and will be backwards compatible with both DS and DSi games. Users will also be able to download games via an online store, called the eShop. In Europe, the 3DS will launch on March 25, 2011. While Europeans will get the device two days early, pricing is not good news. Nintendo held a second event in Amsterdam today and said that pricing would be left up to retailers. Retailers in the UK are reportedly planning a £229.99 ($367.64) price tag, while other European retailers are going with €249 ($336.00)."
Well, the PSP (which also launched at $250) has nearly 67 million sales compared to the PS3's 47 million. And the Nintendo DS has 145 million sales compared to the Wii's 85 million, or the PS3 and Xbox 360's 98 million combined.
That said, it sure would be nice if the 3DS has a tv-out function...
Do keep in mind however that the PSP was basically only a half-success in the Western markets. In terms of hardware units sold Japan is in 3rd place behind North America and Europe, but in terms of software sold the situation in the West is so bad that most 3rd parties pulled out of doing PSP development after 2008. As it stands there's something like 8 games due on the PSP in North America in the next 6 months; most of them are being published and/or developed by Sony. The only place PSP game development is still alive is Japan, where a number of games still come out every week.
It was the most successful non-Nintendo handheld to date, but it's not the kind of success you want to emulate in the West.
All new handhelds start off in the $200-$250 range, and that's fine. If it's obscene to you then you're not the demographic they're after for the moment. The price will obviously go down over time like they all do.
What's not in the summary or TFA is that this is the first handheld to be "fully" region locked. The PSP was region locked for movies, while the DSi had region locking for the online stores. But this is the first handheld where titles bought off store shelves will all be region locked. There's been evidence for some time that Nintendo are the most anti-consumer of the three console developers, but I think this is probably the final proof.
Combined with the console's price-point, this really does make me wonder where Nintendo are going with this. They've put it at a price tag which, like the PSP, is going to put it out of reach of most of the playground demographic, at least until Christmas. And yet among non-Japanese grown-up gamers, one of the biggest uses of handhelds is for when you go travelling. I'm not going to sit at home and play on a handheld, in general, when I have proper consoles and a gaming PC in my flat. Why should I peer at a tiny screen and cramp my hands up for a handheld's controls when I could be gaming in comfort? And my commute? I suspect that like many people who live in or near a major city, my commute on public transport is just too crowded and too rattly for handheld gaming. When travelling abroad, however, handhelds come into their own, and that's when I've gotten most of the use out of my PSP and DS. But if I can't pick up a game when I'm out in the US for the flight back to the UK? That's not going to make me happy.
Nowhere in the US is sales tax even approaching 20%. As an ex-pat living abroad, I don't really keep up with sales tax in the US but I believe it is averaging around 8% across the US.
Yet once more, the US gets cheap devices while the rest of the world pays more, sometimes a LOT more. I'm really getting tired of companies launching products with the same "price" in US dollars and euros. The currencies are NOT valued the same, the euro is currently much stronger than the US dollar (~1.35:1 as of this morning). Luckily not everyone is doing this, the smarter companies will price appropriately for the market and local currency, such as offering something in the US for $249 while the same product in Europe is 199€ or 219€ which is much more inline with the currency's actual value. I acknowledge that our VAT is higher than US sales tax but we do enjoy better consumer protection than the US and better warranties, e.g. most consumer electronics are warranted for 2 full years, and if something breaks within the "expected lifetime" of the product, I can ask for a replacement even after the warranty period.
I don't mind paying a bit more, but many companies are gouging customers by playing the currency game. I would put Sony in this category based on their pricing.
Having since enjoyed the freedoms afforded to me (for now anyway) with the lack of PS3 region locking, as an Australian, I have hence decided that any systems locked will be imported from the states.
Region locking to me is a serious throwback to the early 90s where Nintendo used to manipulate publishers and price points in every region. With region locking, Nintendo can just blindly go ahead and charge me twice as much (typically new games here are upto $120AUD on PS3/360, similar on Wii) and get away with it.
It's bullshit and I refuse to play their profiteering game any longer.
That's a retarded argument. The DS is far more easily hacked. Just stick in a slot 2 device filled with games and voila you're done. Software hacks are time-consuming and risky to users who don't know what they're doing. And in the end piracy never affected the DS. It still sold tons of units of hardware and games.
The real reason the PSP lost software support is because the PSPGo sucks and hardware sales declined precipitously. Furthermore Westerners hate the cramped analog "nub" and are forced use that cursed D-pad on PS2-quality 3D games.
Why don't you just steal one? I mean, you're all criminals anyways.
The "something seriously worthwhile" is the glasses-less 3d.
But who is going to waste money on a portable gaming device that cost as much as either their cell phone (Which is almost as functional)
Unlocked smartphones cost $500, not $250.
or their home console?
The GameCube had been through several rounds of price cuts by the time the $150 Nintendo DS came out in the fourth quarter of 2004.
games running in the 30-50 dollar range
Not all of them. Unlike the original DS and DS Lite, the DSi and 3DS have an online app store, and games may cost 1000 Nintendo Points.
Product not for children under the age of 6.
Unlike the Virtual Boy, the 3DS has a "3D off" setting. Besides, very few games for any console are rated EC in the ESRB system. Most are rated E (originally K-A, ages 6+) or higher.
So I was watching this infomercial in the 90's where they were trying to sell their lcd "game console" with over 1,000 games. And I'm not talking a dot matrix game console like the GameBoy; I'm talking about an LCD screen made of squares, circles, and x's. (imagine an LCD full of this --> [(x)] ). Anyway, part way through the infomercial, the narrator says, "Never buy one of those expensive games again!" as the lady is throwing "Super Mario World" for the SNES in the trash. I about died of laughter and always wondered who would be the idiot who would actually thing this was a good deal.
Now I know...