So... what is Nintendo up to with the 3DS? - Page 2

So? Portable devices always cost a premium.

They went on sale 50 bucks cheaper here in Canada, and it is enough of a tease to get me to go pick one up this weekend.

They were never as much as the mothership itself? I personally had no issue with the price but I can see why others might.

I think the next gens will probably cost $350-$400.

Can they keep the DSi XL the same price? thats the price drop im more interested in.

I hear you on that. It's a great system. The screens look awesome.

Controllers are upwards of $60, hdd $100 or more, headsets range from $30 all the way up to $260.... AND this last round of consoles featured one launched at $600 (ps3) and another at $400 (xbox360).

$600 is well within the realm of possibility...

60gb ps3 cost $600 at launch, 20gb was $500. I wouldn't expect any less next time.

I can't imagine them trying to sell the XL for the same as the 3Ds price(when it drops). Frankly I think this price drop is as much about killing off the Ds line, as it is simply to spike 3ds sales. Considering that some people are actually contemplating whether to get the XL over the 3ds( in part because of screen size I'd imagine), surely that's not what Nintendo wants. Presumably the XL will drop to $119, which will put people in the position of 'why buy the older model when the new system is only $50 more?'


I can't imagine Sony, in particular, would dare go that high again. They assumed that the success of ps2 and brand loyalty would allow them to get away with pricing ps3 at double its predecessor, and people would buy it in droves with tongues wagging. Didn't happen; only the diehard early adopting enthusiasts bit at that price, beyond that both the ps3 and xbox 360 were getting creamed in monthly sales by ps2 and later on, the wii for the first couple years of this generation.

Furthermore, I doubt Sony will be putting in any tech the next time around thats the equivalent of putting the cell processor and blu-ray in ps3, two components that hiked the cost up dramatically. Bluray will be used again in ps4, and won't be anywhere near as expensive as back in 2006, and while there will be the obvious technical leaps in terms of faster processors, larger hard drive, better textures,shaders and other tech mumbo-jumbo, in this economy I doubt any company will be swinging for the fences techwise next gen.

As it is, I think they're going to milk this gen for what they can, and with the ability to do firmware updates adding features,producing models with larger and larger hard drives, and attachments like kinect and move, this generation is being extended in ways that prior gens were not. And perhaps that's been the plan from the get go; other than Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft sell their consoles at a loss for the first few years, now that they've reached a point where the consoles themselves are turning them a profit, I suspect they'll be slow to toss those profits into producing the next gen console, as aforementioned especially in light of how the economy is. As long as current systems are selling healthy( xbox 360 sales in particular are very healthy for a nearly 6 year old system), the generation will be with us a while longer.

Realizing that I slightly veered off-course, returning to my main point, I can't see the next gen being priced at ps3 launch levels. At most, I think you'll see xbox 360 launch pricing ($399).

I don't think the real next gen(not Wii U) will launch until the economy has stabilized so that they can launch at those prices.

Publishers have never seen sales like this before and they aren't stopping. No reason to intro a new console yet.

I don't think those prices(ps3 launch level) would sell even if the economy wasn't in the crapper( which was the case back in 2005/06 at the start of this gen). $5-600 consoles simply won't sell en masse, only to hardcore early adoptors and those looking to snap up consoles to sell for profit on eBay( remember how 360 sold out early and people were ebaying theirs for 2-3 times the cost?). Sony swung for the fences with ps3 and pissed away alot of the profit from ps2 Trojan-horsing blu-ray into consumers hands. Their next console will likely be more evolutionary than revolutionary upgrades, and the pricing will likely be more in line with what 360 launched at.

Agree that there's no reason to release something new, without looking at the raw numbers I get the impression current sales are unprecedented for 5 year old consoles. With that in mind, there's absolutely no logical reason to launch anything new for a while, not as long as people continue to buy current consoles at a rate that would suggest general contentment with whats available. Falling wii sales would suggest 'that' market is ready for something new( queue Wii U), and pretty much anyone by now who wants a Wii, has a Wii.

You could also most likely buy it from Best Buy before the official drop, connect to the e-shop to get eligibility for the free games, then take it back to BB after the drop match it down to the new price. There's no Wal-Mart near me, so I may try this...

According to Joystiq, Target also dropped the 3DS price today, so good news for anyone who wants in on the "ambassador" deal without giving their money to Walmart.

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...oming-20110810

Not only is the price of 3DS dropping, we are also getting a new color already - Flame Red.

Well, I pulled the trigger on a black 3DS. Anyone else bite on the price drop/free games? It was kind of an irresponsible purchase for me seeing as there's no games I'm interested in until November, but it is a fun piece of tech to play around with. The augmented reality stuff is really amazing.

At $169 I'm tempted to bite myself....not sure how much I'd get out of it though, I'm not a 'huge' portable gamer. I have yet to really see one in action to see how the '3D' effect is.

Well, I've had one since launch so I'm biased. However, if you like turn-based X-com-esque games, then Shadow Wars is for you. I think it's the sleeper hit of the 3DS launch. I played it for 50 hours before finally putting it down. Super Street Fighter IV is...well, it's exactly what it says it is. I realized after I bought it that I actually don't like Street Fighter that much any more. Zelda is great, but the 3D is a minor enhancement. The improved graphics are actually the selling point there, but it's still the same game from a decade ago.

I won't lie: I love the Pokedex. It's like a little prize once or twice a day. I like the College Humor videos, even if I wish I had control over what stays and goes in Nintendo Video.

Right now I'm just marking time until Devil Survivor Overclocked drops in a couple of weeks. I'm playing through Dragonquest VI in the meantime. I still have plenty of DS games to play.

I'm not much of a portable gamer either, but $170 is within impulse-buy territory, and I figured it'll be a long, long time until another price drop (frankly, if another happens too soon, the system's dead in the water anyway), so may as well pick it up while still eligible for the 20 free games. Plus, now I finally have the chance to play Link's Awakening, which is like the long-lost Zelda Holy Grail to me.

I will say that I kinda hate movie-theater 3D--it just doesn't do much for me--but I'm impressed with the effect on the 3DS so far. Part of it is that I don't have to wear additional glasses over my usual glasses, part of it is that 3D at least theoretically has much more of a purpose in games than in movies. We'll see. But I am pleased that even just the pack-in AR games have already offered me some types of gaming experiences I've never had before.

And funny you mention that WizardDru, I just saw Target has Shadow Wars on sale for $17 this week, so I'll be stopping by after work to pick that up. I've never played X-Com, but I've really enjoyed any Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, Advance Wars, and Valkyria Chronicles games I've played, so this seems right up my alley. Thanks for the rec though.

If you like Fire Emblem or Advance Wars, you should love Shadow Wars. And the 3D in Shadow Wars is understated but nice. In some ways it make you feel like you're playing a miniatures game. The strategy is combined with some nice leveling choices and the unit selection lets you tackle missions different ways (stealth attack combined with sniper? Heavy gunner combined with engineer gun enplacement?) I hope it was successful enough for a sequel.

The only thing it really lacks is online multiplayer, sadly.

Target was surprisingly sold out of Shadow Wars when I first went, but thankfully they got more stock in later in the week so I could still get the sale price. Plenty of copies of every other 3DS title--maybe word on this game has spread?

Anyway, great game. The 3D kind of makes me feel like I'm commanding my troops on a high-tech communications array. I'm up to Chapter 4 now and seem to have reached the point in every strategy game where the difficulty ramps up and suddenly my guys are doing much less damage and taking much more--Richter is no longer unstoppable, and I can no longer solo entire rooms with Banshee.

That said, good as it is, strategy games aren't exactly system sellers, and I can't quite shake the feeling that it could've just as easily been done on the DS. Ideally, quality should be enough to ensure good sales, but I mean, I'm not even going to bother showing this game to anyone I show off my 3DS to. It's a great choice to pick up if you already have a 3DS, but it's not the type of game that will make people run out to buy the system just to play it. Though I guess they'll be getting some of those soon enough.

In other 3DS observations, I got three Mii Streepass tags the other day...though for two of them I totally cheated by going to Nintendo World at Rock Center. Though it was pretty awesome when I was sitting on the subway the other day playing Find Mii, and got a new tag notification right as the train pulled away. It was a black guy with dreads and glasses named Tim, and I started nonchalantly looking around my subway car trying to spot my new Mii's creator.

Yeah, I've gotten about 22 different people since I got mine at Launch. I only knew three of them personally. It's pretty cool when it happens and you suddenly find you've had a Street Fighter IV battle or have someone to help you in Find Mii (though I now have all the hats, so done with it). I'm hoping more games adopt uses for the playcoins, since I earn plenty of 'em. So far, only SFIV has actually incorporated them in a game, that I've seen.

"Take it easy, baby....Courvoisier don't grow on trees"

For Streetpass to work all you have to do is close your system, right? Regardless of what game/program you had running when you closed it? I kinda wish it could still do Streetpass even when you were playing something. I find myself in the odd situation of not wanting to play Shadow Wars on the subway because I don't want to miss a potential Mii-trading opportunity.

According to Joystiq, 3DS hardware sales in Japan are up over 4000% in the first week of the price drop. Who knows if they can keep it up, but that seems like a pretty healthy start. I wonder what US figures will look like.

This is purely anecdotal of course, but I've seen several people playing 3DS's in public in the short time since the price drop, whereas pre-drop I saw a grand total of ONE. In the past five days I've even got a few Streetpass Miis without even taking the system out of my apartment.

I'd bet a lot of fence-sitters have found a reason to get one. And for $80 less with Ocarina out, Star Fox in two weeks and other games due in a couple of months...it's a more compelling sale.

4000% may be a mark of how BAD the market was...or it could be a mark of good sales. Probably a little of both.

I'm just waiting on Nintendo's big announcement next month, that will help me determine if I will be getting a 3DS again or waiting for a redesign.

so are there multiplayer games other than street fighter and doa?