Nintendo 3Ds In March 2011

[Nintendo]

I guarantee that your jaw will drop and you'll drool like crazy when you watch the Official Nintendo video below.

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/conference2010/3ds/lineupMovHigh.html

 

[johncross85]

Looks great but here's the thing... the price point in the UK is likely to be £250, which is just too expensive for the "non-gamers" that made up such a large part of the DS sales. If that's right, then it's mostly going to be bought by gamers... just like the PSP was... and is that enough of a market to make it worthwhile producing games for it?

The DS was cheap to develop games for and because of it's mass market appeal you could produce low cost rubbish which would still sell by the bucket load. That meant the risks involved with producing DS games were very low and so lots of software was released while PSP releases withered away.

As market penetration of smartphones increases, it'll be interesting to see how the 3DS fares and whether the smaller developers don't just abandon it in favour of low-risk casual smartphone games.

John

 

[Nintendo]

Don't jump the gun on UK and Euro price points, because we all know that when it comes to pricing games and consoles...Nintendo are highly competitive and always price things reasonably cheap.

My educated guess for the UK 3DS price is £189.

 

[johncross85]

I hope you're right, but even at £190 it's a lot for a "non-gamer" to pay to upgrade. My suspicion is that that majority of the "non-gamers" that made the DS such a success will just hang on to their existing DS until the day it dies.

John

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, the only two games that interest me there is Ocarina of Time (hopefully with better camera control than on the N64) and Paper Mario (hopefully back to RPG style).

I'm still using my old NDS (the ugly thing, not the lite), when the price drops, I'm probably gonna get one.

 

[Exophase]

because we all know that when it comes to pricing games and consoles...Nintendo are highly competitive and always price things reasonably cheap.

No they aren't, at least not anymore. They sold Wii for more than XBox 360 for a period of time, let that sink in. Wii is a relatively minor upgrade to a console that they were selling for $99.

 

[matzesu]

There are a lot of games i want:
Kid Icarus, Zelda OOT, Paper Mario, Pilot Wings Resort, Mario Kart, DOA, and maybe Animal Crossing..

@EvilDragon: When you have your 3DS, you can play your old DS Games too,

I think it would cost 240€, i havnt by the dsi and the dsi xl, so i think it isnt too expensive for my handheldbudget...

 

[johncross85]

No they aren't, at least not anymore. They sold Wii for more than XBox 360 for a period of time, let that sink in. Wii is a relatively minor upgrade to a console that they were selling for $99.

The Wii is another good example of how I think they'll lose the non-gamer market. Gemma Nongamer has bought her Wii at £179 and her Balance Board at £99. She wasn't interested in the graphics - it was a new way to play and one that even gets you in shape!!! So what's going to be next from Nintendo... the Wii HD? Or maybe a Wii HD3D? Will Gemma Nongamer buy a Wii HD3D for £300 so she can get in shape with higher res graphics? Will seeing the yoga trainer in 3D be that much of a draw?

Even the recent TV ads in the UK seem to be missing the point... Do they really think that a non-gamer who has ignored Mario for 30 years will suddenly become a fan of run n jump games just because some famous people say it's cool?

John

 

[Asmo]

Even the recent TV ads in the UK seem to be missing the point... Do they really think that a non-gamer who has ignored Mario for 30 years will suddenly become a fan of run n jump games just because some famous people say it's cool?

John

Their current ad campaign nauseates me. They've pretty much lined up the most insipid bunch to front it.

Oh, and they've got Jedward for the Christmas campaign. This is only acceptable if they produce a game - in 3D - where I can throttle them.

 

[Nintendo]

because we all know that when it comes to pricing games and consoles...Nintendo are highly competitive and always price things reasonably cheap.

No they aren't, at least not anymore. They sold Wii for more than XBox 360 for a period of time, let that sink in. Wii is a relatively minor upgrade to a console that they were selling for $99.

Only because 360 kept lowering their console prices due to failure rate, whereas Wii was quite reliable.

- Keeps on breaking = Cheap

- Reliable = Don't change the price

 

[iprice]

RedBaron start saving. Everyone else, just wait until R.B. wants to sell - about a week or so later

 

[hosant]

Will I get my Pandora before this releases?

 

[Iorgy77]

Probably not hosant, probably not.

 

[Orion4874]

The price was announced at $300 USD give or take. So much for being under $200 like everyone hoped. Is it really worth that much? http://www.platformnation.com/2010/09/29/nintendo-3ds-price-announcement/

 

[R.B]

A BIG Hallow and Thanks to SONY

I read on another forum that SONY new PSP 2 has a 5" screen and they have on the drawing board a 3D PSP all for next year, I hope it's true or it could be vapor ware or just testing the waters

 

[Exophase]

Don't know why anyone thinks it'll sell outside of Japan for what it sells for in Japan, that never happens. In the USA at least $250 seems like the most likely cost. Which is still kinda a lot.

 

[Fishbong]

No they aren't, at least not anymore. They sold Wii for more than XBox 360 for a period of time, let that sink in. Wii is a relatively minor upgrade to a console that they were selling for $99.

Aren't you forgetting something? With the sales figures of th Wii they don't need to price it competitively, or even realistically.

 

[Goity]

They do need to price it competitively. Sony made that mistake.

Also the Wii isn't selling very well just recently.

The problem at the moment is the strong yen against most other currencies, meaning console prices abroad may well be really high.

 

[Exophase]

Aren't you forgetting something? With the sales figures of th Wii they don't need to price it competitively, or even realistically.

Sony said that it was priced "cheaply" and that's what I was responding to.

Priced "as high as we can get away with selling it" has a different connotation in my mind.

 

[johncross85]

In Japan the DSi is 15,000 yen which is £113 but it has an RRP of £150 in the UK. The 3DS will be 25,000 yen which is £189 so with a similar mark up for the UK it would be about £250.

Traditionally, there is a 1:1 price between the US and UK, eg the DSi is $150 (according to Amazon) while, as mentioned above, it's £150 in the UK. So, $250 in US and £250 in the UK would be pretty typical for Nintendo's pricing structure.

John