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http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/28/nintendo-3ds-price-drops-from-249-to-169-august-12th-current/

Anybody have one of these already? I've been thinking about getting one but afraid the 3D effect is just a gimmick that'll quickly wear out its welcome.

Still waiting for them to release (new, good) games for it ...

Also is it normal for companies to announce price drops 2 weeks before they will happen?  It says the drop isn't till August 12 ... seems weird.  (Just wondering)

Yeah, that does seem kinda odd. They're definitely making sure less people will buy it in the next two weeks. Or maybe they're thinking that the 20 free games will convince some people to still buy it at the current price?

That's quite a price drop, especially for new hardware :o. It must be selling like shit for them do do something like that. No wonder really.

That eerily reminds me of Action 52... (Surely at least a FEW of these 52 games should be worth the price, right? Right? Why are you laughing?)

And yeah, it is probably to give players a... well, a "chance" to still get these 20 games and join this "Nintendo Ambassador" program as a "loyal customer".

The 20 games are just old NES and GBA titles.  They listed a few --

for NES: Super Mario Bros.™, Donkey Kong Jr.™, Balloon Fight™, Ice Climber™ and The Legend of Zelda™

for GBA: Yoshi's Island™: Super Mario™ Advance 3, Mario Kart™: Super Circuit, Metroid™ Fusion, WarioWare™, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong™

(Also for the GBA games they say "These games will be available exclusively to Ambassadors, and Nintendo currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future" ... which is an interesting way to put a positive spin on the lack of content in their online store I guess.)

Sadly, they could have put the 3DS out at this price at launch and turned a HUGE profit from sure volume of sales alone. (It only costs them ~$100 to produce each.) This is what happens when you become so smug and are so sure people are going to buy your game system no matter what. Oh wait, you mean people actually want GAMES on their GAME system? WHAAT? You mean they don't want new 3D videos from the newest boy band!? Nandayo!?

On a less cynical note:
Those are still good games...for FREE!  :-*  :beer: :handthumbsupR:

on a MORE cynical note:
...but the 3DS still has no NEW original "Must HAVE!" games.

...but you're still hungry.

Really, the only good games to play on this system from it's god-forsaken launch SO-FAR are:
Pokemon B/W (if you haven't played it to death), Link's awakening, and Ocarina of Time 3DS. And MAYBE Pilotwings. That's it.

I just got a good amount of laughs connecting to the eShop since it's debut and naming off the eShop titles you can buy to my friends. Come on, you know you want My Notebook Platinum!!! And My Exotic Farm!
The only new gameBoy games they added to the virtual console since the inital eshop launch are Tennis and Baseball. SERIOUSLY? ONLY Tennis and Baseball!? It's been like more than a month or two. Holy crap!

Also, if you buy one after this price drop do NOT buy Street Fighter 4 if you plan to use the download-play feature to play with one cart and another friend...UNLESS you both love only playing as Ryu. Jesus Capcom, you really make me want to go over to japan and punch you in the face. ARGH.

All-in-all the 3DS has been a perfect emulation of a post-apocalyptic barren waste land. Void of all life, with "awesome" 3rd party games to download from their eShop.

Huh. A price drop might sell me on this. Pilotwings looks a bit nifty.

I can't wait to be a useless piece of shit all day and play all these games

It's interesting how much this goes against Nintendo's usual policy of never dropping prices on anything.

But idk I think the 3DS was poorly marketed. They just babbled on about 3D endlessly and didn't make it clear enough that it was a next-gen handheld. Quite a few people I know still think it's another DS redesign/minor upgrade like the DSi. I guess it was also a mistake to make all their high-profile launch titles "casual" games. Casual gamers aren't usually early adopters.

This price drop means that I could actually get 3DS in future, but like people here have said, it doesn't really have many interesting titles so far. I suppose that I either buy the next upgrade model. That's is if I ever see need to get this. Vita could be interesting alternative though so far I'm not very impressed by it either.

next nintendo console: a smartphone.
Launch titles: mario jump, zelda pachinko and metroid tower defense

This makes me glad that I'm waiting for more games to come out, though I'll probably just buy it now.

Seriously, Luigi's Mansion 2. I have been waiting for that shit for years.

The 3ds is a fantastic piece of hardware, there's just not that many games out for it.

This means that Nintendo (after the whole wii success) put their profit margins WAY too high.

Heh, maybe I'll buy it.

I already bought a 3DS, so this price-drop barely effects me. (aside from the free download games, which is a nice gesture) After the first few months that the 3DS has been on the market, it is clear that Nintendo's original price for the system is untenable. Back in 2004, when the DS released, this sort of pricing might have worked. In this day of the iPhone and iPad, there was just no way that Nintendo could let the 3DS ride at $250 for its entire first year.

The only real surprise here is how soon the price drop occurred, and how steeply the price fell. I imagine that this is mainly in response to the 3DS's lackluster sales record up to this point, and partially due to Sony's price announcement for the PSVita. (which was considerably lower than most people expected) To be fair, the profit that Nintendo is turning on every 3DS unit means that they have plenty of wiggle room for lowering the price. And the coming $170 price is going to be much better for their new handheld going into holiday 2011. A price that low is necessary for the 3DS to reach and appeal to the wider, broader audience that has been Nintendo's bread and butter over the most recent hardware generation.

Got a 3DS on day one. Barely used it since then...played Pilotwings and a bit of Ocarina of Time and that's about it, save for futzing around with the AR games a bit. I like the hardware, but it's been having the same problem as the Wii...there just isn't enough compelling software to get me to turn it on every day.

Those free games are a nice gesture to early adopters, though, and the selection is good, if a little predictable.

I feel that more and more, this particular expectation is becoming not only unrealistic, but impractical.

With my busy schedule, it is unusual for me to play any games every day, let alone for one specific system. There just aren't enough hours in the day to play that many games. As such, my personal expectations for game selection on a console-to-console basis are much lower than say, a college student or teenager. (and certainly lower than most under-twelves) When I purchase a console or a handheld, I no longer do so with the expectation that it will keep me entertained daily.

This is no excuse for the 3DS's fairly weak selection of games up to this point. But it does put things into perspective. I would imagine that many early adopters of a $250 handheld are in the same boat. (have more disposable income than time)

Nintendo is getting serious, that's all I've got to say. The PSV's going to have a bit of a tougher time after this.

Wonder what the Wii U's gonna be like.

Price drop is stupid when there's still no games, but on the other hand, I guess Nintendo want more people to pick it up so more third parties will make games for it...

With all those 3rd party game dev cancellation it might help them do the drop

Thanks, Sony :durr:

20 free games, man, I like that. And 10 of them are GBA titles, including Mario vs. DK.

Oh nice. Looks like I'm getting a 3DS, though a remake of Majora's Mask (http://www.zeldauniverse.net/zelda-news/operation-moonfall-bringing-majoras-mask-to-3ds/) would make it certain.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat myself, really; I'm using the expression "every day" loosely here. Most days I don't play any games at all, and if I turn on my 360, it's usually to watch Netflix. But in fact, I did play Pilotwings about an hour a day every day right after I got my 3DS. Then I finished every level, didn't feel like going back and getting 3 stars on everything, and put it down for a while. And I really haven't picked it up since except to play Ocarina of Time for a day or two.

Majora makes more sense in 3D than oot imo, the superb falling moon beg for it.

I was really digging the weekly GB game, but now it's been two weeks without one of those. That made me buy Dark Void Zero, though, and I liked it a lot. But I was expecting some Megaman, Adventure Island or Avenging Spirit, since Japan already has those.

Did you find the Easter Egg I put in there?

At the end of the day, this move by Nintendo will be a positive one for their company, and for the 3DS in particular. The market has always been overly sensitive towards expensive handheld gaming devices. Nintendo actually used this trend in all of their earlier handheld efforts to rocket the Gameboy line to success. (while more technically capable and expensive handheld systems fell into obscurity) Launching the 3DS at such a high price point ($250 USD) was always going to severely hamstring its adoption rate.

$170 is still a bit on the steep side. But its low enough, and the market has been conditioned by other devices to accept that price point. More importantly, it will still permit Nintendo to turn a profit off of the hardware. Even with their revenue projections drastically trimmed, they will still come out ahead on hardware sales.

The digital downloads are also a very good idea. The limited distribution of the 3DS so far means that Nintendo won't be giving up too much revenue in gifting those titles to the early adopters. It will also further encourage those adopters to buy things off of the eShop in the future. And it also throws open the floodgates of digital distribution for other systems in the Virtual Console, and for other companies who want to distribute their games on the eShop. Nintendo needs to step up their digital distribution game, and this is a sign that they are beginning to take it more seriously. Of all the console manufacturers, Nintendo is best positioned to push consoles and hardware that focus on digital distribution.

If Nintendo really wants to get anyone's attention, they need to start raising the eShop bar from ports to new original content.

There still isn't a single 3DS-exclusive game available on the eShop. The closest things to that are the Excitebike remake and the Pokemon app.

That said, I'm kind of sore that Nintendo lowered the price already, since that dashes any hope of me selling my 3DS for a reasonable return. That said, it might be valuable to some people to get those exclusive GBA games. I doubt it'll make a difference to most people, though.

they need to cancel zelda wii and make it a full wii u game

>:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

I wonder when Nintendo forgot that people will buy their consoles for big console exclusives. Launch with a Mario, Zelda, or Metroid game and you will move units. Have a Pikmin, Star Fox, Kirby or Donkey Kong lined up to go in the next two months, and you'll move more units. Introduce one new AAA franchise (When is Nintendo going to get a first party FPS?) and the third party support will roll on in.

Let the third parties handle the music games, party games, rhythm games, because those are beneath Nintendo. Nintendo fans want more of Miyamoto's "Magical Garden" adventure titles, and for some reason Nintendo is consistantly behind on making those.

I bought an N64 on the first day just to play Super Mario 64. I bought an SNES for Super Mario World. There is no such game on the 3DS drawing me in to play it.

Luigi's Motherfuckin' Mansion 2 (granted, it's not a launch title).

Yeah, plus even if there's a bit of a lull in terms of releases after the launch, one great launch title is usually enough to tide you over until more good games come out.

first party fps = metroid PRIME :P

Actually nintendo casual are very strong and unmatch, try wii fit and knock off, it play like a core nintendo game really. More like NES and supernes strong, back to basic. But the core player approaching them must also go back to basic too, after year spending with wii fit mini game -(which many innovation are still underuse and not only for motion control) I can say I have a thumb level of agency in those game, i see no reason to call them mini game BUT the lack of level :(

Wii music is a stellar piece of software unheard anywhere very badly position, it so pack with care and little detail Im' not sure any 3rd party would come with that, etc... And most mini software are born from the desire of the designer to broke free of the mold (which also benefit great license like zelda SS). Actually most of them were not plan and was more like side project who blew away the market.

Metroid was born as a 2-d platformer, though. Other-M went back to those roots. Nintendo needs a new IP that lives and breathes FPS.

Of course, the Metroid Prime trilogy was phenomenal, but it's a spin off of Metroid. It's not a native FPS.

luigis mansions 2 is nice, but the original was nothing truly special and this sequel feels so random for some reason.

fps is kinda dying and with my faith in 'tendo waning since who knows when a nintendo first party fps sounds more like a recipe for disaster than anything.

I would mind a lot less if those free GBA games were coming sooner than "by the end of the year."

I don't get it, you shoot things it's first person what else you need? : P

I'm really tempted to pick this up with my next paycheck, but I really don't know if I'm going to use it. I really want to keep loving and supporting Nintendo, I do... They're the company that nurtured me into the indie game developer I am today... But... Ugh. I haven't touched my DS Lite after putting 200 hours into Dragon Quest IX, and that was almost a year ago. I got a Wii for Christmas and was excited at first, but once I beat the games I really wanted to play like New SMB and DKC Returns, I pretty much stopped playing it. I still have a couple games for it that I got with it that are still in their factory seal :/

I'm just more of a PC gamer now, and I have very little time for games as it is. With the awesome sales that Steam does, I have a backlog of games I haven't even touched yet; Portal 2, Oblivion GOTY, and the DLC for Fallout NV. I just started GTA IV but I only put about an hour into it... So as much as the idea of having a cool new toy that will eventually have a lot of kick-ass games is appealing to me, I don't think it's worth getting right now. I usually wait until consoles have been out for a year or two before buying, anyways, because by then they usually have a pretty solid library of titles available.

And it's not like the price is going to go back up, right?

Well, this is great for people who already own one, even if it feels a bit alienating because of how steep and soon the drop is. But still, 20 free games? Don't mind if I do. (although I guess I could also be this excited about my hacked PSP or R4 card. Oh, the corruption)

 ???

This is actually a nice gesture on the part of the Nintendo seniority. Especially these days, when we always seem to be hearing about major executives lining their pockets at the expense of their company. (and by extension, the company's employees and shareholders)

Of course, it is slightly less significant when you consider the disparity between executive salaries in the US and Japan. (I believe Iwata makes about 1.8 million USD annually) In the US executives of their level taking a cut in salary like this would translate into a lot more money. And Japanese business culture has always had a tradition of higher-ups accepting blame instead of trying to dodge it.

Still, I consider this to be a positive example, and one that Western companies could learn from. When the shit hits the fan, it makes a powerful statement for someone in charge to accept responsibility and consequences for what happened.

For the record, here's the article that it's from:
http://kotaku.com/5825872/nintendo-president-takes-blame-for-3ds-getting-50-percent-pay-cut

I'm in favor of this as well.
Honest move by Iwata & co.

Part of it is being honest, part of it is Japanese culture, and a very large part of it is an attempt on Nintendo's behalf to inspire confidence in their shareholders.

Even with reduced profit expectations for the year, Nintendo is still probably going to be turning a net profit. So there is little danger to the company itself, and it is unlikely that anyone there is going to get fired over their current financial situation. The people most likely to be upset by the recent turn of events are the shareholders. Nintendo's stock has taken a substantial hit over the reveal of the WiiU, and now again over their adjusted financial projections. Granted, their stock's value was probably inflated anyway by the meteoric rise of the DS and Wii. But people who bought Nintendo stock in the past few years aren't going to be happy about what has transpired.

Major executives taking a hit like this public shows that Nintendo knows things aren't exactly peachy, and that those in charge are taking responsibility for the state of affairs. The recent reduction in price on the 3DS shows that Nintendo is taking action to remedy the situation. It is a bit reactionary. But I think this is probably the right move for Nintendo.

Now if they could just do something about their on-line services...

What about their online services?

Well, there are no technical errors in how they are implementing their on-line services. It's more that they are simply squandering potential, and are quite a bit behind the competition.

I believe that someone else already mentioned this, but it is not currently possible to buy full 3DS games on the 3DS's on-line store. This is a mistake. The iPhone's entire infrastructure is designed around digital distribution. The PSP has provided the ability to buy full PSP-developed games digitally for years. XBox Live and PSN both offer full games for purchase on their on-line stores. Why isn't Nintendo allowing for the same functionality on a premium-priced handheld? The thing even comes with a 2 Gig micro-SD card. Nintendo's refusal to step up their digital distribution game will end up holding the 3DS back. The announcement that they will be expanding the 3DS's Virtual Console to NES and GBA games is a step in the right direction, but its not enough.

There's also the fact that they are so inflexible in how they handle their on-line system. Services like XBLA, PSN, and Steam have all grown used to the idea of regular sale prices. Nintendo doesn't seem to understand the concept, and never seems to put any of their offerings on sale. Sales are great ways to hook consumers in, and encourage them to buy into your on-line service. I understand that sometimes this is a licencing issue, but Steam seems to be able to maneuver around the same issue with ease. (by actively communicating with their 3rd-party developers, and encouraging them to participate in sales)

The on-line space is becoming increasingly relevant, and it is by nature faster and more fluid than traditional retail. If Nintendo wants to remain competitive they are going to need to adapt more quickly in the on-line market.

Ahh yes, I totally agree with that.

Their competition is especially high, considering that iOS is pretty much the deadly competitor. iOS games cost $0.99 on average, and rarely cost more than $5. In contrast, the standard 3DS game is $40, and the standard downloadable is, I'd say, about $4. Sure, one could say "but our games are of a higher quality/to a higher standard." It doesn't matter when the fact is that someone gets equal entertainment out of a game that they payed $1 for. Sure, iOS gaming might not be everyone's cup o' tea, but it's growing when Nintendo is stagnating. And that's what's significant in my opinion.

That said, I don't think Nintendo is by any means "losing" yet. But, if they want to stay relevant I do think they need to step up their game. They're not competing with game consoles anymore, they're competing with multifunction devices. The 3DS has the capability to be multifunction, and it's already trying to be, but all around it needs to improve it's offerings on all fronts if it wants to stay relevant. Even the Vita is approaching a multifunction design, from what we've seen.

shameful iwata-san will commit seppuku at dawn

Wow, didn't know you were involved with this, that's awesome  ;) I'll go look for that Easter Egg.

Now the price drop affects even the Nintendo's Senior Management. They cut their wages...

Ouch! I'll be like that smiley ----->:handmoneyL: :nono: :handmoneyR:

I wish the US government was like Nintendo's Senior Management.  :durr:

how do i go about signing up for these free games, anyway?

Just get on the eShop before August 12th and you'll be put on the list, apparently.

i'll never pay more than $100 for a handheld console, and i don't think anyone else should either. when the original game boy was first launched it was $80 new. so this price change doesn't affect my unwillingness to buy it; when it's $99 i'll give it a chance

Nintendo has online services? Sign me up.

I can't wait to play Super Mario Bros with someone online as luigi.

So why haven't they made a New super mario bros with a level editor where you can share levels with the world and features 4-player online co-op? Make the hardest level in the world and try to make it through with your friends.

In that case, Paul, now's an excellent time to finally buy a DS Lite (http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=nintendo+d+s&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=2755321201&ref=pd_sl_57mhraml6h_e).

Actually, there's an unofficial level editor for New Super Mario Bros. Wii. No clue how many good levels there are, but it's out there.

It seems like a bargain until I realize that I would then have to buy really expensive games. Still a no-go for me. Maybe I'll grab a gp2x wiz and catch up on some retro stuff.

But I play handhelds more than consoles

Also inflation etc

...not to mention it's a pretty complex piece of technology. $100 is a pretty arbitrary cutoff.

This calculator (http://www.westegg.com/inflation/) gives the original Game Boy's price as $156.21 when adjusted for inflation, by the way.

80% of GameFAQs thinks Nintendo is going to die or going Sega because of the low 3DS sales and price cut. Why are people so obsessed with Nintendo's extinction since the N64 days?

Yep nintendo don't need mad success to survive, they could entirely live on a cheap console with only first party release. They were also like 200% ahead in profit comparing to other company they are not falling, their back at a normal pace and size after a winning run.

Also I heard the 3DS happen at that price when Hiroshi leave definitely the board of advisor at nintendo. Hiroshi really helpt push the wii low price and low hardware. That's what I heard >> rumor.

And $100 in 1989 would cost $173.56 in 2010 ... so the new 3DS price is right under the "100 1989 bucks" threshold.

The internet is really stupid and really loves wildly exaggerate any situation. It also has to take anything and everything out of context.

The people at GameFAQs need to get a clue, it's like worse than youtube comments.

HAY GUYS- THE 3dS and nintando is DEADSORSs...History says so! derp derp derp!

Yeah, reading the comments there really makes me feel like sticking a pretty gun in my mouth.

i dunno gaming is half dead already

Whatever. This is just the usual retarded internet "console war" bullshit. And why are you guys even brining up GameFAQs? It's a well known fact that not a single person on that site has anything intelligent to say.

INB4 gold standard thread

Paper Mario looking sexy

Luigi's Mansion 2
Phoenix Wright/Prof Layton crossover game

None of those are released yet, right?  I think Trevor was talking about already released games.

If the Phoenix Wright / Layton game hits stateside that'll make the 3DS an instabuy for me.

I wonder how Kid Icarus will fare. That could reengage sales.

Being a lefty makes me think Kid Icarus will be horribly difficult for me to play.  :epileptic:

Why is that?

The 3DS analog stick is on the left only. If it uses analog and the touch pad, it could be difficult to play.

The way the original DS mirrors the control pad and face buttons was one of the less appreciated good design decisions of that console.

I'd much prefer a 2nd analog stick than a 2nd screen. PSV doing it right.

Indeed I was, there is no reason to ever turn on my 3DS again until Kario Mart 7 comes out.

I could get Star Fox on September 9th, but I wanted a new game, not an N64 port. Not even multiplayer saves it. There is no online and no one locally is going to want to play more than 5 or 6 rounds...ever. Here is Nintendo failing with online multiplayer for the umptenth time.

Hell, I probably would have bought an updated tatsunoko vs capcom on the 3DS, all they have to do is add like 6-7 characters and have decent online play. There are certainly more characters I care about in that game than the terrible roster of vanilla MVC 3. Then again, I don't think they going to want to make an update or sequel to that game...ever considering the licensing hell they had to go through to get the game in the states.

Yep. And from the demos I've seen, the touch pad is used for aiming. I've already tried holding my 3DS like that to see how it'd work for me... It pretty much won't without a lot of getting used to.  :waaagh: