What is your perceived demand for Nintendo 3DS

[infinix]

I was at a gamestop store last night and the clerk there tried so very hard to talk me into per-ordering s 3DS. He kept piling on with the spiel about how they will only receive as many units as there are pre-orders, and how they will not receive another shipment for at least 3 months after that thanks to the tsunami.

I'm thinking.... if you are still taking pre-orders 6 days before launch, could there really be that much of a demand?

what's your personal experience like on this? When you talk amongst your gamer friends, are people actually anticipating for 3DS? Personally, more of my friends want Sony's NGP instead.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

I think 3D gaming (especially on handhelds) is just a gimmick that will pass.

 

[infinix]

I think 3D gaming (especially on handhelds) is just a gimmick that will pass.

If I recall, people said the exact same thing about the Duel Screen.

 

[Jadzia]

I'm thinking.... if you are still taking pre-orders 6 days before launch, could there really be that much of a demand.

If there's that much demand, the store wouldn't need to be pestering it's customers for pre-orders.

"Buy it now because you might not have chance for another 3 months" is the sort of spiel companies put out when they're desperate for sales.

 

[infinix]

If there's that much demand, the store wouldn't need to be pestering it's customers for pre-orders.

"Buy it now because you might not have chance for another 3 months" is the sort of spiel companies put out when they're desperate for sales.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Arrqh]

I think one sales guy at one store isn't a good way to gauge overall demand. I have no idea what the preorder numbers are for the 3DS on our side of the world, but in Japan a month ago the 3DS sold 375k units in the first two days, compared to the 170k the DSi did when it was first released.

 

[Roland19]

A lot of my friends are looking forward to the 3DS. Also I hear the system sold out in Japan and pre-orders are selling quickly in the U.K. I'm not sure how it is here (in the US). I haven't heard anything in the way of pre-orders numbers for the U.S. Although, I have heard some people say that some places are still taking pre-orders, so maybe its not selling out here. I don't know. (I'm sure it'll still sell a lot though)

I do know that I really want a 3DS. I'm hoping that I might get one soon.

That said, I'm interested in the 3D, but its not the main selling point for the system for me. I'm most interested in all of the new software the system comes pre-loaded with, like the AR games, the Streetpass games, Face Raiders, etc. I'm also looking forward to Street Fighter on the 3DS and I'm not even a Street Fighter fan usually. The game just looks really good.

As for the NGP, I could care less. I use to have a PSP and I thought it was OK. My DS is better. The new NGP looks to just be borrowing ideas from the DS (touch screens. Why do you need TWO touch screens really?) and cellphones (3G). Sure, the graphics might be better on the NGP, but the 3DS has more features & software that I'm interested in (great stuff out of the box and in late May, an eShop & internet browser. Also netflix coming in the summer!)

Lots of reasons to be excited for the 3DS imo.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

I think 3D gaming (especially on handhelds) is just a gimmick that will pass.

If I recall, people said the exact same thing about the Duel Screen.

Yes. And Nintendo is still the only company using a two-screen design (unless the newest version of the PSP is going to feature something like that) and most computers typically have only one monitor, unless you use your computer as a part of your job and it somehow requires two screens.

 

[infinix]

Yes. And Nintendo is still the only company using a two-screen design (unless the newest version of the PSP is going to feature something like that) and most computers typically have only one monitor, unless you use your computer as a part of your job and it somehow requires two screens.

So are you defining gimmick as not catching on or not successful? Cause DS was and is a huge success.

 

[Bishop76]

I haven't heard anyone over the age of consent clamoring for this. It's being cranked out with the rest of the 3D tech crap that like maybe 5% of the population has interest in. It is a gimmick and hopefully it passes. It just doesn't seem to be the way to play video games, much less hand held video games. And for $250? You can buy a 360 for less than that and have a true current gen system. Though my perception is also based on the fact that all of my friends are a bit grown beyond the Nintendo standard lineup of games.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I haven't heard anyone over the age of consent clamoring for this. It's being cranked out with the rest of the 3D tech crap that like maybe 5% of the population has interest in. It is a gimmick and hopefully it passes. It just doesn't seem to be the way to play video games, much less hand held video games. And for $250? You can buy a 360 for less than that and have a true current gen system. Though my perception is also based on the fact that all of my friends are a bit grown beyond the Nintendo standard lineup of games.

I love it when people compare home consoles with handhelds as if they have anything to do with each other or appeal to the exact same markets.

They don't.

I suspect the 3D functionality of the 3DS will wind up like the touchscreen functionality of the DS: brilliantly leveraged by some titles, used adequately by others, poorly by many, and not at all by the rest. That doesn't make it a worthless concept, just one with perhaps limited usefulness.

It's like buying a TV with 3D capability. You aren't going to watch every show in 3D (or even most shows), but it'll be a nice feature to have when it is used.

I think some people are just still pissed the DS basically prints money and the 3DS will likely do the same.

 

[Bishop76]

No, I really have no stake in it and the DS prints money because it's cheap. There are almost no titles on the DS that appeal to me, yet I own one for the handful of titles that DO appeal to me. Because it's cheap. The 3DS is about $150 too expensive to even bring me in for the few titles that may interest me.

I don't think it's going to be a miserable failure, but I also don't think it's going to blow off the shelves here like it did in Japan. I also think a lot of people are a bit burned by the Wii and the fact that it only delivers a handful of good games a year, none of them successfully integrating amazing motion control. Could factor in - a lot of people don't want to be burned by two gimmicks from the same company.

I do also understand that handhelds appeal to a different market, I was just making the point that most of the people in that market prefer their item to cost less than a console.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

The PSP originally retailed for $250. Nintendo is hardly off-base at that price point. And it won't stay that price forever, obviously.

 

[infinix]

The PSP originally retailed for $250. Nintendo is hardly off-base at that price point. And it won't stay that price forever, obviously.

Also, I'm willing to bet with any of your that there is going to be a 3DS Lite less than one year from now. Nintendo and Apple has gotten very good at shoving *new* models down our throats.

The definite price drop and the eventual new SKU means I will certainly never buy the 3DS right now. But I might eventually buy one.

 

[Bishop76]

And how exactly did the PSP's launch go again? Not so hot. Obviously it won't stay at that price point, but I think Nintendo should have taken a lesson from Sony's overpricing of the PSP and the PS3 and brought it down to $175 at most.

It also is kind of missing any "must-have" launch apps which I think is going to hurt it's initial launch a bit.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Nintendo doesn't seem to front-load their libraries the way Sony and Microsoft do. The DS has now been out about 7 years. Nintendo would likely want the 3DS to last about as long. They can count on early adopters to pay $250 for it and build the market. I sure won't be one of them. But I could see myself buying one in a few years when it comes down below $200 and has a decent library.

Under its current circumstances, it doesn't appeal to you--or me. But we are obviously not the early adopters that are being targeted at this point. Give it a few years.

Nintendo is also going to be selling it at a substantial profit (as they always do) so they probably don't have to care too much if initial sales aren't stellar.

I don't know, I guess I just trust Nintendo's marketing strategies. They tend to do pretty well.

 

[Bishop76]

Well, they actually only recently started doing well again. Prior to that they hadn't really done well since the SNES days. The Wii pulled their ass out of the fire and brought them back up to Sony levels (while Sony's ham-fisted marketing strategies brought them down to Game Cube levels).

That said, they always have been the leader in the hand held market. Maybe I'm wrong and they'll fly off the shelves, but at that price point, in this economy, and with that launch lineup I have to wonder who exactly they're appealing to.

 

[clint g]

Keep in mind that it is not unusual at all to take preorders even when demand exceeds supply. I preordered a 360 and still had to wait four months to get one. On top of that most stores take preorders until the day before release.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I was at a gamestop store last night and the clerk there tried so very hard to talk me into per-ordering a 3DS. He kept piling on with the spiel about how they will only receive as many units as there are pre-orders, and how they will not receive another shipment for at least 3 months after that thanks to the tsunami.

I'm thinking.... if you are still taking pre-orders 6 days before launch, could there really be that much of a demand?

As a former GameStop manager, I see a few possibilities.

It's possible the Game Advisor (GS-speak for their sales clerks) needed to pump up his own pre-order numbers, because he stood a good chance of getting orders on not just the system but a game or three and some accessories. Pre-orders are a matter of life and death (or rather, continued employment versus unemployment) to a GameStop employee, after all. That doesn't mean they had systems still to be ordered; Game Advisors are not always ethical in how they get their pre-order numbers.

It's also possible that this store hadn't met the pre-order allocation they were given by corporate headquarters in Grapevine. Based on personal experience, this doesn't seem likely to me, though; actual launch allocations invariably come in under the projected launch allocations (which is the number to which a store should take pre-orders). I still have nightmares about the Xbox 360 launch disaster... So I would think that, realistically, a store shouldn't have the unordered units to pre-order, because chances are they'll be undershipped to what they were expecting.

The other possibility is that they had a pre-order cancellation, and they really wanted to get that now-unsold unit spoken for at launch.

 

[infinix]

Well, Sunday came and went. I visited the same Gamestop, and sure enough, there were at least 4 units of each color that were available for purchase even without pre-order. What's more, I was at the store in the afternoon and the "Game Advisor" said only about half of the people who pre-ordered actually came to pick it up.

I think Nintendo actually jacked up production this time and did their best to make sure there were amble stock. It looks like there were easily 5 ~ 8 times as many 3DS at launch compared to Wii at launch. Judging by the fact that each stores was able to take 30 to 50 3DS pre-orders with extras left over vs. 6 to 8 Wii pre-orders and received less units.