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Nintendo slashes 3DS price - officially a fail?

2

23skidoo

Admiral
Admiral
The debate over 3-D movies is going to rage on for a while, but I get the feeling "3-D gaming", at least in terms of hand-held devices, isn't catching on. Witness this CNN story that Nintendo is having to discount 3DS after only 5 months

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/07/28/nintendo.price.drop.3ds.frum/index.html

Good news for anyone who is actually wanting one of these in terms of cost, but otherwise I have a feeling the 3DS is headed the way of the Jaguar and the 3DO.

Alex
 
I played a demo at Best Buy the other week. While it was kind of cool playing a game in 3D the thing killed my eyes.

I did like having analog control though, not sure why they waited that long to implement it into a DS.
 
There is really nothing worth playing right now on the 3DS, Zelda is just another remake. This system badly needs a killer app.

PS1 had Final Fantasy VII.

Xbox had Halo.
 
this price drop made me consider getting a 3ds... but then i remembered, "i hate carrying around a handheld and all the extra games." the lack of games certainly is a factor as well, i dont care to play rehashed, 3D enhanced ports of games i already played the hell out of years ago.

right now, my portable gaming is done on my phone, or my ipod. games are cheaper, hardware is more functional.

how much of a future is left for dedicated handheld gaming systems?

i think they are on the way to being just a very small niche. i can see kids having handhelds (because most parents wont want to drop $200 on a smart phone for their 7 year old) and maybe the super dedicated hardcore. but most people will probably prefer to have one device they carry around with them in any regular situation.

a possible tech analogy would be digital cameras and dedicated GPS systems... again, a smart phone does those tasks decently enough for the average person.

so maybe Nintendo will partner up with some cellphone developer to make a Nintendo Cellphone...
 
darthraidr said:
so maybe Nintendo will partner up with some cellphone developer to make a Nintendo Cellphone...
Click to expand...


Sony already beat them to that.
Sony_Ericsson_XPERIA_Play.jpg
 
I found the 3D effect unimpressive and lowering the resolution, but more importantly not a compelling enough line-up for me to trade in my DSi LL. I'm considering the upgrade from Wii to Wii U because of Marvel Pinball, but my next gaming platform is going to be iPad 2.
 
The price cut in itself at this point of its product life cycle is happening comparatively early, but it is neither unheard of nor is it indicative of what the OP refers to as a "fail".

That said, the 3DS isn't doing great so far, and as was mentioned upthread, there is a significant lack of first- and third-party software resulting in a game lineup that is less than appealing to many audiences, to say the least.
 
I forgot to include this quote in my original post.
The DS launched on November 21, 2004. By the end of March, Nintendo had sold 5.27 million units worldwide. Nintendo has pushed 4.32 million 3DS units in roughly the same timeframe, but it's crucial to note that's without the benefit of the holidays.
Click to expand...
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/as-the-handheld-world-changes-nintendo-strikes-back/3534/

So no, there hasn't been a cataclysmic shift in raw revenue terms compared to the original handheld platform.
 
and then there are people like me, who KNOW Nintendo will release a 2nd gen 3DS next year with a more stable 3d screen
 
Along with the price cut, several Nintendo executives are eating pay cuts -- President Satoru Iwata is taking a 50 percent cut in his compensation, moving his pay from the equivalent of $1.8 million to $900,000, while "representative directors" including Miyamoto are eating a 30 percent pay reduction.

The raw revenue isn't a huge difference, but the profit differential (Nintendo apparently invested a shit-ton of cash in that 3D display) is pretty substantial. The 3DS isn't a complete flop, not yet, but 3D remakes of N64 games will not make it a printer of money like the DS was.

Sephiroth said:
and then there are people like me, who KNOW Nintendo will release a 2nd gen 3DS next year with a more stable 3d screen
Click to expand...

Apparently you don't understand the cost of multi-view autostereoscopic displays.
emot-laugh.gif
 
Timby said:
The 3DS isn't a complete flop, not yet, but 3D remakes of N64 games will not make it a printer of money like the DS was.
Click to expand...
True, but the odds are no dedicated gaming handheld will be. Ever. Again.

Nintendo's old MO of selling day-of profitable hardware will likely never again work out the way it did with the DS. At least when it comes to dedicated gaming hardware.
 
There's Sonic Generations. That'll probably boost 3DS sales, to some extent, when it's released.
 
From a purely aesthetic point of view, the 3DS is a huge ass garish looking piece of shit. I mean, come on, put it next to a DSLite and its like going back to a 2 tone Game boy case. The GBA SP looked better.

Then there is the aforementioned issue of no games for it and with 3rd party developers cancelling previously announced games for it left and right as well, this problem isn't going to get better.

Also, 3D tech IS improving....I've seen a bunch of articles on Engadget and the like about Parallax barrier screens with multiple, wider viewing angles in the prototype stages. In about a year or so, these should come to the point where they'll be feasible for consumer use, and would make sense in a 3DSlite which has nicer, tasteful styling as opposed to neon blue on black.
 
I played one of these for about 10 minutes and it gave me a blistering headache. Also, I've heard a lot of parents are avoiding buying them for their kids because of concerns about the longterm impact on kids vision.
 
Stephen! said:
There's Sonic Generations. That'll probably boost 3DS sales, to some extent, when it's released.
Click to expand...

Yup, Sonic Generations is released for it in November, Mario and Sonic at the London Olympic Games in February 2012 and the mysterious as yet unnamed "Sonic 3DS" due holidays 2012.
 
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