Game

[Borys]

`

[pilonv1]

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Nintendo of America today announced plans to drop the suggested retail price of its portable Nintendo 3DS™system to $169.99 in the United States, as new games based on some of the world’s most beloved video game franchises head to the system. The new price, down from the suggested launch price of $249.99 and effective Aug. 12, makes an outstanding value even better and sets up a strong holiday season for the system.

“For anyone who was on the fence about buying a Nintendo 3DS, this is a huge motivation to buy now,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “We are giving shoppers every incentive to pick up a Nintendo 3DS, from an amazing new price to a rapid-fire succession of great games.”

Nintendo 3DS has the strongest software lineup of any video game system this holiday season and the new price now opens up the glasses-free 3D experience to many more consumers. Building on the popularity of The Legend of Zelda™: Ocarina of Time™ 3D, which launched June 19, the upcoming game calendar is a Who’s Who of iconic video game franchises. Star Fox 64™ 3D arrives on Sept. 9, followed by Super Mario™ 3D Land in November, Mario Kart™ 7 in December and Kid Icarus™: Uprising during the holiday season. In addition to great games, Nintendo 3DS has a host of attractive features* that make it the must-have video game system this season:

The new Nintendo Video™ service automatically delivers short 3D videos from the worlds of music, comedy, animation and Hollywood.
A free application allows Netflix members with unlimited streaming plans to instantly watch TV episodes and movies streaming from Netflix.
The Nintendo eShop is a digital store for Nintendo 3DS owners that provides access to a wide variety of downloadable content, such as original 3D software, classic games that have been re-mastered in 3D called 3D Classics, Game Boy™ and Game Boy Color “Virtual Console” games in their original 2D glory, and more than 350 Nintendo DSiWare™ games. Visitors can also view video game trailers, screen shots and product information for games, including those available at retail locations.

Since Nintendo 3DS launched in the United States on March 27, more than 830,000 people in the U.S. alone have purchased one to enjoy 3D visuals without the need for special glasses. These Nintendo 3DS owners represent some of Nintendo’s most loyal customers, and Nintendo is rewarding them for getting in on the action early with 20 free downloadable games from the Nintendo eShop.

These free games are available to anyone who owns a Nintendo 3DS system and uses a wireless broadband Internet signal to connect to the Nintendo eShop at least once before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11. These users will automatically be registered in the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program. The program contains two elements:

Starting Sept. 1, Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors will be able to download 10 NES™ Virtual Console™ games at no charge and before they are available in the Nintendo eShop to the general public. These games, including Super Mario Bros.™, Donkey Kong Jr.™, Balloon Fight™, Ice Climber™ and The Legend of Zelda™, are slated to become paid downloadable games, but Ambassadors get them early for free. Once the paid versions of the games are posted to the Nintendo eShop later in the year, the updated versions will be available to Ambassadors for download at no cost. By the end of 2011, Nintendo will provide Ambassadors with 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games. These include games like Yoshi’s Island™: Super Mario™ Advance 3, Mario Kart™: Super Circuit, Metroid™ Fusion, WarioWare™, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong™. 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.

More details about this program will be announced in the future.

$170 in the US?

from an amazing new price to a rapid-fire succession of great games.

Is Reggie delusional?

[Lerkaboi]

nintendo going 3rd party confirmed

[chronovore]

Hm. I may eventually buy one, at this lower price.

[pilonv1]

[T-Short]

This is an Xbox1 level price "adjustment", I just can't seem to find any informationz on how early the Xbox1 slash came. But I think it was around 6 months in or something. Was a hyooooge drop as well, at least in PAL-land.

[pilonv1]

PAL land was about 6 weeks IIRC, which was about a month or two before the Gamecube launch.

[maxy]

Good,smart move by Nintendo

[T-Short]

PAL land was about 6 weeks IIRC, which was about a month or two before the Gamecube launch.

six WEEKS? really?

[pilonv1]

Launched here in March 2002, price drop was April.

http://au.gamespot.com/news/2861836/xbox-price-drop-in-australia-europe

Today Microsoft Australia announced a price cut for its video game console, the Xbox. It is a drastic reduction of the recommended retail price by more than 38 percent, a cut of more than AU$250 ($135).

The cut comes as the competing system from Nintendo, the GameCube, is due to reach store shelves on May 17. The new Xbox recommended retail price is AU$399 ($215). The launch price of the GameCube is also AU$399.

Gamecube dropped to $329 before it launched too. Was a fun time.

[Tasty]

$250 was a completely asinine price to begin with. At most it should have been $220 or something, $250 was milking it waaaay too much.

I'm very happy with this though! I thought the DSi at its launch price ($170) was a decent deal so I think this is great. I also don't see it dropping in price for another year or two at least.

[Tasty]

Wait a second...

NES 3DS VC

GBA VC

It makes me happy when Nintendo stumbles because then they actually get off their asses and try to make me happy. (But I also like it when they win because then it's fun to troll the dudebro Slownies and Xbots.)

[Cerveza mas fina]

Xbox had huge price reduction, but it also had one an epic game in the likes of Halo, a true classic. A game which still sparks conversation, and is one of the most influential games of the past decade.

3DS has its price slashed, but still no games.

[Tasty]

Xbox had huge price reduction, but it also had one an epic game in the likes of Halo, a true classic. A game which still sparks conversation, and is one of the most influential games of the past decade.

3DS has its price slashed, but still no games.

oot tree dee?

(gettin away from what's available or not available now) I still think the holiday lineup is fantastic. Mario, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing (eh...), and Kid Icarus. Then early next year, boom, Luigi's Mansion sequel.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Thats remake of revolutionary game thats 13 years old, and it's only slightly updated. It's not even like REmake on the GCN.

Halo was a game that was on everybody's lips when it came out.

[Tasty]

3DS definitely does need a killer app/game. But I think it will do well now until that game appears.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Yeah true, I'm just saying the Xbox was def worth buying after the cut. 3DS still isn't for me.

Nintendo cuts full year profit forecasts by 82%

Nintendo has slashed its full-year profit forecasts by 82 per cent to ¥20 billion ($257 million), compared to its previous estimates of ¥110 billion.

The extreme cut follows continued disappointing sales of the 3DS handheld console, which for three months ended June 30 sold only 710,000 units worldwide.

The company has announced that it intends to cut the price of the 3DS in Japan, Europe and the US this August.

Net loss for the first quarter was ¥25.5 billion, with sales at ¥93.9 billion, down 50 per cent compared to ¥188.6 billion for the same period last year. The company blamed poor sales, exchange rates and research and development costs for the Wii U.

Aside from respectable sales of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, the company acknowledged "few other hit titles" for its new handheld. During the three month period, 4.53 million 3DS games were sold.

The DS series of handhelds sold 1.44 million units and 12.13 million games, while Wii hardware shifted another 1.56 million units and 13.44 million software titles.

[Cerveza mas fina]

In other news.. PS3 only outselling PS2 by 400k?  :'( PS2 console of the beyond forever. Where is it selling?

PS3 sales drop in first quarter, Corp losses hit $191m

Sony Corporation has reported a net loss of ¥15.5 billion ($191 million) for the first quarter ended June 30, compared to a profit of ¥25.7 billion for the same period last year.

The company said sale and profits were down mainly due to the impact of the Japanese Earthquake in March this year, although operations affected by the disaster are recovering faster than expected.

Sales of the PlayStation 3 dropped to 1.8 million units for the first quarter, down from 2.4 million for the same period last year.

Sales of PlayStation 3 games were up to 26.1 million units, from 24.8 million last year. Despite the slump in hardware, Sony still expects to outsell last year's PS3 total for the full financial year, forecasting 15 million sales compared to 14.3 million. Software sales are expected to be static at around 148 million games.

Sales of the PlayStation Portable were up on last quarter, from 1.2 million to 1.8 million, while PlayStation 2 sales dropped from 1.6 million to 1.4 million.

Sony's Consumer Products & Services division, which now includes PlayStation products as well as TV, home audio and video, mobile products and digital imaging, reported operating profits of ¥1.7 billion ($21 million), down from ¥28.5 billion last year, primarily due to a decline in LCD TV and video cameras.

Sales in the division were down 13 per cent to ¥732.3 billion ($9 billion), due to low sales in the US and Europe and competition in the PC market. The company made no detailed comments on the PlayStation business.

[T-Short]

3DS system seller for me will be Kid Icarus, seems so

in Sakurai I trust

[Tasty]

Yeah the price of the 3DS is only one of the major problems.  It's the easiest one to address, too.  The others are the battery life, the software lineup, and the overall "raison d'etre" in a smartphone world.

I'm confident the software will pick up as it's a rare system that doesn't end up with at least a decent batch of software, and perhaps the battery life could be addressed in a new revision, but it's that last point Nintendo is struggling with now that it's apparent 3D is falling flat.

They need to bring in someone who knows what they're doing to revamp their OS. I'm not talking about putting an App Store on the 3DS, just make it easier to use. Do that and good downloadable sales will follow.

[magus]

10 free NES VC and 10 free GBA VC
GBA VC is for early adopters only

are there even 10 good gba games?

[magus]

uh, yeah

are you fucking distinguished mentally-challenged or something?

well they certainly aren't going to release rhythm tengoku so that's already one off the list...

[Tasty]

So uh:

Buy now or wait for redesign?

Either is a good option right now, depends on if you can deal with some software droughts, whether the upcoming games lineup appeals to you, and whether you're really bothered by a shorter battery life.

[magus]

you know i said that in the heat of the moment but truth to be told,i still can't think many games... there is battle network,castlevania,the two metroid.......

.... golden sun? megaman zero got a collection which is bound to be cheaper than single releases,maybe they can release kuru kuru kururin again as it's the only game that they didn't already re-release in 20 different versions?

heck i hope they don't re-release all the port again

oh god i just realized this means i have to read people bitching about nintendo not bringing mother 3 to the US again

just for kicks
http://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html?site=gba&cat=0&year=0&numrev=0&sort=0&letter=&search=

3 out of the first 5 are snes ports and one of them is mario kart which you already own for DS and you are going to own it again for the 3DS

[Tasty]

TBH I have the opinion GBA had a weak library but still, saying it doesn't even have 10 good games (even if hyperbole) is absurd.

Also doesn't help my perception GBA had the weakest Pokemon games either. Looking forward to playing the eventual remakes, though.

[magus]

really magus

you, of all people, are going to gamerankings averages for interesting games?

i thought u were hardc0re

we know five of them already, anyway: Yoshi's Island, Mario Kart, Wario Ware, Metroid Fusion, and Mario vs DK.

ehy i said just for kicks!

[T-Short]

weak troll, magus. huahua

the two kururin games alone make the GBA worth owning. the two metroids are A-OK, the igavanias are nice, Treasure's Astro Boy is great, Screwbreaker/Drilldozer is great, the two Wario Wares and Rhythm Tengoku are great AND SO FORTH

[Tasty]

Also, Legacy of Goku 1/2 and Yugioh World Tour. AAA games man.

[maxy]

Bah,I think that Nintendo freebies are bit crappy--few games from some pre-dinosaur age platforms

I would give nothing to early fools---they are full of cash anyway

Nintendo is kinda worried though

Nintendo has acknowledged fans "may lose trust" in the company due to the unprecedented nature of its announced 3DS price cut.

The drop in sale price will see a third sliced off the 3DS' European price. It takes place 12th August, less than five months after the console launched.

"Never in Nintendo's history have we dropped a system's trade price so significantly," the company conceded.

"We are aware this may cause you, the loyal fans who supported Nintendo 3DS from the beginning, to lose trust in us, and this is not our intention in any way."

Nintendo attempted to pre-empt fan backlash by announcing a robust set of rewards for "Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors", or early adopters who bought the 3DS pre-price drop.

Addressing its Ambassadors, Nintendo admitted that "although we may not be able to completely prevent you from regretting purchasing Nintendo 3DS early, we would like to express our gratitude to our special customers like you".

nothing to worry about,gamers are quick to forget and easy to manipulate

[Damian79]

Sweet now they just need a fix for the battery life.

[MCD]

Still waiting for redesign.

[demi]

Now this is funny.

[Cerveza mas fina]

20 really really old games doesn't sound like a thank you, more like Nintendo trolling even more.

At least Sony gave new games away when they fucked up.

But I guess Nintendo doesn't have any new downloadable games to give away.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Thanks for spending 80 euro more, here is 5mb worth of 20 year old roms that cost us less then air.

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[Joe Molotov]

Now cut the price of the DSiXL to $99.

[iconoclast]

GBA was my portable Fire Pro machine. Other games were just a bonus.

[Eel O'Brian]

i like how they say they have no plans to sell gba games on the vc

[Eel O'Brian]

"hey everyone, if you hadn't jizzed all over the system back when we were previewing it handcuffed to hot models, this is what the launch price would have been!  here's 20 free roms, sorry bout that!  also, suck it!"

[T-Short]

i like how they say they have no plans to sell gba games on the vc

Huh? I thought what they said was that these specific games are going to be exclusive for the early adopters. Seems crazy to not ever sell any other GBA games as VC...

[Eel O'Brian]

that's what i meant, i just woke up

yeah, they are totally gonna sell those games a few months later

[magus]

weak troll, magus. huahua

the two kururin games alone make the GBA worth owning. the two metroids are A-OK, the igavanias are nice, Treasure's Astro Boy is great, Screwbreaker/Drilldozer is great, the two Wario Wares and Rhythm Tengoku are great AND SO FORTH

the second kururin game is japan only,rhythm tengoku is japan only,the second wario ware would require them to do modification to work as they would have to rewire it to the actual 3DS gyroscope and we all know that this is never going to happen and i wouldn't be surprised if astro boy is never going to get re-released on the principle that digital download seems to have an allergy to anything with an IP attached to it

realisticaly the first game i can see them release on such a shop is f-zero,wario ware,mario vs donkey kong and minish cap if they feel particulary generous... though wasn't minish cap co-developed with capcom? maybe they have to reach an agrement or something?

[muckhole]

You know, 10 free GBA games and 10 free NES games takes a bit of the sting out of the price drop compared to when this usually happens.

I'm in the same boat. As someone who almost always runs out and buys launch hardware, price drops (although rarely this early) don't tend to make me second-guess my purchases. I know they're coming at some point, and that I'm paying a premium to have the system from the get-go.

I'm just happy that Nintendo is actually trying to do something to get this turkey off the ground, which will hopefully result in a larger user base, more games etc. It really was looking like a bit of a sinking ship, and it still might be, depending on how this price drop/PSVita play out.

I'd rather the inevitable price drop happen now and get me some free games, as opposed to the price dropping next year and getting nothing.

Of course, easy for me to say, I got mine as a gift. 

[T-Short]

the second kururin game is japan only,rhythm tengoku is japan only,the second wario ware would require them to do modification to work as they would have to rewire it to the actual 3DS gyroscope and we all know that this is never going to happen and i wouldn't be surprised if astro boy is never going to get re-released on the principle that digital download seems to have an allergy to anything with an IP attached to it

realisticaly the first game i can see them release on such a shop is f-zero,wario ware,mario vs donkey kong and minish cap if they feel particulary generous... though wasn't minish cap co-developed with capcom? maybe they have to reach an agrement or something?

Oh, my bad, I thought your question was "are there even 10 good GBA games"

oh wait

it was

[Cerveza mas fina]

Cd-i was horrible. Jesus. I rented one once.

Idea was good though. Just waaaay to soon.

Mr. Lager:

Ehn, Metroid Fusion isn't even ten years old, but I understand time among many things runs slower in backwards countries.  

I don't know if you're trying to insult me, or sympathizing with me as I do live in a backwards foreign country 

Also if time runs slower, wouldnt that mean the game is newer 

Love,
Lager

[Mupepe]

Glad I waited.  Buying one now

[magus]

magus, drop the GBA trolling.

do people seriously think i'm saying this to piss people off? looking at that list hyoushi posted,i already agreed when it came to talking about the igavania's and the metroid,kururin and drilldozer are two lame games nobody cares about... at this point even fucking fire emblem and advance wars holds more weight,astro boy is okay but there is like a gazillion treasure games that are better,and wario ware... well i forgot wario ware,i guess that makes me an horrible person paired with the fact that i think kururin is a lame game?

The GBA had a weak library?! What the fuck is this shit?!

everybody fondly remember the gameboy for stuff like tetris,super mario land,link's awakening....

when i try to think about the gameboy advance my first thought is "oh yeah! there surely were tons of snes port with the gamma turned to max!" and that i played tons of megaman battle network until capcom run it to the ground by the time battle network 4 rolled out

[demi]

you arent thinking hard enough man.

[T-Short]

kururin and drilldozer are two lame games nobody cares about...

punch yourself in the throat

[Trent Dole]

So uh:

Buy now or wait for redesign?

Current design scratches one of the screens up, yes? Wait for them to fix that shit.

[AdmiralViscen]

So im fucked out of eighty dollars but ill get 20 games i cant choose 'by the endof the year'

Great

[frod]

Hopefully Racing Gears Advance gets a release. One of the greatest topdown racers of all time.

[Cerveza mas fina]

HAAAA HE LOVES ME

EAT IT HIMU, ONE OF US IS GETTING NOOKIE TONIGHT AND IT AIN'T THE CHUMP WEEPING IN THE PARK

 

 

[bork]

Buy now or wait for redesign?

If there's nothing you care about, keep on waiting!

[bork]

The GBA had a weak library?! What the fuck is this shit?!

Magus is fucking crazy, man.

[Cerveza mas fina]

But to be honest is hard to sympathize with any of the suckers that bought it at 250.

As someone here said, Nintendo shouldn't give them anything. They didnt take their role as Ambassadors too seriously obviously as 3DS is flopping.

[magus]

The GBA had a weak library?! What the fuck is this shit?!

Magus is fucking crazy, man.

i should have keep my mouth shut!

[Don Flamenco]

ok, this was not expected. 

the question is: is this desperation or the plan all along?

[naff]

Hmmm might buy one no.... nah fuck that

[Bebpo]

ok, this was not expected. 

the question is: is this desperation or the plan all along?

Yes, this was the plan all along...

...

[Don Flamenco]

ok, this was not expected. 

the question is: is this desperation or the plan all along?

Yes, this was the plan all along...

...

who knows? 

but with this much of a price cut, are they selling it at a loss now?  that would be a first for nintendo.


edit: oh man, these things are gonna be like $140 on amazon warehouse deals!  But the big game I wanted was MGS3 but that's getting an HD update, so now it's worthless to me.