3DS Is Becoming Virtual Boy 2

[Michael D]

Wait, I was wrong about Ocarina's sales; it actually didn't even pass 300,000 units and the 3DS didn't even sell 150,000 units, while the DS sold 504,000. So, yeah, Nintendo needed to do this price cut and bad.

[bluemonkey1]

For me the 3D just isn't impressive on such a small screen.  I've used demo units in stores and it has the same problem for me as if you don't sit near the front in the cinema and I just don't see what this iteration of the DS brings to combat the Vita that's right around the corner.

[Leo1]

25.5 billion yen loss? Ouch

Their shareholders must not be too pleased with how Nintendo's finances have appeared over the past couple of years after getting used to the Nintendo name being a license to print money for a while. Hopefully they pull the 3DS out of this slump and are successful in again going after the core console market with the WiiU after realizing most of their non traditional Wii buyers weren't actually buying many games for their consoles.

As for this price drop, I'm very tempted to get a 3DS right now for the 20 game deal.

The GBA games being exclusive for now to this giveaway initially was tempting me. But I already own the original GBA cartridges for those games that interest me that we know about currently along with a very nice GBA SP2 here to play them on. Plus, they clearly were careful with how they worded this announcement in order to keep the door open to selling these GBA downloads eventually in their online store. Things like Yoshi's Island are too popular not to sell as downloads eventually. They will just end up like the Japanese Super Mario Brothers 2 on the Virtual Console, I'm sure (Was supposed to be a limited time exclusive release).

So I'm trying not to rush it and take this bait since I'd like to hold off to at least the first hardware revision and wait for more games to be released. Maybe if I can find somewhere that is honoring this new MSRP prior to the deadline for the free games, I'll spring for one now. That would be too good of a deal to pass up.

[Adamant1]

[QUOTE=Leo]

Hopefully they pull the 3DS out of this slump [/QUOTE]

Oh, they will. The 3DS' main problem is a lack of games, and when the two biggest titles on the system, Ocarina of Time and Street Fighter 4, are ports, it's not that odd for people to wait.

[QUOTE=Leo] As for this price drop, I'm very tempted to get a 3DS right now for the 20 game deal. [/QUOTE]

As am I. It's a great deal.

[andrew]

[QUOTE=a][QUOTE=andrew]

Wal-Mart has already rolled back the price of the 3DS to $198 .

[/QUOTE]

Not at any walmart I've been to. 

[/QUOTE]

It has in Canada. Whether it's a permanent rollback is another story. Apparently rollback doesn't mean permanent reduction anymore.

[Leo1]

[QUOTE=andrew][QUOTE=a][QUOTE=andrew]

Wal-Mart has already rolled back the price of the 3DS to $198 .

[/QUOTE]

Not at any walmart I've been to. 

[/QUOTE]

It has in Canada. Whether it's a permanent rollback is another story. Apparently rollback doesn't mean permanent reduction anymore.

[/QUOTE]

It's a moot point considering today's announcement from Nintendo of lowering the MSRP of the 3DS well below that point.

[andrew]

[QUOTE=Leo][QUOTE=andrew][QUOTE=a][QUOTE=andrew]

Wal-Mart has already rolled back the price of the 3DS to $198 .

[/QUOTE]

Not at any walmart I've been to. 

[/QUOTE]

It has in Canada. Whether it's a permanent rollback is another story. Apparently rollback doesn't mean permanent reduction anymore.

[/QUOTE]

It's a moot point considering today's announcement from Nintendo of lowering the MSRP of the 3DS well below that point.

[/QUOTE]

That's quite a hefty price reduction (-$80).

[JWK1]

Consoles all need time to build up a base.  It's amazing how short-sighted this forum can be when it comes to this type of thing.  Did the first six to twelve months of the PS2's life-cycle suggest that it would later become the greatest selling console of all-time?  Think about it.  Now that's not to say that Nintendo has a slight uphill battle ahead of them.  People are skeptical of the Wii U (just as they were with the Wii) and the 3DS isn't selling enough to justify purchase of Nintendo stock, but I would say that an $80 price drop and imminent release of Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart, and Kid Icarus will help that quite a bit.

And Michael D, don't pretend to be objective.  If you don't like Nintendo or the 3DS just say so.  Saying "I gave the 3DS a shot, but now it's the Virtual Boy" is anything but objective.  It's the same as people who predicted the failure of the Wii, Kinect, and PS Move four seconds after they came out.  Give the console a couple of years and then you can make a damning blanket statements like that.

[a1]

[QUOTE=JWK]

And Michael D, don't pretend to be objective.  If you don't like Nintendo or the 3DS just say so.  Saying "I gave the 3DS a shot, but now it's the Virtual Boy" is anything but objective.  It's the same as people who predicted the failure of the Wii, Kinect, and PS Move four seconds after they came out.  Give the console a couple of years and then you can make a damning blanket statements like that.

[/QUOTE]

I wasn't gonna say anything, but those were my thoughts exactly. It's like, "I've given it a shot, a full 5 months before condemning it as a failure." Gimme a break.

[Michael D]

If what I said wasn't true and if it wasn't on the way to being a Virtual Boy-like disaster, why did Nintendo do what they just did?  

And I am objective here;  I said that Nintendo botched the original DS's launch, but gave them credit when they turned it around, and gave Sony credit on the PSP's launch and later, excoriated them for letting it go down the drain.  In fact, I went on the record saying that both systems' big revamps, the DSi and PSP Go shouldn't have been made and were wasting time and resources that should have went into getting the 3DS and Vita here sooner.  

I have nothing against Nintendo personally; they've just been screwing up recently and are losing their leads from the last console and handheld cycle with their predecessors, just like Sony did with the PS3 at its launch and post launch period (and hey, it was on the way to death, too).  Oh, and as far as the PS2 analogy is concerned, that's faulty because, despite its problems after the launch, it was actually selling.