3DS Is Becoming Virtual Boy 2

Luke · Postby **Luke** » August 1st, 2011, 2:46 am

[QUOTE=BanjoPickles]On a side note, I think that the fact that Nintendo is giving 20 games away for free is one of the most awesome things that they have done in a very long time! For the people complaining about it....why?? Did Sony give you games when they lowered the price of the PS3? Better yet, how many games did they give you when their security was breached and your information was at risk? Four? This was something that Nintendo didn't have to do! [/QUOTE]This is a pure act of desperation on Nintendo's part. If you can't see it as being abything other than that you're being very naive. Especially with the HUGE price cut just recently announced for the 3DS. People aren't buying the 3DS because it was over-priced, over-hyped, and there's few original games worth buying for it.

What Sony did with the free games after the breach was an apology of sorts. Totally different scenario.

JesusSaves · Postby **JesusSaves** » August 1st, 2011, 9:09 am

What makes me saddest about this whole situation is that they effectively killed off the DS in the process. The DS still had plenty of life in it IMO. It was still selling well with each new revision (however unnecessary they were) and great games were still being made.

Oltobaz1 · Postby **Oltobaz1** » August 1st, 2011, 11:41 am

[QUOTE=Luke][QUOTE=BanjoPickles]On a side note, I think that the fact that Nintendo is giving 20 games away for free is one of the most awesome things that they have done in a very long time! For the people complaining about it....why?? Did Sony give you games when they lowered the price of the PS3? Better yet, how many games did they give you when their security was breached and your information was at risk? Four? This was something that Nintendo didn't have to do! [/QUOTE]This is a pure act of desperation on Nintendo's part. If you can't see it as being abything other than that you're being very naive. Especially with the HUGE price cut just recently announced for the 3DS. People aren't buying the 3DS because it was over-priced, over-hyped, and there's few original games worth buying for it.

What Sony did with the free games after the breach was an apology of sorts. Totally different scenario. [/QUOTE]

The situations are certainly different, but... the fact Sony went through a compensation plan probably played a huge part here. Nintendo couldn't do
any less, really, at least through marketing eyes. Sony's Welcome Back program
will have consequences in how this industry treat its customers, I think this is one of them.

N64Dude1 · Postby **N64Dude1** » August 1st, 2011, 1:34 pm

Any successful console worth beans [save Wii] looks like this.

The jury's out until a year has passed with no progress.

Adamant1 · Postby **Adamant1** » August 1st, 2011, 6:22 pm

[QUOTE=Luke]This is a pure act of desperation on Nintendo's part. If you can't see it as being abything other than that you're being very naive. [/QUOTE]

Uh, no, the price cut is the desperation act. The free game offer is more of an insurance against complaints of the "we bought your console when it was expensive and had few games, and you dropped the price right afterwards, is this how you treat loyal customers, grrr" type that would've no doubt arisen otherwise.

Leo1 · Postby **Leo1** » August 1st, 2011, 7:48 pm

I guess by Nintendo standards, it is a act of desperation. But we're not talking about a system here that is on the cusp of survival or failure. We're talking about an act here that perhaps will see a slightly shorter or longer lifespan for the system and a few millions difference in unit sales in the end, depending on which way this move goes.

Even if this decision doesn't have the effect Nintendo is hoping for, the 3DS isn't going away tomorrow, 6 months from now, or even 2-3 years from now. It faces several more years on the market, many millions of unit sales of the hardware ahead of it, and many hundreds of game releases even if the system ultimately is a failure compared to past Nintendo handhelds. It isn't on the verge of being a disaster like the Virtual Boy, so I don't think the term of desperation very accurately describes the situation. The thing isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

The only failure Nintendo is possibly facing is a successful handheld that isn't as successful as the GBA or the DS were. Failure isn't in the cards here.

Luke · Postby **Luke** » August 2nd, 2011, 2:23 am

Honestly, I think people ARE getting tired of Nintendo's gimmicks. I think they want more for their money. Especially since people have far less expendable income nowadays.

In all actuality, the 3DS should be FLYING off the shelves since it's virtually an open market for handhelds right now with little competition from the fading PSP. But it's not. It's been at a complete stand still. So what do you think it's going to be like when the PS Vita comes out? My guess? Probably just like it was when the long-awaited PS2 came out after the Sega Dreamcast had an early launch and a wide open market for many months - almost dead.

Nintendo is on its way out. I truly believe that. They're biting off WAY more than they can chew with the 3DS and Wii-U.

0-Storm · Postby **0-Storm** » August 2nd, 2011, 12:42 pm

I think Nintendo's problem is that they've been livin' off Mario, Donkey Kong & Zelda waaaaay too long. When N64 came out I saw more Mario & a Zelda style I didn't like. I was movin' on. Resident Evil, Twisted Metal & Tekken had my attention.

Now don't get me wrong. New Super Mario Bros., Mario Cart & the new Zelda games are great. I'm not saying they should abandon those franchises. I'm just saying they need some new games as well.

I've got a Wii & some cash. I'm lookin' to buy some Wii games, but I'm not seein' anything I want. I loved Wii Sports & Wii Sports Resort. I'd love to get a game with that sort of game mechanics, but with in-depth career modes & stat tracking. Ping Pong, Tennis, Boxing, Golf, basketball... some sort of sports game. Tiger Woods was ok, but I thought Sports Resort played better. The players in Top Spin moved "clunky" & Wii Sports Tennis played better. I can't rely on 3rd party developers for the Wii, so that means Nintendo should've done much much much more.

Shogun1 · Postby **Shogun1** » August 2nd, 2011, 8:45 pm

All the 3DS needs is 2D Mario and to get a strong RPG library. PS2 gamers flocked to the DS. Why? It had a strong RPG library. Looking at the PS2 library, it had a lot of RPG games and RPGs are popular in Japan for one thing and seem to be popular with core gamers.

Why 2D Mario? 2D Mario is the ultimate killer app. When DS sales were dragging because of its weak line-up led by a 3D Mario title (Super Mario 64 DS) nobody bought the thing. Then New Super Mario Bros. came out and it beat Super Mario Bros. 3 in sales. 2D Mario sells consoles. History shows that.

3DS is not selling because 3D games are not popular, heck 3D is not popular. 2D is what ages like wine and keeps selling even after "its prime". Just look at Virtual Console, look at the 2D games Nintendo released. If 2D games sold well then, why not now (which they have sold well). I think the 3DS was made to counter Sony pushing their 3DTVs and their 3D compatible games.

JWK1 · Postby **JWK1** » August 2nd, 2011, 9:12 pm

[QUOTE]Originally Posted by Shogun
All the 3DS needs is 2D Mario and to get a strong RPG library. PS2 gamers flocked to the DS. Why? It had a strong RPG library. Looking at the PS2 library, it had a lot of RPG games and RPGs are popular in Japan for one thing and seem to be popular with core gamers.

Why 2D Mario? 2D Mario is the ultimate killer app. When DS sales were dragging because of its weak line-up led by a 3D Mario title (Super Mario 64 DS) nobody bought the thing. Then New Super Mario Bros. came out and it beat Super Mario Bros. 3 in sales. 2D Mario sells consoles. History shows that.

3DS is not selling because 3D games are not popular, heck 3D is not popular. 2D is what ages like wine and keeps selling even after "its prime". Just look at Virtual Console, look at the 2D games Nintendo released. If 2D games sold well then, why not now (which they have sold well). I think the 3DS was made to counter Sony pushing their 3DTVs and their 3D compatible games.[/QUOTE]

Great quote about 2D games "aging like wine." For the life of me, I don't understand how game developers plug their ears when this gets mentioned. I'm currently buying PSOne games and the only thing that interests me is the 2D stuff.

I also don't understand how people on this forum can kill a console after 4.5 months. Think about that. This handheld system has been out for less than half a year. Everyone understands that the biggest titles are set for future release. Why don't we see what happens when Mario Kart 7, Kid Icarus, Star Fox 64, and especially Super Mario 3D Land get released? If it's still not selling then we can talk.

I have no stock in this "debate," if you want to call it that. Zero. I will probably never buy a 3DS because it doesn't appeal to me. I'm just tired of hearing people say, "Well that's it for Nintendo!!" Yeah, that's it for them... after they sold 90 million Wiis and 150 million DSs last generation. So, they've sold 4.32 million 3DSs to date. Tell you what. If Nintendo doesn't bump that number of 3DSs sold to 7 million worldwide by January 1, 2012, I'll buy everyone on this forum a 3DS and a copy of Mario Kart 7. BUT, if they have sold over 7 million consoles by that time, you have to promise to forever shut your face. Deal?