Nintendo 3DS price being slashed to $170
From August 12, the Nintendo 3DS will drop to $169.99--a cut of $80, and only $20 more than a DSi. Current 3DS owners are being offered 20 free Virtual Console games as thanks for buying early.
Nintendo's knocking a whopping $80 off the ticket price of a shiny new Nintendo 3DS, the company announced this morning. From August 12, the handheld will cost $169.99--only $20 more than its predecessor, the DSi. To placate early adopters, Nintendo's offering twenty free Virtual Console games to those who've bought a 3DS before the price drop.
"For anyone who was on the fence about buying a Nintendo 3DS, this is a huge motivation to buy now," Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said in the announcement. "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."
While Nintendo boasts that the 3DS has sold 830,000 units in the USA since its March 27 launch, it's still very much in the shadow of the cheaper DS family. Recent Nintendo 3DS hardware sales have been described by analysts as "light," though they've been expected to pick up once the games lineup improves. Nintendo drew attention to the fact that Star Fox 64 3D, Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, and Kid Icarus: Uprising are all due out this year. An $80 price cut should certainly help too.
As people who've already bought a 3DS probably didn't expect Nintendo to cut the price by a third after only four months, and might be a mite annoyed, heaps of free games are being offered to placate these early adopters.
You'll need to connect your 3DS to the Nintendo eShop before 11:59pm Eastern on August 11 to qualify, automatically enrolling you in the 'Nintendo 3DS Ambassador' program. This'll net you ten free NES Virtual Console games before they're available to the general public, and ten free GameBoy Advance VC titles Nintendo doesn't plan to release to the hoi polloi at all.
The NES freebies will arrive on September 1, and include Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, and The Legend of Zelda. Amongst the GBA offerings are Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$, and Mario vs. Donkey Kong, due to be given to Ambassadors "by the end of 2011."
The Nintendo 3DS price will also drop in Europe and Japan, Nintendo has confirmed. The Japanese price is going from 25,000¥ to 15,000¥. Prices in Europe are ultimately dictated by retailers, but Nintendo of Europe says, "we look forward to consumers benefiting from much lower retail prices very soon."
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replyAlice O'Connor posted a new article, Nintendo 3DS price dropping to $170, free games for current owners.
From August 12, the Nintendo 3DS will drop to $169.99--a cut of $80, and only $20 more than a DSi. Current 3DS owners are being offered 20 free Virtual Console games as thanks for buying early.-
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Yeah, I'm waiting for slightly cheaper and double the battery life.
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^^^ This right here. I like not having to worry about charging for a while.
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I've ran into absolutely no problems with my 3DS' battery life. I naturally don't use full brightness (Kept at 3 unless outside, then it goes all the way up and I do not use the power-saving mode at all because I like vibrant colors), I keep wireless turned on all of the time, and as for 3D I keep it on for most games unless motion controls are used, and I turn it off for VC and DS games because it doesn't work anyways. I don't see how somebody could realistically sit for that long and play a handheld game unless they are a child or have no life. I am neither.
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Not necessarily long play sessions, but I would like being able to pick it up, and put it down plenty of times without having to worry about getting to your charger. I don't like carrying chargers with me.
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I'm waiting for a prettier color. Actually I'm just going to drool over it but resist until my DS stops working and then I'll totally cave and buy one. Unless I magically get an iPad or something, I guess.
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Wow, crazy. Certainly makes it more likely I might get one in the future, but yeah definitely want to wait for an inevitable redesign, more games, and to see how the Vita turns out.
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Is the 3DS struggling so much that this was necessary? Very surprising.
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It's funny you mention Android phones given it's still 200+ for anything relatively new with a 2 year contract, and the games market is still quite anemic for it. Unless you meant how games can be 99cents and be OK but that's unclear at the moment...and still almost not true for Android anyway.
Coming out before a Vita announcement was a smart move, and probably why they did so at $250 without a solid launch lineup; they've seen Sony match that $250 for the 3G-less model, and then Nintendo responded. They got a little early-adopter money, will probably keep the goodwill of said early-adopters (who are probably somewhat fanboyish anyway) , and will give a great fight what with the new price point and that mario/mario/star fox/kid icarus lineup.
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This shows how wildly fortunes can change in the gaming industry. Nintendo hit one out of the park with the Wii, but the 3DS looks stillborn. At least they have quickly realized it and are trying to revive the system before it too late. The question is are they making a profit with that much of a price drop or has Nintendo entered the realm of selling hardware at a loss like their competitors which I don't think they have ever done before.
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Well, if the analysis released in March of this year was any indication, it's about $100-103, parts-wise.
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Had a feeling it was going to come to this. Something had to give - either the price of the console or price of the games. Current owners will get 20 free VC games though:
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2011/07/faq_nintendo_ambassador_program_and_free_eshop_games?page=2 -
Who does Nintendo think they're kidding when they say the GBA games are exclusive and they'll never sell them to the public? Bullshit. I for one can't wait until GBA games are on the 3DS VC sometime in 2012 most likely!
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lol wow...that's..I don't know how to even process that. Obviously the 3ds isn't doing as well as the expected, but to lower it so soon after it launched? I wasn't expecting that until after christmas.
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Metroid Fusion, Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Yoshi's Island are great GBA titles. I still have them on my DSLite since it has a GBA slot.
I'm still not really interested in replacing my DSlite. -
so the 3ds is doing that poorly huh
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Against their own DSlite, relatively so, but I imagine pricing at 250, waiting for sony to annouce their own next-gen portable, and then dropping hard right before a good library of games comes out, is a strong incentive as well.
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Awesome can I have a XL now?
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Especially with sony's new gear right around the corner for what would have been the same price.
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It would be nice if when you logged into the eShop if it gave you some kind of confirmation that you are now an "Ambassador". :-) But it is a great idea. I am still kicking myself for jumping on the bandwagon for this at launch.
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So it should work if you buy this game at retail immediately before the price drop, get free games, and then take the receipt to the store for a price adjustment like that kid in the Circuit City ads? (And the manager refunds the difference in quarters hahaha) I'm certain there some retailer one can pull this off at!
Though it wouldn't surprise me there's a clause against that. -
Looks like iOS is really doing a number on handheld systems!
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heh, from neogaf http://www.abload.de/img/0132_17x8.gif
I absolutely love my DS Lite, but I have no idea what N was thinking when they thought they could sell a handheld for $250-
especially now it looks like the $250 price point wasn't necessary to make a small profit on the hardware, when four months down the line they can sell it for $170 and still make a profit.
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obviously
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Totally disagree
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Uhm... What?
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Just because they're old doesn't mean they aren't quality.
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Does mean I've played them all before and beaten them all. With the exception of Ice Climbers and Balloon Fight
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On the other hand they're giving people free games, for free. Normally when consumer electronics drops in price, you get nothing. If you don't like the free games because they aren't good enough, you can not get any of them and then you will be no worse off than you were before.
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yeah, it's pretty decent of them to try so hard to make up for it.
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I think they're good games, and I also heard Four Swords is being released for free?
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Really? Better? Nintendo dropped the price of their console and are giving early adopters twenty free games. Sony taunted hackers, got all of your personal information stolen, kept it hidden for a week, kept you from playing/buying new games online for a month (and more in Japan) then offered two games to make up for it. Great trade-off there.
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1) Really? You're replying to a thread this old?
2) Yes, better. Sony's list of games was much better than this. Sony's action and negligence was not better than Nintendo's price drop. But that's not what I said in the post you responded to, that was what you wanted me to have said so that your reply would make sense. Nintendo's list of ancient games (the ones of which I want to play I already have) is trumped by Sony's list of fairly current, AAA games.
3) Sony gave 4 games, counting the PSP, but that's not even the point.
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20 free VC games is nice of them.
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Am I the only one who really likes my 3DS? I also love the VC aspect so hell yes, I'm in for 20 free games. I like the idea of having them all on one system.
Look, I knew what I was getting into when I got it at launch. I also knew the price would drop at some point and when that happened, it wouldn't change what I paid for it. So getting some extra because it happened quick is nothing but good in my book.-
No I adore my 3DS, I play a ton of Street fighter on the go, and the 3D effect is awesome:) plus nintendo's 1st party has yet to really show up. I must say I'm glad I don't have too make the choice of whether I'd pay the extra $80 for those great GBA games:)
And can we all just say hooray Nintendo for these games, they had no need to do that and that's a great service to the nintendo fans.
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I've never pretended not to be a hack!
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OK, this is more compelling. Sad that I'm more excited about the VC games than the current releases.
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I really hope Punch-Out is one of the games. I don't suppose they'll upscale the resolution?
