REDMOND, Wash., July 28, 2011 – 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."

Press Release

Fun fun fun!

EDIT: Added paragraphs from the press release with a link, and converted the thread into a news article. ~ Earendil

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i knew i waited for a reason...I love you Nintendo!

I'm so excited!!

Posted by

Whiffleboy

on: 07/28/11, 22:50

I just about screamed when I saw the headline... but then Nintendo made it all better.

No doubt this is due to less than stellar sales. I went through a brief period of hating myself for not listening to my first instinct of holding off for a price cut or a redesign.

But then I read further and to thank the early adopters who paid full price, they are giving me 20 free downloadable games. And not crap games, but good ones, and mostly all ones I haven't played. And 10 of them are games that aren't planned on being sold in the shop or otherwise available to people who didn't buy at the higher price! Awesome! So that's basically $4 per game, I paid.

Suddenly, I'm all good with it again. Well played Nintendo!

Posted by

nacthenud

on: 07/28/11, 22:56

Edited:

07/28/11, 23:02

@nacthenud Yeah but what about the many of us who have played most or all of those games? It's kind of worthless to me, to be honest. I'd have preferred some store credit that I can use on whatever I want. Not 20 games worth of store credit, mind you, I realize that this would be impossible. But some store credit.

Posted by

Zero

on: 07/28/11, 23:02

@nacthenud

If they really aren't going to release the GBA games for sale to general public that would be incredibely lame, because it would mean that GBA VC is not actually going to happen. They're not going to have a GBA VC and then not release 10 of the biggest games for the system.

Of course I don't expect that to happen since if Nintendo is going to go through the trouble of geting the games running on 3DS, they're surely going to sell them.

Posted by

Jargon

on: 07/28/11, 23:04

Edited:

07/28/11, 23:07

3DS = Bought. Can't seem to access the eShop though. Am I missing something? Is there anyway to force a software update.

Posted by

Stephen

on: 07/28/11, 23:23

I totally saw this at 6:30am and then went to work pissed. Only now that I'm home from work do I realize that I!, DrFinkelstein, will get those 20 games. When I left for work I thought Nintendo dropped the price and was giving the NEWBIES the 20 games. haha. What a bummer I thought that was.

Now though I'm psyched. Some of those games I've played, and still own, original carts even, but it'll be awesome having them easily accessible on my 3DS SD Card. Waiting for random play. Plus some games I've never played and some I wanna play again badly.

Sounds like a good plan. Nintendo, you have balls! And they're nice.

Whiffleboy said:

i knew i waited for a reason...I love you Nintendo!

I'm so excited!!

Perfect image for this thread.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 07/28/11, 23:24

Edited:

07/28/11, 23:25

anon_mastermind said:

Seems that Nintendo will be incurring a loss on every 3DS unit sold, after the price drop. That's a first for Nintendo, isn't it?

Ouch, couple that with the stealing the VC games via the whole "return the system after the price drop" and Nintendo stands to lose a CRAPLOAD of money now. That sucks, gotta say. Do me a favor, yeah? Please don't screw my company over that way if we ever try to not screw over the consumer. They're doing early adopters a favor that no other gaming company would do and people are taking them to the cleaners for it...

I guess the lesson is screw over the consumer because they won't return the favor if you take the high road as a business. Sigh... and so the cycle continues.

Posted by

-JKR-

on: 07/28/11, 23:34

Edited:

07/28/11, 23:34

@-JKR-
I'm sure only a handful of people will actually do that, though. And while it's pretty oily, they are playing by the rules, there.

Posted by

kriswright

on: 07/28/11, 23:40

@-JKR-

They're not stealing anything. You might think it's immoral, but words do have meanings.

Posted by

Jargon

on: 07/28/11, 23:43

@-JKR-

No sympathy for Nintendo especially since half of these games are NES titles that are on Wii VC and cannot be transferred.

Posted by

Stephen

on: 07/28/11, 23:45

Huh. Interesting. I guess I'll look forward to getting 20 free games! I already own... I think ALL of them, but hey. I don't have them on my 3DS, so getting 'em for free is cool. It's like getting my hard copies made into "soft" copies for free. Neat-o.

Posted by

GameDadGrant

on: 07/29/11, 00:03

More details about the NES and GBA games and various features.

NES games released on the Virtual Console for Nintendo 3DS will eventually be improved over the initial versions.

The pre-release versions available through the Ambassadors Program, as announced earlier, will have some missing features compared to the final releases. The earlier versions will not have proper co-operative play. For two players to play these games, they will have to alternate. However, in the paid releases, co-operative play will be included. Save states are possible by using the Home button and separate, selectable save states will also be added in the final release. User manuals will not be included in the pre-release version but are accessible online. The Ambassadors versions can be updated free of charge once the general versions arrive. These games can also be moved to another 3DS console.

Specifications for the GBA games were revealed too. The games will not have built-in instruction manuals, but these can be viewed from the web. The Home button will not go to the usual menu, but instead brings up a simplified menu. StreetPass and SpotPass are rendered inactive while the games are running. Wi-Fi play and accessories are not supported, and finally, these titles cannot be moved to another 3DS, in contrast to the NES games.


The GBA games kind of confuse me. Are they really too hard to emulate that you can't run the usual menu? Why is the Wi-Fi disabled?

Posted by

Guillaume

on: 07/29/11, 00:03

Edited:

07/29/11, 00:04

@Guillaume

And the GBA games cannot be moved to another system. WTF? So whenever another model arrives, we're almost obligated to keep old systems to play GBA games on it we might have purchased. Lame Nintendo

Posted by

VofEscaflowne

on: 07/29/11, 00:06

Edited:

07/29/11, 00:07

Jargon said:

@-JKR-

They're not stealing anything. You might think it's immoral, but words do have meanings.

Nintendo is offering VC games in exchange for you paying $80. If you get the games without paying the $80, you can define it some other way than stealing, if you'd like to, but the meaning of the word is the same. If I go to the grocery store and they want me to give them $5 for a watermelon and I take the watermelon and don't give them $5, guess what I just did?

Steal: to take, get, or win insidiously, surreptitiously, subtly

You want to steal, steal, but don't tell me that's not what you're doing. I'm asking people please not to do it to me, because my company will one day be as large as Nintendo but I'd rather not have to act like Sony just to continue to be a company and not be stolen from.

@stephen08

Two wrongs making a right then, hmm? I'm no math wiz, but I can tell you that doesn't add up.

Posted by

-JKR-

on: 07/29/11, 00:07

Weeeeeeellllll now. So I have like 200 dollars to use on my discover card which can be redeemed at Gamestop. I'm half tempted to pick a 3DS up however I don't know how much I'd play it... I'm not much of a handheld guy to be honest. I'll think about it....

Posted by

Oldmanwinter

on: 07/29/11, 00:09

@Oldmanwinter

If you aren't into handhelds save your money. I've discovered it's not a good idea if you enjoy the other side more (in this case I'm a handheld guy, and these console purchases are me wasting money).

Posted by

-JKR-

on: 07/29/11, 00:14

I really didn't think the machine was worth $250. I was going to wait until the inevitable 3DS lite release but I'll pick one up as a belated birthday gift to myself.

Posted by

Tranquilo

on: 07/29/11, 00:17

Edited:

07/29/11, 00:27

@-JKR-Nintendo doesn't get the extra $80 ($30 here in Canada actually) it's already been distributed to them. It's merchandise the store moves and they collect the revenue. And it is their policy to give refunds if the item you buy drops in price over the next 30 days. I am not taking advantage of anyone here.

Posted by

Stephen

on: 07/29/11, 00:21

Edited:

07/29/11, 00:26

@stephen08

30$ in Canada? What?

Posted by

VofEscaflowne

on: 07/29/11, 00:22

@VofEscaflowne

3DS was on for $200 at Wal-Mart even before this price drop, not sure about other stores.

Posted by

Stephen

on: 07/29/11, 00:27