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3DS price drop to $169.99!! 20 free downloadable games for early adopters!
News reported by 
(Contributor)
July 28, 2011, 10:58
 
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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07/28/11, 10:58   Edited:  07/28/11, 20:26
 
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@VofEscaflowne

Wal-Mart and Future Shop (and prob. Best Buy) have a promotion this week-end, selling it at $200. This was planned before the announcement.

It's only until the end of the week-end, really. A promotion, not a price drop.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 00:29
Oh right, I wasn't thinking about it that way.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 00:29
@-JKR-

No that's not what they're offering at all. They're offering 20 downloadable games to anyone who bought the 3DS and went online before a certain date. These people will have done that so, Nintendo is giving them the 20 downloadable games. The fact that they do not fall in to the group of people who paid $250 as Nintendo expects does not make them stealing when Nintendo willingly allows them to download the games for free.

And again, this has nothing to do with me. I already got my 3DS and I wouldn't buy another one no matter how many free games they offered. I'm waiting for a redesign so I can give away this poorly designed one to my brother.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 00:45   Edited:  07/29/11, 00:46
What do you guys think this means for the pricing of the Wii U? Clearly Nintendo shot too high with the 3DS price to hit mass market and realized their mistake early on and has now corrected it in a pretty dramatic way. Does this mean Wii U will be lower priced than we may have expected?

I sure hope so. I'm almost afraid to jump into it right away if not, as it could also end up underperforming and getting a massive price drop.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 00:48
@Zero

Nintendo shot too high, sure, but a lot of people around here were saying that they were pretty darn close to their projected sales figures anyway. The price drop can do nothing but bolster sales, so its like they got away with it for the first few months.

I can see the Wii U releasing at a high price ($350, gosh, I hope not $400..) and getting all of those people who are going to buy it regardless (me, you, etc.), and then slide it back down as they did with this one and clean up for the holidays. And don't worry, there will be delays, so it'll be out in Spring '13 (April?) as I originally projected, so Holiday '13, 6-8 months later, will do just fine.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 00:51
@Guillaume

Gah, I don't care about multiplayer for the NES games since I can play them on the console or on Wii easily if I so desire but why in the world can't they emulate the GBA multiplayer which is pretty much impossible to play otherwise in this day and age. I would have been happy to play Mario Kart Super Circuit multiplayer with someone.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 00:54
I would like to provide a quick summary of the facts and a few assumptions on my part. I just captured my word document because I don't want to bother with formatting all the numbers indents right now.




Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 00:57
@Mr_Mustache I swear to god, if Nintendo keeps launching high and dropping mere months later, I'm going to stop buying their platforms at launch.

Someday. After I fall for it like 10 times first.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 00:57
@sirmastersephiroth

Hey, don't forget that like "Facts: 2e," the opposite is true of the other games. Those games will NOT be available at a later date.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:06
@Jargon Yeah it kind of does make Super Circuit and such not as worthwhile.

Ah well... I ALREADY OWN SUPER CIRCUIT.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:10
@sirmastersephiroth

In regards to 8., I'd assert that Nintendo's biggest competitor is Apple, not Sony. By a long shot.

They said it themselves at GDC this year.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:11
Hmm, cool I guess. Really odd move on Nintendo's part. Usually they just say "Fuck you" or maybe don't even give you that. 20 free games is rather insane, though.

How is multiplayer going to work for Zelda NES? Unless I'm reading that little list of bullet points incorrectly.

Whelp, I registered the system on MyNintendo so that's out of the way.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:17   Edited:  07/29/11, 01:31
I don't know what will be at the back of their mind more now, the wii or the 3DS. 3DS is more recent yes, but the Wii's bad price was like over a billion dollar loss to them. If Wii were $300 instead, $50 * 20 million systems = birrion.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:21   Edited:  07/29/11, 01:23
Mr_Mustache said:
@sirmastersephiroth

Hey, don't forget that like "Facts: 2e," the opposite is true of the other games. Those games will NOT be available at a later date.

I'm a little bit confused. Could you clarify your statement a bit?

New Forms said:
@sirmastersephiroth

In regards to 8., I'd assert that Nintendo's biggest competitor is Apple, not Sony. By a long shot.

They said it themselves at GDC this year.

I agree with that, but I see these moves targeted more at Sony than at Apple right now, especially given the new rumor that the PS Vita might release as early as this fall. They can't allow Sony to gain momentum either. They have to stop them in their tracks.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:28
@sirmastersephiroth

In that little blurby I read (in the initial article), they said that the first games would be made available to the general public at a later date. The DS titles, however, would NOT be made available to the general public, only those Ambassador folk..unless I misunderstood that.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:40
Let me see if I've got this right. Many of you were clamoring for a price drop on the 3DS, and now that you have it, Nintendo is desparate? If you as me, Nintendo is going for Sony's jugular. I can't wait for my downloads!

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:46
Mr_Mustache said:
@sirmastersephiroth

In that little blurby I read (in the initial article), they said that the first games would be made available to the general public at a later date. The DS titles, however, would NOT be made available to the general public, only those Ambassador folk..unless I misunderstood that.

I think you mean GBA titles, and that is my understanding as well. NES games will be available for sale on the eShop eventually, but GBA games won't.

Or rather, they're currently not planned. Which, I'm guessing, means they will be once they can iron out these kinks -- no multiplayer, the home menu stuff, etc.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:47
Mr_Mustache said:
@sirmastersephiroth

In that little blurby I read (in the initial article), they said that the first games would be made available to the general public at a later date. The DS titles, however, would NOT be made available to the general public, only those Ambassador folk..unless I misunderstood that.

Do you mean GBA titles?

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:48
@sirmastersephiroth

I think the thing about Wii U being $250 and thus they wanna not have the 3DS at that price, that's a smart bet I would assume.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:55
@rebonack
@sirmastersephiroth

Yes indeed! Sorry. But like rebonack said, they won't be available..or aren't planned to be.
Which, if you're interested, is important.

If you want to play those games on your 3DS, you had better have one before August 12th.

Posted by 
 on: 07/29/11, 01:56
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