Nintendo 3DS Launching On March 27 For $250 120
Sam writes "Nintendo executive Reggie Fil-Aime today revealed US availability and pricing for the Nintendo 3DS at an event in the Nintendo World store in New York City. The 3DS will launch on March 27, 2011 with a retail price of $250 and will be available in two flavors: Aqua Blue and Cosmo Black. There will be roughly 30 games released between the launch day and E3 2011 (June 7 to June 9). These include Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Madden NFL Football, The Sims 3, Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D, and LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars. The device will have the same form-factor as the DSi and will be backwards compatible with both DS and DSi games. Users will also be able to download games via an online store, called the eShop. In Europe, the 3DS will launch on March 25, 2011. While Europeans will get the device two days early, pricing is not good news. Nintendo held a second event in Amsterdam today and said that pricing would be left up to retailers. Retailers in the UK are reportedly planning a £229.99 ($367.64) price tag, while other European retailers are going with €249 ($336.00)."
Re:Ok, maybe it's just me.... (Score:5, Informative)
Well, the PSP (which also launched at $250) has nearly 67 million sales [vgchartz.com] compared to the PS3's 47 million. And the Nintendo DS has 145 million sales compared to the Wii's 85 million, or the PS3 and Xbox 360's 98 million combined.
That said, it sure would be nice if the 3DS has a tv-out function...
First handheld to be fully region locked (Score:5, Informative)
What's not in the summary or TFA is that this is the first handheld to be "fully" region locked. The PSP was region locked for movies, while the DSi had region locking for the online stores. But this is the first handheld where titles bought off store shelves will all be region locked. There's been evidence for some time that Nintendo are the most anti-consumer of the three console developers, but I think this is probably the final proof.
Combined with the console's price-point, this really does make me wonder where Nintendo are going with this. They've put it at a price tag which, like the PSP, is going to put it out of reach of most of the playground demographic, at least until Christmas. And yet among non-Japanese grown-up gamers, one of the biggest uses of handhelds is for when you go travelling. I'm not going to sit at home and play on a handheld, in general, when I have proper consoles and a gaming PC in my flat. Why should I peer at a tiny screen and cramp my hands up for a handheld's controls when I could be gaming in comfort? And my commute? I suspect that like many people who live in or near a major city, my commute on public transport is just too crowded and too rattly for handheld gaming. When travelling abroad, however, handhelds come into their own, and that's when I've gotten most of the use out of my PSP and DS. But if I can't pick up a game when I'm out in the US for the flight back to the UK? That's not going to make me happy.
Re:Price difference (Score:5, Informative)
Nowhere in the US is sales tax even approaching 20%. As an ex-pat living abroad, I don't really keep up with sales tax in the US but I believe it is averaging around 8% across the US.
Yet once more, the US gets cheap devices while the rest of the world pays more, sometimes a LOT more. I'm really getting tired of companies launching products with the same "price" in US dollars and euros. The currencies are NOT valued the same, the euro is currently much stronger than the US dollar (~1.35:1 as of this morning). Luckily not everyone is doing this, the smarter companies will price appropriately for the market and local currency, such as offering something in the US for $249 while the same product in Europe is 199€ or 219€ which is much more inline with the currency's actual value. I acknowledge that our VAT is higher than US sales tax but we do enjoy better consumer protection than the US and better warranties, e.g. most consumer electronics are warranted for 2 full years, and if something breaks within the "expected lifetime" of the product, I can ask for a replacement even after the warranty period.
I don't mind paying a bit more, but many companies are gouging customers by playing the currency game. I would put Sony in this category based on their pricing.