Nintendo 3DS $169.99 with $50 Gift Card at Target starting 12/8

[quote name='salty tbone']So are all the giftcard and bundle deals with the 360 and PS3 nothing short of "Panic, panic, panic!" as well? Or are you selectively using "evidence" to support your theory of the 3DS as a failure?[/QUOTE]In regards to the gift cards, it's definitely more it being the holiday season than it is a reflection of the performance of the 3DS, but otherwise, to say there is not at least some concern/worry with the 3DS would be ignoring reality.
 
Something to think about if you're on the fence...

People are forgetting the second part of the 3DS redesign rumor - that Nintendo will be down playing the 3D, since so many people are worried about eye strain. None of the 3DS game HAVE to be played with 3D mode, so Nintendo could remove that option in the redesign. This would decrease production costs and increase battery life.

Obviously, this is just speculation, but it makes some sense. So, for me it's worth ~$110 for a system that I would enjoy now. Yeah, the 3D is a cheap trick that I'll most likely turn off for the majority of game play, but it is fun. I'm sure there will be a redesign at some point, but I also think the final design will fluctuate wildly depending on how the iPhone, Android, and Vita markets change.

End rant.
 
[quote name='MilesDP5']Something to think about if you're on the fence...

People are forgetting the second part of the 3DS redesign rumor - that Nintendo will be down playing the 3D, since so many people are worried about eye strain. None of the 3DS game HAVE to be played with 3D mode, so Nintendo could remove that option in the redesign. This would decrease production costs and increase battery life.

Obviously, this is just speculation, but it makes some sense. So, for me it's worth ~$110 for a system that I would enjoy now. Yeah, the 3D is a cheap trick that I'll most likely turn off for the majority of game play, but it is fun. I'm sure there will be a redesign at some point, but I also think the final design will fluctuate wildly depending on how the iPhone, Android, and Vita markets change.

End rant.[/QUOTE]

I'm sitting it out until the redesign and yes battery life is #1 for me. The 3DS and Vita are delivery systems of the past. Right now it's all about iOS and Android. It's more lucrative for developers to make game for those two as opposed to the 3DS or Vita.
 
The redesign is coming, tt's a given, only question is when. Having just paid $173 for a 3DS I'm hoping later rather than sooner. Also hoping Nintendo is focusing on getting WiiU out the door rather than improving 3DS so new 3DS comes 2013. The battery seems more replaceable than my iPod Tocuh so I'm hoping they can sell a better one of those, maybe a firmware update can improve battery life?

What I'ld really like to see is an "adult" Nintendo handheld. The 3DS seems snappier and livilier than the DSi, Netflix looked ok, but it's no iPod or smartphone. That web browser is atrocious. Is the 3DS hardware so crappy it can't surf the web? The top screen is nearly iPod touch size and I live on my Touch. I'ld pay the original $249 price for a DS Elite that could play Mario games, check my email and adequately surf the web. So I guess in short - run apps. But seriously, the web browser is so bad they should leave it out.
 
Might not work because the rings up with a refund value of $119.99, so you would be losing out on the gc if you had to do a return. Now you might be able to find a CSR that would allow you to do a straight exchange, but it's hard to say.
 
[quote name='confoosious']Are you kidding? You are saying they have a huge backlog of inventory they want to get rid of before the redesign. (The redesign coming some time next year.)

Depending on the source, they've sold 3-6M units this year. I think 6 is WW. Even if they sell half that number between now and next fall, that's still 3M units.

Do you really think they have 3M units sitting in a warehouse somewhere they have to unload? Of course not. Nor do they have 3m units worth of parts. That would be the shittiest JIT inventory management ever and the japanese do not play that way. This isn't a "clean inventory out" reduction.

Will they redesign next year? Maybe. But this GC deal has nothing to do with "inventory reduction."[/QUOTE]
I would have to agree with Confoosius on this one, i'm pretty sure nintendo is trying to get this into many hands as possible and if target was really trying to clear inventory than this offer might extend to the old DSi XL models that I still see at most of the targets I've been to.
 
I agree, for everyone saying to wait on the 3DS, I would say that if you're buying anything portable that is made by Nintendo, it should be a 3DS. Buying anything else, like a DSi or DSi XL is a waste of money because those systems will soon be on the decline and at least you know that today's 3DS will play tomorrow's 3DS' games.
 
In case anybody was wondering, bought a 3DS yesterday w/ 5% off for $173.50. Bought 1 today w/ GC and cash for $179.48, so 5% savings was $5.98. Math is weird due to $109.99 price plus $60 GC - $50 plus $10 coupon. So $113.50 or $119.50 w/ GC.

Trade-in DSi to Amazon - attempted "Like new" for $66. Only 8 months old and is like new, we'll see.
Sitting on the other DSi for now while I wait to hear from Amazon. I'm hoping worse case $55 "used" at Amazon, or $40 at Gamestop. Either way $60 or $80 for a new 3DS. I dont' know what the future of the 3DS is, but for that much money it was worth the upgrade from the DSi for free Pokedex 3D, Pokemon Rumble Blast, Mario Kart 7, SuperMarioLand, Luigi's Mansion 2 and Kid Icarus. I've paid more for less.
 
One thing is for sure, the next NEW DS or console (not redesign) is going to be a real hard sell by Nintendo at launch unless it is totally mind blowing. Everyone is going to wait for it to drop 50% within the first year like this.
 
[quote name='lutz']With the tablets and phones out there, 3DS and Vita maybe the final portable gaming consoles.[/QUOTE]

I hope not, I love my buttons.
 
[quote name='confoosious']This promo seems to be working. I went to two targets tonight and both were sold out of the 3ds.[/QUOTE]

Yep, I hesitated all weekend and luckily got the last one in my area. Smart move by Nintendo, 3ds games were also moving pretty quick.
 
Played Nintendogs + Cats tonight ... had grabbed it for $7.99 at BB on a whim when I was still on the fence about a 3DS. I've gotta say, between the 3D, voice recognition and the damn cuteness .. I'm actually kind of impressed. For $8 I've played far worse and I'm by no means a fan of the series ... but the graphics are actually better than I thought they would be and I'm really glad I sold my DSi and upgraded because at least now I know the graphics in upcoming games will be on par with PSP at the minimum.
 
I can't say I'm too surprised that this thread here at CAG hasn't exploded, however, the thread over at SD is still very active. (which may explain some of the outages at our local Targets; their thread is 26 pages, 378 posts and counting. Call it the SD effect.)
I think, what it boils down to is: if you're on the fence about buying a 3DS, Target's promotion is the best deal in town. YMMV on the success of your deal. People are doing crazy things to shave cents off their total.
If you are waiting for the redesign, or if you're Reggie Fils-Aime himself and you know something we don't know, then more power to you. (I myself didn't buy the iPhone 4S because I want to wait for the yet-unannounced iPhone 5.)
All I know is that Mario Kart 7 (with $15 off gaming coupon from Kmart) is amazing to me right now. :)
 
[quote name='blueweltall']I hope not, I love my buttons.[/QUOTE]

I've been thinking DS and Vita are the end also, but then i remember there will always be kids who need toys so maybe the end adult friendly systems but not all handheld gaming. Leapfrog just got started. I hope The WiiU controller gets upgraded to a standalone system, or Nintendo becomes 3rd party and starts making games for tablets w/ buttons. The PSPGo could've worked if Sony didn't limit it to digital only. Digital only is great for $1 or $2 apps, not full MSRP like Sony was charging online. Well until they went offline for 2 months. Must've been a great 2 months for PSPgo owners.

Lots of 3ds offers again this week, though down to bundles and $20 GC from last weeks run. One more week of fliers and then after holiday sales. Hopefully some good game discount after the holidays.
 
[quote name='rjejr']Nintendo becomes 3rd party and starts making games for tablets w/ buttons. [/QUOTE]
They'd never stoop to such a pathetic low, that sounds like Microsoft's territory.
 
[quote name='qwikshake']I can't say I'm too surprised that this thread here at CAG hasn't exploded, however, the thread over at SD is still very active. (which may explain some of the outages at our local Targets; their thread is 26 pages, 378 posts and counting. Call it the SD effect.)
I think, what it boils down to is: if you're on the fence about buying a 3DS, Target's promotion is the best deal in town. YMMV on the success of your deal. People are doing crazy things to shave cents off their total.
If you are waiting for the redesign, or if you're Reggie Fils-Aime himself and you know something we don't know, then more power to you. (I myself didn't buy the iPhone 4S because I want to wait for the yet-unannounced iPhone 5.)
All I know is that Mario Kart 7 (with $15 off gaming coupon from Kmart) is amazing to me right now. :)[/QUOTE]

uh, it ended yesterday
 
[quote name='confoosious']
Do you really think they have 3M units sitting in a warehouse somewhere they have to unload? Of course not. Nor do they have 3m units worth of parts. That would be the shittiest JIT inventory management ever and the japanese do not play that way. This isn't a "clean inventory out" reduction.

Will they redesign next year? Maybe. But this GC deal has nothing to do with "inventory reduction."[/QUOTE]


Nintendo's hardware business is very seasonal with their Q3 (Oct/Nov/Dec) sales often being 75 to 100% higher than Q2. That kind of seasonality does not lend itself towards efficient JIT inventory management. You have to contract out (with binding production levels) or double your own production months in advance to cover spikes like that. So the stuff in stores now are likely there based on production decisions made months ago, even if some of the hardware was only built in the last few weeks.

Given Nintendo has a history of success in handhelds, they clearly have been shocked by the slow sales of the 3DS earlier in the year and felt that the summer price cut would solve the problem. While that price cut certainly improved things, apparently that wasn't enough so now we have these gift card promos as well.

Likewise, it is quite possible that in order to get the best production price on things like chips, 3D screens and production time, Nintendo made large guaranteed orders with the expectation that 3DS demand would be red hot. When 3DS demand turned out to be only mildly warm, they are still stuck with large orders for parts and scaling down those orders would result in massive penalties, so it is cheaper in the long run to keep things flowing to the initial year production plan (as flawed as it may be) and then juicing consumer demand with gift cards in the short term....also subsidizing hardware sales generate profitable software sales as well, unlike paying a production penalty.

So do they have warehouses with millions of 3DS units sitting around?...probably not.
Are they doing these gift card promos so they DON'T have millions of 3DS units sitting around in warehouses?....most definitely.
 
[quote name='donut']uh, it ended yesterday[/QUOTE]
It did? My bad; I thought it ends today. Thanks for the clarification, donut. (Your quote reminds me of "The Simpsons". Homer: "I'll take that bet!" Great show.)

So, what games are everyone playing with your new 3DS's? I'm playing Mario Kart 7 and Blazblue CS II.
Also interested in pushmo & SM 3D Land.
 
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I don't see what the big deal is about the gift cards they're doing on this.. if you look in any ad, other stores are giving $50-$100 gift cards on PS3/360 systems all Christmas season also. I picked the system up for my son for Christmas on the black friday deal w/ Mario for $179.
 
[quote name='pimpster4183']I don't see what the big deal is about the gift cards they're doing on this.. if you look in any ad, other stores are giving $50-$100 gift cards on PS3/360 systems all Christmas season also. I picked the system up for my son for Christmas on the black friday deal w/ Mario for $179.[/QUOTE]

The Xbox and PS3 are both several years old and have sold large numbers of units, hopefully paying off most of the hardware development costs by now.

The 3DS is only 8 months old and has already gone through an $80 price reduction.

A proportional example would be If the launch $500 PS3 20GB system had dropped in price to $340 and there were $100 gift card promos on top of that, all within 8 months of launch, people would be definitely talking about that.

The other factor is that Nintendo historically is fairly iron clad on pricing strategy for their items, esp new hardware. While holiday gift cards promos on older Nintendo hardware are not uncommon, it is fairly uncommon for a new platform esp after a sizable price cut a just few months ago.
 
The reason for all of these GC offers??? My thoughts are since 3DS sales on the rise and are beating out original DS numbers, they want these in consumers hands before they phase out the DS, DS Lite, DSi, XL etc... What better way to do that then offer huge incentives to buy? When the next model comes out, it will obviously support 3DS titles, making the other models pretty much obsolete. This is a power move by Nintendo to get people out of the DS generation and into the 3DS generation. Just my 2 cents.
 
Add another +1 for a CAG 3DS purchase (did so on Friday, for my son). If you're worried about numbers.
And I got the 3DS/Nintendogs bundle for my daughter earlier, so make it +2.
We'll see if we get to +3. Haven't decided if I really want one or not right now.
 
Fanboys use these sales to support their theories about the system being good or bad one way or the other.

Businesses like Nintendo don't consider what fanboys think so much. The goal is clearly to increase the installed userbase. Perhaps there are other motivations. Perhaps Nintendo anticipated a certain amount of sales and locked in their commodity parts prices, like the 3D screens and a new iteration is planned that will not use the same commodities. Perhaps they are trying to demonstrate high gross sales numbers because of the stock market loss of faith.

Systems are usually loss leaders when they are first released. Nintendo has somehow avoided losing money on systems in the past, but it seems they may have to lose money to increase adoption and counter the widespread belief that the 3DS is a failure. And to help offset their 250 million USD loss.

These are incentives placed at the retail level, rather than the consumer level. Retailers almost invariably pass these incentives on to consumers. There has to be something in this for Target. But consider that a gift credit has a lower actual value to target since the cost of the gift card is the wholesale price of the items you purchase. For example, you get a $50 GC, you buy a $50 game that target paid $40 for, their actual cost is only $40 for that giftcard. For higher margin items, this could be far less.
 
[quote name='ianoid']Fanboys use these sales to support their theories about the system being good or bad one way or the other.

Businesses like Nintendo don't consider what fanboys think so much. The goal is clearly to increase the installed userbase. Perhaps there are other motivations. Perhaps Nintendo anticipated a certain amount of sales and locked in their commodity parts prices, like the 3D screens and a new iteration is planned that will not use the same commodities. Perhaps they are trying to demonstrate high gross sales numbers because of the stock market loss of faith.

Systems are usually loss leaders when they are first released. Nintendo has somehow avoided losing money on systems in the past, but it seems they may have to lose money to increase adoption and counter the widespread belief that the 3DS is a failure. And to help offset their 250 million USD loss.

These are incentives placed at the retail level, rather than the consumer level. Retailers almost invariably pass these incentives on to consumers. There has to be something in this for Target. But consider that a gift credit has a lower actual value to target since the cost of the gift card is the wholesale price of the items you purchase. For example, you get a $50 GC, you buy a $50 game that target paid $40 for, their actual cost is only $40 for that giftcard. For higher margin items, this could be far less.[/QUOTE]

The gift card get you back into a Target store again to make another purchase. That is the incentive that Target is getting. They have guaranteed another shopper at their store.
 
So this deal is over?
Side question - are the Zelda bundles gone?
I just now decided I wanted a 3Ds and I like the Zelda look, any chance they will be back in stock anywhere?
 
[quote name='shadowrage']So this deal is over?
Side question - are the Zelda bundles gone?
I just now decided I wanted a 3Ds and I like the Zelda look, any chance they will be back in stock anywhere?[/QUOTE]

Gamestop has zelda bundles on their website, although this weekend they were running a $20 off sale on them, but it now looks like they are up to the full, $200 price now.
 
[quote name='K_G']Gamestop has zelda bundles on their website, although this weekend they were running a $20 off sale on them, but it now looks like they are up to the full, $200 price now.[/QUOTE]
Thanks
 
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