Nintendo 3DS - General Discussion Thread

[quote name='benjamouth']Do people really think Nintendo is worried about the Vita?

A $250 PSP with $40 games, I can see that dying on its arse as well.[/QUOTE]

Every last person who gets their hands on the PSP Vita says its the perfect price point and comes away amazed with the system. It is a much more impressive system then the 3DS with a bigger and better screen, better graphics, more interface options and a company that already has a solid online structure(if still nowhere near as good as XBL). Add to this that its actually launcing with a solid line up with games like Uncharted and Little Big Planet where as Nintendo took months to even get out a remake of Zelda....I think again it shows your being a bit biased with that post. I mean again its launching at the same price as the 3DS did which was a clearly inferior system that's gotten a lot of bad buzz(thus the meh sales and public view).

The Vita could still easily fail, but if it does I think it has nothing to do with the 3DS and everything to do with the rise of Phone based gaming and a bad economy. I would have liked to see Nintendo succeed, but I think they fell hard on their face and will do the same with the Wii U. They just do not seem to get what the market wants and worse are following Sony's mistake of pricing themselves out of a competitive market. The 3DS needed to be $180 out of the boat, with a better screen and an awesome game line up even if it meant sacrificing the 3D which the public seems to see as a cool gimmick...but a gimmick none the less. Asking parents to buy their kids a new system that is $100+ more expensive then their old one and the only real upgrade is a 3D screen....yeah not going to happen. Selling systems is as much about justifying expense to parents as it is to making their kids want one.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus'] Asking parents to buy their kids a new system that is $100+ more expensive then their old one and the only real upgrade is a 3D screen....yeah not going to happen. [/QUOTE]

Hey kids, remember when I said that people talking about a lack of games was my number one point of annoyance with the 3DS bashing? Well, say hello to point number two on that list.

Sigh.
 
[quote name='cochesecochese']Very interesting. Apparently, the 3DS will now be sold at a loss.

Does this mean the high price point was a way to bank some cash and offset the inevitable price drop? It shall be interesting to see how the stock looks at today's close.[/QUOTE]
That is interesting to note. I'm surprised, I thought they never do that.
Pretty aggressive.
 
[quote name='007']Hey kids, remember when I said that people talking about a lack of games was my number one point of annoyance with the 3DS bashing? Well, say hello to point number two on that list.

Sigh.[/QUOTE]

How about proving someone wrong vs just making a snippy remark? For $120 over the launch price of the DS you get the wonderful upgrades of...... a in between gen graphic increase(think the Sega Saturn), 1 analog nub(also known as last gen PSP layout)and 3D! O and I guess a evolving online store/network that has kind of sorta caught up to what is about to be last gen gaming.

As for the libary, not counting upcoming games(which is still pretty weak anyways)how about a list of all these blockbuster 3DS games. Accourding to gamerankings.com in the half a year or so the 3DS has been out its scored a whopping 12 games rated about a 7.0!!! WOW! Realistically too I dont think half those belong on the list(I am sorry but as a gamer I dont exactly look to Nintendogs or Suduko as gods gift to gaming).

Look the DS was my fav system last gen handheld or console! I wanted desperatly for Nintendo to put out something good. The 3DS though is underwhelming and that is why its sales have tanked and thats why the industry is snickering at it the way they did the Wii last gen.
 
[quote name='dallow']That is interesting to note. I'm surprised, I thought they never do that.
Pretty aggressive.[/QUOTE]

I agree, I am shocked to see Nintendo selling a system for below cost. I think selling below cost can be a good business move...but in Nintendos case its a horrible idea. The system is not moving units fast enough and def is not moving games fast enough. If you sell at a loss you have to make profits up by moving games...which is not an option right now.
 
WHOA. I thought you guys were joking about the price cut and free games. I would feel rather dumb about buying it considering I haven't even put a game in yet, but thumbs up to them giving us 20 free games!

Of course...I probably already own most of them, and I'm worried about transfaring them later, since if I keep the system, I'll want one with a 4" or larger screen (preferably "2D") if one is released down the line, but still, glad they're doing something for us!

That might actually be a first...I can't really remember something like that, aside from maybe some Genesis promotions?
 
No kidding. I honestly thought the whole thing was some jedi mind trick domain spoofing fuckery when I read it at first.

Sigh, no word on the DSi/LL pricing yet. Also, why hasn't anyone photoshopped the heads of the Killer 7 onto some Mario Kart 7 promo shots? The world may never know.
 
Press Release

Starting Sept. 1, Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors will be able to download 10 NES™ Virtual Console™ games at no charge and before they are available in the Nintendo eShop to the general public. These games, including Super Mario Bros.™, Donkey Kong Jr.™, Balloon Fight™, Ice Climber™ and The Legend of Zelda™, are slated to become paid downloadable games, but Ambassadors get them early for free. Once the paid versions of the games are posted to the Nintendo eShop later in the year, the updated versions will be available to Ambassadors for download at no cost.
Click to expand...

By the end of 2011, Nintendo will provide Ambassadors with 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games. These include games like Yoshi's Island™: Super Mario™ Advance 3, Mario Kart™: Super Circuit, Metroid™ Fusion, WarioWare™, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong™. These games will be available exclusively to Ambassadors, and Nintendo currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future.
Click to expand...

No plans? I doubt that holds...
 
[quote name='cochesecochese']Of course it won't hold. I'm telling you, Ambassadors are going to be beta testers for the GBA emulator.[/QUOTE]

Let me be the first to welcome Nintendo to the beta bandwagon. It is a path well hewn by Halo and a wise (and cheap) way to keep the base engaged.
 
Nintendo needs to make GBA VC fast, they need to fix the DRM issue to allow movement of digital content between systems more simple by implementing an account system similar to iTunes and/or PSN (though I'm not sure how Sony runs their guns honestly), and they need to enable cross-platform digital movement so that 3DS can run the emulators the Wii has, so that I can take the excellent Super NES library with me anywhere.

All pipe dreams of course, but still.

This press release though, seriously, rofl. Right out of left field too, and in plenty of time to drum up support by the time the holiday hits. Advertise Zelda and Star Fox and Mario Kart and Tanooki 2: 3D Boogaloo is my guess, and hopefully cram some money hats up the right 3rd party cramholes and it's going to be fun to watch way out here.
 
[quote name='cochesecochese']No kidding. I honestly thought the whole thing was some jedi mind trick domain spoofing fuckery when I read it at first.

Sigh, no word on the DSi/LL pricing yet. Also, why hasn't anyone photoshopped the heads of the Killer 7 onto some Mario Kart 7 promo shots? The world may never know.[/QUOTE]
NoE said they're keeping the prices of the DSi models the same....

I can't see NoA doing that... c'mon, I want an XL!
 
Ah, that's too bad. I can't imagine NCL will let the DSiLL sit at a higher price than the 3DS. Then again...it could persuade more people to make the jump into the 3DS.

[quote name='Strell']the right 3rd party cramholes[/QUOTE]

Speaking of, does anyone have a broad list of third party 3DS titles coming out this year? I'm already planning on getting Rocket Slime day one but I haven't been following much else.
 
- Famicom titles won't have instruction manuals and will not be compatible with simultaneous two player play at first
- final paid versions will have these features
- ambassadors can upgrade for free when the final versions are available
- Game Boy Advance VC titles will also lack instruction manuals
- view manuals online
- Game Boy Advance titles will disable the system's Spot Pass and Street Pass features
- will not be able to transfer them to other 3DS systems once Nintendo makes available software for transferring games between 3DS systems
Click to expand...

Minor oddities, barring the last one. I don't need no manuals. Disabling Spot Pass seems like a really weird programming thing. People who ____ their Wii can tell you the ins and outs of the entire file system, and it would be nice to get their expertise here provided they ever crack the thing open. Strange limitation nonetheless, but nothing major.

The account system still rears its ugly head though.
 
Ah ok, I thought it said that in the Japanese release.
So even if you buy a new color, or upgrade to 3DS XXXL, you wouldn't be able to transfer your Ambassador Games.
 
All I can hope for is that the rumor from a few days ago about talking with Acer regarding cloud storage is the real deal, and that Nintendo just wants that in place to enable something like a true cross-platform account system. I'm not even sure that would be used for this purpose, but it would be a giant step in the right direction.

That would be the smart and modern thing to do these days, and I'm going to guess they are aware of it, but are stone cold paranoid after what happened to PSN. But I guess we'll see.
 
I'm okay with 20 games for quasi-free. Seems like a decent selection for the most part...and 20 games? That's a lot.

I'm not thrilled about Nintendo's stick-in-the-mud attitude towards DRM and transferrability, but I'm frankly not shocked to see it, either.

The NES VC games are just straight up NES games, right? i.e., they aren't 3D like Excitebike was?
 
They will be normal Queen of Scotland style, lacking the bowler hat/mustache/cigar 3accessoRy combo. Apparently it's a total bitch to program those and the production costs got out of hand, so the 3D Classics supposedly are taking a backseat.

Which is weird, because I swore at E3 2010 they said that there were multiple games using the "paper cut out" diorama thing, including third party games. But whatevs.
 
Man that's a huge price drop... Rather than beeing upset about paying 250, I'm pretty excited about the 20 games...they are quality titles.

I think the price point of the system isn't Nintendos only problem. I think apple, and to a growing extent android, is really starting hurt nintendo sales badly. 40 bucks a game is major problem when iOS stuff is a buck or 2 and starting to rival handheld quality games. I am still looking forward to first party stuff, but doubt I will ever buy anything else at anywhere near retail.
 
Nintendo's hoping that if you look at an XL and a 3DS, you'll go with a 3DS...probably.

And where's the source on that 'you won't be able to transfer these games' note?
 
I'm actually kinda happy Nintendo is doing this. It will boost the install base and should make the console more apealing to devs to make more games.

The 20 free games is cool. I like having games on the system and not having to worry about carts. Again like other folks said for people who could aford the system at launch 80 bucks isn't that much given how much I save on the site, and I'm pretty sure I took advantage of some deals when buying it as well.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']Nintendo's hoping that if you look at an XL and a 3DS, you'll go with a 3DS...probably.

And where's the source on that 'you won't be able to transfer these games' note?[/QUOTE]

This part I believe:
•今後の本体更新によって提供される「ソフトとデータの引っ越し」機能により、「他のニンテンドー3DSに引っ越し」することができません。

From:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/info110728/detail.html

[quote name='cochesecochese']For the record, Nintendo's stock opened at 21.2 and is currently at 19.6

fuck wall street, etc.[/QUOTE]
Probably due to the loss for the quarter.
 
[quote name='KingDox']I'm actually kinda happy Nintendo is doing this. It will boost the install base and should make the console more apealing to devs to make more games.

The 20 free games is cool. I like having games on the system and not having to worry about carts. Again like other folks said for people who could aford the system at launch 80 bucks isn't that much given how much I save on the site, and I'm pretty sure I took advantage of some deals when buying it as well.[/QUOTE]
+1

Even at launch, stores offered something like a $25 gc with 3DS purchase (even if it was strictly 3DS game credit) so the price difference is more like $55 than $80. I like 20 free games but I don't like that the 10 GBA games are exclusive for early adopters. Metroid Fusion is in that list, I would be pissed if I bought the 3DS later and couldn't get that game. And if Minish Cap gets added to the list...
 
I might be in at the new price...well, I'd probably wait for any type of deal on top of it. Still, that's a nice price cut.
 
fuck it, finally picked one up (and Zelda 3D and Rayman thanks to Target's B1G150%). I got it at BB and will price match when it drops. Hopefully convince my parents to chip in as a birthday present :D
 
While they are saying that some of those game will be exclusive to the 3DS Ambassadors, that just seems kind of silly because if you are going to invest the time and money into making the available to anyone, you might as well make them available to everyone.

But if they wanted to do something really cool, they could give them to the Ambassadors for free, charge everyone else for them and then make the revenue from those sales available to the Ambassadors as credits they can use to purchase more games. So the more new 3DS owners that buy the "exclusive" games, the better it is for us Ambassadors.

I certainly don't expect Nintendo to do anything like this, but it sure would be cool and would make me resent the people getting a 3DS for $179 a bit less (not that I really resent them very much now) ;-)
 
[quote name='foltzie']As I have two 3ds I shall have two copies of the 20 games.... What do I need with 2 LoZs?[/QUOTE]

what do you need with 2 LoZs?

better question, what do you need with 2 3ds's?
 
[quote name='dallow']

There is no "account". It's all system based.
One of the biggest weaknesses of the 3DS' online aspect.[/QUOTE]

So I have to log on/register my 3DS before 8/12 and that tags my system as an early adopter (ambassador) ... but when I buy a new 3DSlite, I won't be able to redownload those 20 games? Are you sure?

Cause my club nintendo account seems pretty up to date on my shit.
 
[quote name='JSiggy']what do you need with 2 LoZs?

better question, what do you need with 2 3ds's?[/QUOTE]
So he can take 3D screenshots of his 3DS games in action, obviously.
 
I am annoyed. Free games is nice but I'd rather have the money. The price drop is good though because I have many friends and family who will buy the system at the lower price. They would not buy it at $250.
 
[quote name='confoosious']So I have to log on/register my 3DS before 8/12 and that tags my system as an early adopter (ambassador) ... but when I buy a new 3DSlite, I won't be able to redownload those 20 games? Are you sure?

Cause my club nintendo account seems pretty up to date on my shit.[/QUOTE]

I'm sorry to say that the Club Nintendo account means very little. It doesn't actually tie you to any purchases. The license for the games are on the systems themselves.
 
I'm not upset at all about the price drop, I knew it was going to happen eventually so it being kinda soon means nothing to me as I knew I was spending more from the start. I also got a game for(almost) free and two free accessories, so it lessens it to a $35 difference to me. Add in the free games I'm going to get(that I would've wound up buying anyway) and I'm actually kinda happy, as in my mind I pretty much broke even with the drop, if not better. A company giving customers free games as a consolation for being an early adopter is unprecedented, especially for Nintendo. Really hope the other companies take notice and make this a trend.

In the grander scheme of things, really, really great move by Nintendo. Not only do they rid themselves of one of the two most complained about problems with the 3DS(I suspect the other, being the library, will be resolved this Holiday season), but they position themselves as, yet again, the more affordableand accessible handheld. As cool as Vita is, and I'm sure I'll be an early adopter there as well, I still think it's mostly only going to stand out to us hardcore and be more of a repeat of what the PSP was. Not to say that Vita will be a failure, because the PSP was far from that, but at the end of the day it will still be Nintendo sitting high atop it's perch in the portable market. They're now cheaper, more appealing to the casual market, will have a larger library(especially when the Vita drops) and they still have that "new thing" on their side, being the 3D tech. The Vita will be cool, and I expect it to be way better graphically, but it lacks that new touch(touch screens got old 2-3 years ago IMO) that will stand out the the average consumer.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='dallow']I'm sorry to say that the Club Nintendo account means very little. It doesn't actually tie you to any purchases. The license for the games are on the systems themselves.[/QUOTE]

While that's true, don't be surprised if they have a transfer thing going on for the next iteration. They(finally) set one up for DSi - 3DS, so I'd be a little shocked(yes, even with it being Nintendo) if they dropped that entirely so soon. Especially knowing they're giving us all these games, there's going to be more of us that will want this when that time comes. These companies may act like douchebags and make questionable decisions from time to time, but that doesn't mean they're completely unaware of our wants - They're huge corporations, they don't flip coins before they make decisions.
 
I've only heard there are no plans to release the GBA games for everyone else that hasn't signed into the eStore before August 12. This doesn't confirm they won't release these or any other GBA title on the eShop in the future. I'm positive that the exclusivity will be for a limited time and everyone else will get to purchase them at a later date.
 
NES games will probably come early next year with GBA games next summer since there is some exclusivity time. It really depends on how long it takes them to roll them out.
 
Why did I buy a 3DS last month :bomb:

I hope you can get a GB game as part of their giveaway for the pre-8/12 purchases. I've never beaten Link's Awakening and would like having it on my 3DS.
 
This is clearly a move being made by a very desperate Nintendo who is finally feeling the effects of abandoning their core base over the last decade. With the rise in popularity of 99 cent cell phone games that are more fun, and often more complex, than full priced Nintendo games, they may quickly become irrelevant in the handheld market, which is something I never thought I'd see or say. I very easily could have seen the day where Nintendo abandoned the home console market to focus exclusively on the handhelds, but after this blunder, they may have even forfeited that opportunity as well.

I bought my 3DS on day one, really for no sensible reason at all. There were zero must have or even sorta have launch titles. I picked up Pilotwings which turned out to be a glorified tech demo, and Street Fighter 4, which was fun, but felt like been there done that by that point. After launch, it mostly sat around and collected dust. Once Zelda came out, it was great again, I got to re-experience a game that I hadn't played through in almost a decade. Granted, I played through 95% of it with the 3D off because it gave me a headache, but I still enjoyed playing through the game again. Since then, it just sits back in its cradle, collecting dust until Star Fox comes out.

I'm not sure what on earth possessed Nintendo to release this handheld with too high of a price, during an off season period, with zero A+ launch titles, and none on the immediate horizon either, but it has clearly come back to bite them in the ass. Even worse now, Nintendo is clearly marketing the 3DS with the Nostalgia angle, which isn't going to do them any favors. What does it say about you, when the biggest games you are promoting, are ones that came out decades ago?

Unfortunately, unless they can steer this ship back around quick, Nintendo is going to get buried by negative press, which may be enough to kill this thing before it even gets off the ground. Virtual Boy comparisons are going to get very cliche, very quick, but in this situation they may be accurate.

As for Nintendo as a whole, from this juncture, they seem to be very troubled at best, and doomed at the worst. Assuming that the 3DS can't pick up any steam, they are going to be persona non-grata this upcoming Holiday season, which will be a killer for them. The Wii-U is still a year away, but has already gotten some very negative press, and seems to be the subject of universal derision by a lot of people who see it as nothing more then a rehashed Wii. Nintendo's entire strategy of relying on the casual gamers that made the Wii such a success at first could very well explode in their face if these same casual gamers don't return to them.

I think we may definitely see some big changes coming soon to Nintendo, and it wouldn't shock me to see some personnel changes as well. Someones going to take the heat, and if I had to take a guess, I would say it may end up being Reggie, who to me at this point is Nero playing the fiddle while Rome is burning down around him.

Might this be the decade we write the obituary for Nintendo? It's certainly too soon to tell, but the pessimist inside of me definitely sees some hints for the future hidden amongst the tea leaves.
 
I like the fact that they now have the more affordable handheld, that is how Nintendo has always been and that is what will appeal to the holiday buyers. This is also what has made their handheld platforms so successful, always having the lowest price. People who are on the fence about the 3DS might make the jump to it instead of automatically purchasing the Vita.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top