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Post by Leon on Jul 28, 2011 2:48:09 GMT -5
Nintendo has announced that on August 11, they will be cutting the price of the 3DS, and offering free software for early adopters who registered on Club Nintendo and accessed the eShop. 10 NES games will be available, (Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Balloon Fight, Donkey Kong Jr., Ice Climbers, plus 5 unannounced titles). In addition, as an exclusive offer for early adopters, they will receive 10 free GBA games (Metroid Fusion, Mario Kart, Wario Ware, Super Mario Advance 3, and Mario vs DK). This has only been announced for Japan and North America, but the other regions are scheduled to make their own announcements soon. www.nintendo.co.jp/info110728/index.html |
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Post by Da Robot on Jul 28, 2011 5:18:56 GMT -5
Some more info from NeoGAF.- Nintendo is confirming that they will sell NES VC games on the eShop for 3DS. But they will not be released on Sept 1st. - Instead, on Sept 1st they will be pushing out "early bird editions" of the free NES games for those who bought and registered their systems before the price drop. Only these systems will be able to download and play these NES games at that time. - These versions sound like beta emulated versions. There will be no digital manuals included, and while you can switch the controls from player 1 to player 2 for certain games which allow for such play, there will be no cross system multiplayer supported at all. - Eventually at a later date, complete versions will be released for actual sale on the eShop. When this happens, those with the "early bird editions" will be able to update to the full versions for free. - For the GBA VC games, it gets even weirder. While there is no release date for those other than within 2011, Nintendo is outright saying that they currently have NO plans to ever sell such games on the eShop. This is something specially for early adopters as a reward, and are considered "not for sale" releases.
What the hell . . . ? Is Nintendo getting desperate? But this does make me interested in getting a 3DS. EDIT: More details on regional price drops: (like 1/3 off!) press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=30048www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2011/nintendo_3ds_ambassador_programme_44123.htmlwww.nintendo.com.au/index.php?action=news&nid=1098&pageID=6
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Post by Fryguy64 on Jul 28, 2011 8:06:40 GMT -5
The GBA releases thing sounds very odd. I'd be very surprised if Nintendo didn't release them at some point...
Nevetheless, I'm glad this is coming to the UK as well (it's been confirmed by various sources). The Nintendo 3DS was launched at too high a price here (the equivalent of nearly $70 more than the US price at some retailers) and with a poor software library. It's picking up verrrry sloooowly... But by the end of the year, I can see it being the must-have Christmas gift. Reasonable price, better software library (Mario Land 3D, Mario Kart, Star Fox) and hopefully I will be able to get more StreetPass hits without having to go into London again...
I like free things, especially "we're sorry" free things. And this is way better than the free N64 controller I got when Nintendo Europe dropped the N64's price by £100 a month after it launched.
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Post by nocturnal YL on Jul 28, 2011 9:07:27 GMT -5
I love you, Nintendo! Yay for finally realizing the general rule that it's the software that make the hardware sell.
I don't think a Club Nintendo account is needed. Anyone who connects their devices to the internet is automatically a 3DS ambassador.
These Nintendo 3DS owners represent some of Nintendo's most loyal customers, and Nintendo is rewarding them for getting in on the action early with 20 free downloadable games from the Nintendo eShop.
Excellent decision, Nintendo.
Also, according to NCL's announcement, "Super Mario 3D Land" will be out in November and "Mario Kart 7" will be in December (Japanese version, of course).
I hope Nintendo really learns from this, and can prevent the same from happening in Wii U.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jul 28, 2011 12:51:15 GMT -5
Once again we see that success in one generation does not guarantee success in another. The main difference this time is that it's a Nintendo handheld, and those have been unstoppable since 1989. (Unless you count redesigns like the Game Boy Micro.) According to Kotaku, the 3DS has sold only 710,000 units in the past three months worldwide. I knew it wasn't performing up to expectations, but this is shocking. |
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Post by Leon on Jul 28, 2011 13:13:59 GMT -5
Those are old numbers the 3DS has sold over 830,000 in the U.S. alone as of yesterday.
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Post by TV Eye on Jul 28, 2011 13:42:59 GMT -5
Heh, I have all those games on my PSP anyways.  |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jul 28, 2011 14:55:19 GMT -5
Those are old numbers the 3DS has sold over 830,000 in the U.S. alone as of yesterday. But that includes sales at launch, which I assume were significantly higher than the following months. But either way, those aren't particularly impressive numbers. |
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Post by Boo Destroyer on Jul 28, 2011 17:33:32 GMT -5
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Post by Prince~Of~Light on Jul 28, 2011 20:11:40 GMT -5
... ... Will we get this in Europe, too? |
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Post by Leon on Jul 28, 2011 20:56:24 GMT -5
You need to consider though that summer is always the low point in the year. Nothing shocking about that. Of course, they would like sales to be better, but video games always sell poorly in this season, writing off the success of the 3DS is premature.
Also, the day that the system is discounted is the day that Pokemon is released. I guess we know why it was delayed.
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Post by D.Misire on Jul 28, 2011 23:05:13 GMT -5
It seems to be at risk of being a bomb if Nintendo cannot play their first party cards well and draw in some more companies. 3D gaming doesn't have to fail like the VB every time!
That said, a little fearful I bought mine early, though then again I only paid $30 more than the price drop due to the DS Lite exchange so it's not major. And hey, GBA games I had but cannot find for free? Awesome!
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Post by Fryguy64 on Jul 29, 2011 6:34:55 GMT -5
There's been a lot of panic about all this. Remember, 3DS topped the Japanese hardware charts a few days ago, and this strategy is clearly in place to reward early adopters and maximise the Christmas rush.
I don't think any of us are surprised that Nintendo is doing a price cut. It was launched too expensive (especially in Europe), and with very little software. At the very least, it should have launched with Ocarina of Time 3D and the eShop / Internet Browser. It would have made more sense for Nintendo to delay the system than to launch it to a tirade of "not playing it because there's nothing to play on it".
By the end of the year there'll be quite a lot of good stuff to play on it, and I see this as a strategy to maximise market share for Christmas, reimbursing early adopters for the extra money they spent, and rewarding them too with exclusive software.
I'm just starting to fall in love with my 3DS. Zelda certainly helped, and I've finally put some good time in with the built-in software. It has loads of little things that are cool that nobody ever talks about. StreetPass, automatic updates, game coins, the eShop... the 3DS is just coming into its own, and the more people have one, the better it will be.
I really hope Nintendo learned a lesson on pricing and launch libraries, especially with the Wii U on the way.
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Post by Shadrio on Jul 30, 2011 23:28:43 GMT -5
I wonder if Japan's going to get some Japan-only games, like Fire Emblem 6 (been playing the patched, emulated game, it's as hard as nails) or Mother 3. Either way, this is awesome, as I'm getting my 3DS on August 7. I wonder when the Ambassador games will be made worldwide, I expect Nintendo to continue utilizing the Ambassador Program, by releasing content earlier for the Ambassadors, similar to what Beta Testing would be like (new content is given to the Ambassadors, and if something is lacking in it, a patch would be distributed alongside the commoner's release).
I also wonder how they'll approach the whole "cannot transfer Ambassador games/status between 3DSes". Surely, more than one 3DS will be misplaced or stolen *glares at my fellow Chileans*, or a 3DS PocketColorSPMicroLite. I hope they don't go the easy way and just take the "you screwed up, dood" attitude.
Either way, w00t for Metroid Fusion. I lost that little cartridge years ago, and I'm too lazy to search for a new one now. And I was taking a challenge run, the 1% run. I was stuck at Nightmare, which left me at 5 bosses left, and with the infected B.O.X Security Robot (which is cake, considering the massive blind spot), Ridley-X (this one would have been extremely tough), SA-X (easy as hell pattern) and the Omega Metroid (just need to dodge ever hit, seems simple, but I don't ever remember beating the Omega Metroid without taking at least one hit), I was really close to the end. *shivers* ugh, And I'd have to got through the Large Core-X and Yakuza (Spider Boss) again.
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Post by Da Robot on Jul 30, 2011 23:49:32 GMT -5
Just had a thought about the GBA games . . .
Nintendo says . . . "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."
Does anyone here think Nintendo could just make a GBA virtual console handheld on the eShop that allows the rest of Nintendo's GBA library on it?
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