Massive 3DS price drop.

[Eric]

Global DS sales are down from 3.1 million this time last year to 1.4 million this past quarter. Wii sales are down by 50% as well, from 3 million to 1.5 million sold. That would be OK if the new 3DS was doing a roaring trade, but in the past three months only 710,000 of the new handhelds have been sold. Worldwide.

So there's a nice price drop from $250 to $170 effective August 12th. I guess it's kind of hard to sell your system when it's biggest game is a remake of something that came out 10 years ago. Still, this should help them out against Sony's Vita when that drops later this year.

http://kotaku.com/5825495/nintendo-3ds- ... price-drop

[Lox]

Yay! I was expecting this to happen closer to the PSV launch, but I'll take it now.

I can much more easily justify it as a random purchase now*!





*When there are games I want to play, that is...

[Zeus]

At least they're giving something to those of us who bought it right away. 20 games? That's huge, FAAAR superior to what Sony offered to try and gain your trust back..

[Eric]

20 olllllld games.

[Shrinweck]

$170... oh that's tempting. I refuse to buy it until I hear news about these new Phoenix Wright games chilling in limbo localization-wise.

[Lox]

$170... oh that's tempting. I refuse to buy it until I hear news about these new Phoenix Wright games chilling in limbo localization-wise.

This this this. Also, this.

[Kupek]

The bizarre thing is that while the NES games will eventually be available for everyone to purchase, the GBA games will not be. I had to read this on two different sites before I believed that's what Nintendo said.

Source http://www.1up.com/news/3ds-price-drops ... free-games:

The other ten games will be Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games available to Ambassadors before year's end. Among the selection will be Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island; Mario Kart: Super Circuit; Metroid Fusion; WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames, and Mario vs. Donkey Kong. None of these ten are planned for release to the public.

There are some quality titles among the bunch, including Metroid Fusion and the other GBA titles that Nintendo says it doesn't plan to release to the public, so at least 3DS owners who paid full price will be able to say they got something for their money.

That's just baffling to me. IGN reported something similar. (Although maybe they don't count as two different sources now that they're in the same building, under the same management.)

[bovine]

This statement re:GBA emulation could just as easily be bullshit as it could be truth.

[Zeus]

Ain't no way they're gonna NOT gonna do a GBA VC on the 3DS. Not only is it stupid, it goes against Nintendo's own business trends. That HAS to be a misinterpretation or speculation

[Eric]

Yeah I gotta agree with Zeus, it's like printing money basically for them to do GBA VC.

[bovine]

Yeah I gotta agree with Zeus, it's like printing money basically for them to do GBA VC. Also all hail Bovine and his infinite wisdom.

I wonder if they would also do some GBA 3d business in there was well. It seems strange that they seem to stop at NES 3dification.

[Zeus]

This statement re:GBA emulation could just as easily be bullshit as it could be truth.

COULD be. But the VC has had pretty much every title you would want for it, save Earthbound and Terranigma. No reason to think they won't be releasin' the good stuff for the GBA.

What I'm wondering about is do we get 10 pre-selected games or can we wait around for the releases we want?

As for the GBA 3D, the hardware may not be powerful enough to render the graphics of a GBA twice (required for 3D), so I would doubt it unless it's some earlier titles. But the real question is: do we get Mother 3? There is a free translation of it available after all....

[M'k'n'zy]

From what I'm understanding it will be pre-selected games.

[Eric]

Yeah I gotta agree with Zeus, it's like printing money basically for them to do GBA VC. Also all hail Bovine and his infinite wisdom.

I wonder if they would also do some GBA 3d business in there was well. It seems strange that they seem to stop at NES 3dification.

I'm sorry were you saying something?

[Kupek]

If we're going to assume the VC model, then a possible interpretation of what they meant is "We're not releasing these titles to the general public anytime in the near future." So, Metroid Fusion may not hit the GBA part of the 3DS store until, say, 2013.

[Flip]

I think the games list they are giving is pretty solid, but i like old school games.

[Julius Seeker]

Other games I would love to see:

GBA Earthbound (although I know that's not happening, not only because it probably was never translated to English, but also the legal issues.... Apparently it was alright to have homages in videogames in 1995, but not after 2000.).
Zelda II - The Adventure of Link, I am not quite sure what they can do with it here, but I would like to have a handheld version of this game all the same. Shadow Link is still the most difficult, most intense boss battle in any Nintendo game ever; I've never actually won this battle without ducking in the corner and fighting cheaply.
Super Mario Brothers 3 - I would LOVE a 3Dified port of this one. This one is obviously coming, but not necessarily as part of the free givaway, although it would very very cool.

[Zeus]

I think the games list they are giving is pretty solid, but i like old school games.

Even if you use the argument "Yeah, but these are old games", the volume and quality more than makes up for age. These aren't just run-of-the-mill, poor-selling titles we're getting. They're some of the better games on the system. If with the next 5 they reveal one or two of a Castlevania, Zelda Four Swords, Mario & Luigi, a Final Fantasy, or a Pokemon game, it's a pretty kick-ass selection

Yeah, Mac, I'm pretty sure they're pre-selected. Too bad....

EDIT: Here's the full list. The NES ones you get Mario and Zelda, which rule, and 3 OK games. The GBA ones are all excellent games. These 10 on their own are a great package and they're only half of it

http://ds.ign.com/articles/118/1184922p1.html

Also, we're all getting a free copy of Four Swords for the 3DS

[M'k'n'zy]

You know what though Zeus? If they are giving out free games like this you know they are all going to have to be first party Nintendo stuff. For other GBA games I am really hoping for Minish Cap, Metroid Zero Mission, and Mario and Luigi. You also have to figure that Super Mario 3 will likely be in with the NES stuff.

[Julius Seeker]

Super Mario 3 with the layered background would be nice as a 3D conversion. I would like to see Zelda 2 done as well, but aside from certain areas and explosion effects (where the user can see Link's shadow light up on the wall) there's not much to make it 3D; but I still really want a handheld version of that game =P

The one GBA game I dare not dream about was the Earthbound Port which never made it here.

[Zeus]

You know what though Zeus? If they are giving out free games like this you know they are all going to have to be first party Nintendo stuff. For other GBA games I am really hoping for Minish Cap, Metroid Zero Mission, and Mario and Luigi. You also have to figure that Super Mario 3 will likely be in with the NES stuff.

I'm hoping they can convince Capcom or Konami to join in :-)

[Julius Seeker]

First sales figures in from Japan, sales have increased more than fifty times; perhaps the largest sales spike in videogame console history.

"Nekkei news reported that Nintendo has sold 207,000 units of 3DS in Japan in the week of August 8 - 14, after the price drop." - http://www.the-magicbox.com/gaming.htm

Previous sales were 4028 - http://www.vgchartz.com/home.php