Topic: Nintendo 3DS

[gpw11]

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2010/100323e.pdf

Apparently, legit as there was a public press conference in Japan.  Thoughts?

[idolminds]

Its legit, seems Nintendo has confirmed it. Not sure what to think until we see the actual thing. But with DS and DSi backwards compatibility...guess I'll skip the XL.

[W7RE]

I've been saying "I'll wait for the next iteration" since I bought my GBA SP. No doubt a year after launch there'll be a 3DS SP or a 3DS Lite that will have just enough additions that you need it for newer games, but few enough to make you hate Nintendo for it.

[Cobra951]

I have a feeling my fat DS is the last Nintendo portable I'll ever own.  I don't care about portable gaming anymore, for some reason.  Besides that, this new thing seems like another bag of gimmicks to me.  "Buy me again!  I sing and dance now!"  No thanks.

[scottws]

The DS isn't too bad but I hate games that make you use the microphone for anything and even ones that force you to use the touchscreen for stuff other than menus.  Like Phantom Hourglass and how you move Link around with the touchscreen.

Plus I must've dumped $30 into DS pens for my stepson because he chews them into disrepair or loses them constantly.

Give me a standard portable without all the stupid whizbang gimmicks.  And no, not a PSP.

[K-man]

I have a feeling my fat DS is the last Nintendo portable I'll ever own.  I don't care about portable gaming anymore, for some reason.  Besides that, this new thing seems like another bag of gimmicks to me.  "Buy me again!  I sing and dance now!"  No thanks.

I'd seriously consider upgrading to a DS Lite if you can still find one.  Screens on them are light years ahead of the original fat one.

[gpw11]

I thoroughly enjoy my DS light.

[iPPi]

I don't care about portable gaming enough to be interested in it.  I think they're kind of screwing themselves over with the XL still unreleased in NA and already announcing a new version of the DS.

[Pugnate]

Pretty disappointed. I've held off on a DS because I've been waiting for a DS 2 of sorts. Too bad we have another 1.5.

[gpw11]

I don't think this is a small upgrade of the DS hardware, but rather the DS2 you're looking for. Pretty much nothing is known about it right now, but most speculate that it'll be acompletely new hardware, possibly a tegra gpu chip, analog stick, force feedback (?), and an accelerometer (ugh).  Some of that probably won't go down, but at the very least I think we can expect this to be a full upgrade.  Think GBA to DS rather than DS to DS Lite.

[Pugnate]

Oh its back on then.

[Xessive]

Nintendo 3DS 'tag mode' demonstrated in Super Street Fighter IV trailer

SF4 looks awesome on the 3DS. I am really tempted now..

[sirean_syan]

Prices announced for Japan. Outlook, not so good.

More than a Wii, same as a PS3... My guess is that they're looking at the top tier iPhone price, but you can't really do that when an iPhone isn't primarily a gaming device.

[Xessive]

Yeesh, they're asking for too much.. $300.. Yeah, I'll wait till they drop or the Chinese clone a solution.

I will say that it's still a better offer than the PSPgo, which still costs ~$275 here.

EDIT:
Also, anyone know what the battery life will be like?

[idolminds]

Well, GBC/GBA Virtual Console is a nice addition. But $300? Yikes. Thats a "Wait for the library to be built up and the price to drop" territory.

[Cobra951]

It will never become mainstream at that price.  I imagine they'll just rope as many suckers as possible before dropping it to a realistic price point.  How sad.

[iPPi]

It's cool tech, but at that price my interest (which wasn't very high to begin with) is now quite low.

[PyroMenace]

Some details on release date and pricing. $300 for a handheld gaming device... well people do pay alot for iPhones...

[Xessive]

If the 3DS is also a phone then sure, $300 is fair.

Oh, I can get an iPhone 4 for $135 with a 1-year contract in the UAE now! I'm actually seriously considering it now.

[iPPi]

If the 3DS is also a phone then sure, $300 is fair.

Oh, I can get an iPhone 4 for $135 with a 1-year contract in the UAE now! I'm actually seriously considering it now.

That's a pretty good deal.

[Cobra951]

Some details on release date and pricing. $300 for a handheld gaming device... well people do pay alot for iPhones...

All I get is a a Giantbomb login screen.

[PyroMenace]

Oops, fixed. That link was to the mobile version of the site, which is for members only.

[Cobra951]

Thanks!  Looks like they're releasing it on my birthday, but I'm not in Japan, I will never buy it at that price, and I'm sort of done with portable gaming anyway.  Plus it can't make a phone call, so there goes that (specious) argument.

[K-man]

Yeah...300's a bit much.  I'll likely grab one, but only after a price drop or two.

[Pugnate]

That's a pretty good deal.

I don't know how people say that without seeing how much extra is being paid per month.

Regarding the 3DS, it is seriously disappointing.

I wanted to get one for sure, but $300 is pretty surprising for a handheld.

The specs don't reveal a system too much better than a PSP, and the screen is streets behind the iPhone or the Samsung SAMOLED phones. Obviously, you don't buy a Nintendo system for hardware, but that's why you pay a lower price for the main console. The gimmick here is obviously the 3D, but I don't care for it on a handheld.

Also, I read some comments on Kotaku about people saying they'd rather game on their iphones. I found that amazing, because there isn't a single game on the IPHONE that I could play beyond a few minutes.

[W7RE]

When this was announced I messed with some numbers a bit, and compared the DSi release price (in Yen) to the NA release price (in US dollars). If you did a straight conversion of Yes to USD with the DSi, it came out to $225. The DSi was $180 here though, which is 80% of the full conversion price. If you do the same 80% drop, you get like $249 for the 3DS. I would expect the price point to be $250 or lower in the US.

Of course I haven't bought a Nintendo handheld since the GBA SP. I prefer short session games like puzzle games, and would rather play more engrossing games at home on my TV. Also I just don't have the need for a handheld system. (Cant' play while driving, if I play in a car I get motion sickness anyway, don't live somewhere that I can take the bus places anymore, and even when I did I didn't like seedy fucking people getting in my business about my expensive electronics.)

[Xessive]

I don't know how people say that without seeing how much extra is being paid per month.

For the iPhone 4 in the UAE $70 a month gets me 125 mins, 125 sms, and an unlimited data plan. If I go for the $125 plan it gets me 500 mins, 300 sms, and also the unlimited data plan. It's an enticing offer but I'm still focusing on the HTC Desire HD or the Samsung Galaxy S since I'd rather have Android than be stuck with Apple. The one draw back is that getting a regular (non-iPhone) data plan is a lot more expensive. The cheapest one is ~$150 per month and it has a bandwidth limit (I think it's 1GB per month); and that's data plan alone without the phone costs.

Anyway, as much as I'd love the 3DS to also be a phone I digress. Coming back to 3DS news, Nintendo has announced that the 3DS will have automatic firmware updates.

The automatic updates will presumably be delivered over the Internet when a user connects to a WiFi access point, though it is unclear if players will then have the choice to decline an upgrade.

Nintendo will also be able put firmware updates on game carts, which would most likely require updating to play, similar to how the Wii, DSi, and Sony's PSP function.

[iPPi]

I don't know how people say that without seeing how much extra is being paid per month.

It's a 1 year contract, unless the monthly fees are something outrageous, it's a pretty good deal.  In Canada we get outrageous fees and are locked into a 3 year contract.  I'm a stingy bastard so I use a smartphone on a pay as you go plan.  No monthly fees, but no data either.  If I want data I can buy a $7 week pass or $2 day pass then.

[Pugnate]

For the iPhone 4 in the UAE $70 a month gets me 125 mins, 125 sms, and an unlimited data plan. If I go for the $125 plan it gets me 500 mins, 300 sms, and also the unlimited data plan. It's an enticing offer but I'm still focusing on the HTC Desire HD or the Samsung Galaxy S since I'd rather have Android than be stuck with Apple. The one draw back is that getting a regular (non-iPhone) data plan is a lot more expensive. The cheapest one is ~$150 per month and it has a bandwidth limit (I think it's 1GB per month); and that's data plan alone without the phone costs.

Anyway, as much as I'd love the 3DS to also be a phone I digress. Coming back to 3DS news, Nintendo has announced that the 3DS will have automatic firmware updates.

$70 a month? So how much more are you paying per month than if you were on a simple pay as you go thing or whatever? I am guessing if you weren't on a plan, you'd pay $30-$40 a month for similar use of a phone?

edit:

Woah... since when have they started the limited minutes and SMS thing in UAE? I remember it was always pretty much unlimited.

[Pugnate]

It's a 1 year contract, unless the monthly fees are something outrageous, it's a pretty good deal.  In Canada we get outrageous fees and are locked into a 3 year contract.  I'm a stingy bastard so I use a smartphone on a pay as you go plan.  No monthly fees, but no data either.  If I want data I can buy a $7 week pass or $2 day pass then.

Sorry, hope I didn't sound rude.

The reason I said that is they are going to make their money back somehow. It is a $800 phone, so you are going to end up paying for it per month. In fact, from what I've seen, in some instances you end up paying *more*.

So yea, you do pay for it in full; either now, or in monthly installments.

[Xessive]

If I go with the pay-as-you-go option I'd have to pay the full price of the phone upfront, also the monthly fee would entirely depend on my usage and there would be no data plan per se, any data usage would get knocked off my phone credit at a high rate (it's somewhere around $1 per 100KB). So I'd be running around buying prepaid cards all the time, which is what I'm doing right now basically.

The limited minutes system is not actually setup here. Basically the telecom company treat it like they're giving us an extra 125 mins and sms for going with the unlimited data plan. If I do cross the 125 min mark my calls won't drop or anything I'll just get charged for the extra time at the end of the month, like the standard post-paid phone plan. At the $70 rate you basically end up paying the full price of the iPhone in installments by the end of the year. The way I'm looking at it, that would be like buying an iPhone and getting free data service for a year + bonus 125 mins and sms per month throughout that year.

Also, I'd like to point out that your minutes only count when you make the call. You do not lose "air time" when you receive a call. By contrast, that's the utter bullcrap I had to deal with in Canada! I have to pay every time someone calls me?!! I lose all my credit and the call gets dropped even though someone else called me?!! That's daylight robbery.

[gpw11]

$70 a month? So how much more are you paying per month than if you were on a simple pay as you go thing or whatever? I am guessing if you weren't on a plan, you'd pay $30-$40 a month for similar use of a phone?

edit:

Woah... since when have they started the limited minutes and SMS thing in UAE? I remember it was always pretty much unlimited.

Fuck yo, I pay like $90 a month. $350 daytime min, unlimited evenings and weekend (5PM), voicemail, caller ID, unlimited texts, and 1 gb data.  I'm a firm believer that there is illegal price setting and collusion going on within the communications industry in Canada.

[iPPi]

The day I get monthly fees like that for cell phone services is the day that the company I work for will pay for them for me.

[Xessive]

Nintendo stocks fall 10% following official 3DS announcement!

Nintendo’s upcoming 3DS is being eagerly anticipated by fans and critics alike so it makes sense that its official announcement would have a positive effect on the company’s stock market value; however what happened was the exact opposite of that.

Following the official announcement, Nintendo’s stock fell from 23,010 yen to 20,860 yen on the Osaka Securities Exchange.

While Nintendo never gave out any hints about the 3DS’s release date, most analysts expected it to launch in Japan before the holiday season and follow in the U.S. early in 2011. Instead, Nintendo announced that its newest handheld won’t launch before February 2011 in Japan and March 2011 in Europe and USA. The company also lowered its sales forecast for the current DS lineup by 22% and Wii by 3%.

"The earnings forecast has been modified to reflect the trend of stronger-than-expected yen appreciation, current sales performance, the sales outlook for the holiday season and the decided release conditions for the Nintendo 3DS," was Nintendo’s explanation for the forecast lowering.

[iPPi]

This happened with a lot of company's and their new announcements.  Apple's stocks fell when they announced the iPhone 4 and the iPad.  RIM's stocks fell recently after they announced their Playbook Tablet as well.

[Pugnate]

Yup, the stock market is kinda like reading a book. You can't always tell the story from one page.

Sometimes sellers are just looking for an excuse to sell, to cash in on profits etc.

But the logic used in Xessive's quote seems pretty sound. With Nintendo unable to make the holiday season with the 3DS, people are looking to sell.

[idolminds]

US launch details. Most important:

March 27th.  $250.

[Pugnate]

Good. By March I should have some money hopefully.

[PyroMenace]

The 3DS is dropping to $169.99. Plus some free games thrown in there, DSiware games and GBA games which I think are downloadable on the store too. I wonder if this will help boost it's sales enough to Nintendo's liking. I still don't have any inclination to buy one. I traded my DS Lite for an XL last summer and I've barely touched it. Any handheld gaming I do is on my iPod now.

[W7RE]

Any handheld gaming I do is on my iPod now.

Last portable gaming system I bought was a GBA SP, and I barely used it. I just don't think I'm into the long time investment games for a portable system. The cheap piece meal games on phones and similar devices seem much more like what I would want from a portable gaming system. I have no interest in the 3DS, even at the new price point. I am, however, considering upgrading my iPod Shuffle to an iPod Touch.