Last week Nintendo announced that the price to the Nintendo 3DS would be dropped. No small price cut, as of August 12th, 2011, the 3DS will be sold for $169.99 as opposed to the off-putting $249.99 launch price. I gotta say, I did not see this coming. Heck, I think a lot of us didn't see it coming. An $80 price drop for a handheld that isn't even six months old? Wow. Again, that's a huge price slash.
I'm sure a few early 3DS adopters were feeling peeved at this news. Dropping 250 bones on a handheld that most people will be able to get for $170? Yeah, I'd feel like I got the short end of the stick, too. Thankfully, Nintendo is giving those that paid the original price for the 3DS some form of compensation. 10 free NES virtual console games and 10 free GBA games from the eShop. I find the 10 free eShop GBA games interesting because up until this point, there was no news if GBA games would come to the eShop. Unfortunately, Nintendo does not plan to release the 10 listed GBA games to the general public, which is yet another bonehead move for Nintendo.
So now the 3DS is looking like a more attractive buy in the price department. I've wanted to get a 3DS but the price was a huge turn off for me. $250 is a lot of money to fork over. Of course another reason I was reluctant to buy a 3DS was the current lineup of games. The 3DS launch was really nothing to write home about and as much as I love Ocarina of Time, an enhanced port is not enough reason to run out and put down $250. Granted there are some 3DS games I do want to play like Pilotwings Resort and then Mario Kart 7, Kid Icarus: Uprising and Super Mario 3D Land are supposed to release in time for the holiday season. However, along with releasing great games, Nintendo is also known for their delays. I will eat a goat's fur in all three of those games actually come out at the end of this year.
There's talk that Nintendo hasn't moved as many 3DS units as they'd hoped. More than 830,000 units in the USA alone is a pretty impressive number but maybe Nintendo was hoping for more than that after nearly four months. The PSP Vita is on the way so maybe they want to get a leg up on Sony. Sure, the 3DS came out first, but if we learned anything from Sega, head-starts don't mean jack in this business.
I've personally never been fond of the 3D effect in moves and games. From what I've heard on the 3DS, the 3D is more trouble than it's worth. It's cool that it can be done without the need for glasses, but I'm thinking I'll more than likely keep the 3D turned off most, if not all of the time. I could care less about an added 3D perspective.
I think Nintendo can count me as a later adopter of the 3DS. The price cut is a huge incentive to buy one now and I do want to play the awesome games that will no doubt hit the 3DS. The original DS didn't have the greatest launch and it ended up having an incredible library, one that I'm still amassing. Who's to say the 3DS won't turn out the same way?
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