3DS Coming to US March 27th, $249.99, March 25th in Europe for £229.99!
After Nintendo’s press conference, the Japanese company has finally released the meaty details for its 3DS.
Releasing March 27th in the US, the 3DS will be priced at $249.99.
In Europe, it’ll launch a few days earlier on March 25th. $249.99 is around £180 including VAT for UK folks, although Nintendo have oddly said that retailers are setting their own pricing.
Update: Both Game and HMV have listed the 3DS in the UK for £229.99 – a steep, steep mark-up. That’s probably why Nintendo didn’t say it in the press conference.
Nintendo expect around 30 games will release on or near the late-March date, and they highlighted a few at the event. Unfortunately they didn’t have 3D projector, show couldn’t show the actual games to the attending journalists.
Games listed include: Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, Dead or Alive Dimensions, Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D as well as a Madden game. They’re also going to be releasing some classic GameBoy and GameBoy Colour titles using the Virtual Console service.
There’s also various new additions. An activity log keeps track “of what games you play and how long, as well as a pedometer that encourages you to get up and walk to earn coins,” according to Nintendo’s Regis Fil-Aime.
Nintendo also showed off StreetPass – an app used for “exchanging game information with other Nintendo 3DS systems as owners pass one another during the day.” Information shared includes “Mii character data, maps for games or high scores and custom character data for different games.” It works even when your 3DS is in sleep mode (as long as you enable it, of course).
Other things:
- 3D video playback.
- There’s now only one friend code, instead of multi-game ones. Friends on the same wireless network will connect automatically.
- The DSi sound app
- Web browser
- It comes in two colours: black or blue. Outrageous!
Engadget’s Live blog from New York.
BeefJack‘s Liveblog from Amsterdam.
We’ll be adding more info as it becomes available.
Im sorry, nintendo but i do beleive ill wait on a preowned machine this time around. Thats what you get for letting money-grabbing middle-men choose european pricing. But dont worry, i wont be waiting long,’the headaches and eye strain rumours are already turning people away, just wait until they have it in their hands!
i’m reasonably happy with the price. Some speculated the big N might charge $300.
Still have to wonder about the price of software though. I will not be happy if they they to force a new $50 price point across the board.
Edit: Amazon.com seems to indicate $ 39.99, at least for MGS3. Sounds steep for a portable, but I guess it’s not terribly surprising.
I’ll wait for the inevitable 3DSi and for when the games catalogue is meatier. After previous experience (Sony!) theres’s no chance I’m spending £200+ on a new handheld
I can live with the price too. It may blind my children, but hey,who cares? Kid Icarus for the win!
I really wanted one, but the £230 price tag (with £35-£40 games) has pushed it too far for me. Wanted to pre-order one, but a price drop, finding one second hand or a particularly good bundle deal is the only way I’ll get one now. For the amount a 3DS and a copy of DOA will cost me, I could buy a PS3. That’s just too much for a handheld.
With Europe meaning Britain.
Sam, I might have asked you this before, but why the fuck is everything more expensive(even after conversion) over there?
Well, there’s generally more tax here. VAT etc. can add on a lot. As I say in the post, even with VAT it’s only around £180. The rest, I imagine, is because they can get away with it. People will be willing to pay for it most likely, so they can charge higher.
There may be other things such as retailers getting a bigger cut over here, but I’m not sure to be honest.
@Naughton: Knowing GAME and HMV knowing Nintendo, it will be an incredibly long time before there is stock of the 3DS readily available to consumers which means that it is going to sell out regardless (because Nintendo don’t know how to make a big production run and it permeates the hype behind the machine..) so what does it matter if it takes an extra few days to sell out because they’re overcharging? They’re going to get it back in and sell out again next time too, so why drop the price? My experience with the british public is that they aren’t generally saavy enough to weigh up the benefits of technology for themselves, or technologically advanced enough to do some proper research, realise they’re being fleeced and complain; most britains can’t properly use tabs or organise their bookmarks and this price panders to the uninformed and easily excited demographic.
To answer your question succinctly; Greed.
Faye, I resent the claim that the English public is even less tech savvy or more excitable than the American public :-)
It’s pretty terrible. The UK is getting screwed, with out even getting the joy of destroying the value of your currency like we have in the States. The VAT and shipping might be part of it, but it can’t be more than half the mark up.
@ouched: our excitability is nothing to the quality of our teeth or love of tea and crumpets! As i said, greed is the buffer between acceptable and reality here.