http://www.gametrailers.com/news/nintendo-3ds-price-drop-ambassador/3675
Looks like I am MUCH more likely to get a 3DS now (at some point, not anytime soon):
Well, this is interesting. After what can only be described as a less than stellar initial launch, Nintendo of America today announced plans to drop the suggested retail price of its portable Nintendo 3DS system to $169.99 in the United States.
The new price, down from the suggested launch price of $249.99 and effective Aug. 12, takes place just a few months after the hardware hit store shelves in the US and is undoubtedly Nintendo’s attempt to set up a strong holiday season for the system. Japanese gamers will also be seeing a price drop on the handheld device effective August 11 that will see the units MSRP go from 25,000 Yen to 15,000 Yen. Meanwhile, details of a price drop throughout European markets are expected soon, but online reports suggest that the the cost of the 3DS will go down “about a third” throughout Europe.
”For anyone who was on the fence about buying a Nintendo 3DS, this is a huge motivation to buy now,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “We are giving shoppers every incentive to pick up a Nintendo 3DS, from an amazing new price to a rapid-fire succession of great games.”
Of course, the move seems like somewhat of a slap in the face to those that picked up the 3DS at launch, but Nintendo is making amends by announcing the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program which, as the name implies, seeks to reward Nintendo’s most loyal customers with 20 free downloadable games from the Nintendo eShop.
These free games are available to anyone who owns a Nintendo 3DS system and connects to the Nintendo eShop at least once before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11. These users will automatically be registered in the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program. The program contains two elements as outlined by the press release:
1. Starting Sept. 1, Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors will be able to download 10 NES Virtual Console games at no charge and before they are available in the Nintendo eShop to the general public. These games, including Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and The Legend of Zelda, are slated to become paid downloadable games, but Ambassadors get them early for free. Once the paid versions of the games are posted to the Nintendo eShop later in the year, the updated versions will be available to Ambassadors for download at no cost.2. By the end of 2011, Nintendo will provide Ambassadors with 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games. These include games like Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong. 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.
More details about the Ambassador program are expected to be announced at a later date, but for now we’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the price drop, the free games, and the overall state of the Nintendo 3DS in the comments section below.
I dunno, I feel that this bodes negatively for the 3ds. And while I am much more interested in getting one at that price, there are still some issues I have with it.
ReplyDeleteFor one, the battery life, which i hear is pretty bad. Secondly, I played it at gamestop, and the 3d was really uninspiring. I switched it to 2d mode, because it was more comfortable for me.
Also, the games, I don't see anything that I really want to get. Although there are a ton of DS games I would love to get, I could just get a ds for a lot less money. I'm kinda holding out for some awesome 3ds games, and what I'm seeing so far is not really interesting. A new advanced wars on the other hand.....