Slim debut sales for fatter Nintendo 3DS The 3DS XL was picked up by less than 10,000 UK punters following its British debut this past Saturday, underlining the decline handheld consoles have experienced over the years. While Ninty has yet to officially release official sales figures, initial estimates tacitly said to have been made by market watcher Chart-Track show …
If you have an iPhone or an iPad, or an Android phone or an Android tablet, do you really need a DS?
No, you need a PSP. I can't think of a game I've ever played on a mobile or tablet that held my attention for more than a few minutes. Even when I was trying out the "latest and greatest" at MWC tech stands, I got bored very very fast. My PSP, on the other hand, has God of War and Final Fantasy.
£200 with a game is a bit pricey.
£150 for the console would have been plenty. Also because the complete lack of quality games (as with the wii) the decent games remain high price for a long time. All Marios are still near retail price.
Dont get me wrong, Ive bought a red one, and im very pleased with it. Resident evil is an excellent game, as is the two mario games I got with it (kart and 3D world) but I dont know of another game I will buy except maybe Zelda so luckily ive got some games with a lot of replayability.
I also agree about 'yet another reiteration'. I havn't had a DS since the good ol days of the DS lite coming out when I played advance wars but nintendo really should do some proper improvements. For one the battery is pretty pitiful but most of all, whilst the graphs are fine for games, when you start doing anything else like web browsing its a waste of time. Yes it may be technically possible but so is surf boarding on an ironing board!
Personally, for me, it's more like £200 = a shedload of games on my existing PC.
I don't see handheld gaming as anything more than a short timewaster on the train, or for kids. But now kids tend to have "their own" laptop, of some fashion, or you have a phone for those half-hour journeys that not only plays games but connects to t'Internet too.
I don't think I can seriously consider a gaming console until it's under £100 any more. My Wii wasn't, and I bought it brand-new. And I got a Linux-based handheld gaming machine (the GP2X) for much less than that several years ago that's still doing just fine and runs more than any commercial console ever could via emulation of older systems. £100 is a lot of money. That's multiple trips to the cinema, half-a-dozen full-price DVD's or PC games, two or three "blockbuster" title video games, enough petrol to get my car from London to Scotland, etc.
I don't see that it really compares well to say that yet-another-iteration of a top handheld console (without some of the essential gadgets or any really sizeable library of games to play on it) costs twice that. Granted, there are different use cases, but I can get a half-decent laptop by the time you've kitted out a new DS with a couple of games the seemingly-"vital" second analogue stick, power adaptors, cases, etc. Hell, my employers saw an Android tablet that I bought my mum and was so impressed they bought me one for work and I could *easily* get 2 or maybe even 3 of those for the price of this console (or one loaded to the rafters with pay-for games and apps). My phone didn't even cost that and it does a whole lot more, just without the fancy 3D effects (Have they died yet? Can we forget about them again and resurrect them in 20+ years like we normally do?).
I think Nintendo are very business-savvy, but I don't think they are in a growth market any more. Casual games are too prolific, "serious" games are too powerful and expensive, the middle ground is being pushed by all sides on all manner of platforms.
I own a Wii because it's a cool, cheap little thing to pull out when friends are over for ten minutes and they''re not particularly gamers but want to relax and have a laugh (but, saying that, we choose to play an 1970's board game last time they were over). I haven't owned anything "console" prior to that since, well, probably the Super Nintendo when I was a kid. Yet I play hundreds of hours of games - sometimes too much - and we're not talking AAA titles at all, or ancient things from old platforms that nobody's ever heard of, just some cheap, fun games to entertain.
£200 is a lot of money and always has been. If you don't think you'll get that value back (i.e. you already own a DS of some kind, etc.) then it's probably not something you'd be interested in. The Wii, you get your money's-worth in entertainment (at least, virtually everyone did). To me, though, that should be a GUARANTEED 200+ hours of entertainment even if I just buy stuff I already have on Steam wishlists and the like. Yeah, I'd pick up a lot of dross too, most likely, but the pricing would mean that it wouldn't matter - I'd still get my value out of the money. I don't see me getting that out of the DS and one game, personally. And even if I did, it was a hell of a risk to hope it would happen with one particular game.
I've had several DS's, ranging from the original grey fatboy to the lites and love them down to the ground. I take at least one of them every time I have a long journey but I've never made the jump to the later consoles because:
1. A DS Lite can be accurately described as pocket sized, although my hands do cramp up a bit on it. Yes I know I can just put them in a bag but I like the idea of being able to sit at a bus stop and stuff it in my pocket when the bus turns up.
2. Lack of technology advancement and too small incremental steps. I'm not a fan of 3D and see it as a bit of a fad and once that's been taken out of the equation there's not much else different between my Lite and the 3DXL Gti Turbo Hyper Fighting II editions.
3. The fact that everyone who wants one knows the price will plummet within a couple of weeks.
My god can you people stop complaining they didn't add an extra stick already, or increased its power
There is a simple reason they didn't. THEY DIDN'T WANT TO BREAK COMPATIBILITY
Seriously if they made the XL more powerful, and an extra stick, and companies only made games that use the extra power, and made use of an extra pad they would alienate all the original 3ds buyers(even more than they did when they did the price drop).
And if they did that guess what when they would release the next system NO ONE WOULD BUY IT cause they would be scared of the new one getting replaced in a year or so with a slightly improved one where new games would be completely incompatible.
As for people still saying 3d's a fad or a gimmick EVERYTHING IS A FAD your 2nd analog pad you cry it not having is a fad IMO. Its not needed. Playing games online is a gimmick, 1084p on consoles are gimmicks. I will be honest some gimmicks are better than others motion gaming is one I wish would die (only reason I dislike most wii games ones that give the option to use the GC controller I love)
Also remember you might not like the 3d, but guess what there are plenty of people who like it, and use it all the time (me for one).
Out of the 14 3ds games I own there is only two I will not play on 3d.
One is due to the lag from poor coding in it (DoA) which honestly for a 3rd party launch game on new hardware isn't terrible. Games after it I've not seen any lag what so ever. The other is Tales of the Abyss, but honestly that isn't due to nintendo either its due to a 3rd party doing the 3d half assed to where its not even noticeable(except in the battery life dept).
"NO ONE WOULD BUY IT cause they would be scared of the new one getting replaced in a year or so with a slightly improved one where new games would be completely incompatible."
Take off the bit about new games being incompatible and therein lies the problem. Every Nintendo fan knows that if they just wait a bit, a new one will come along and the prices will plummet.
"Playing games online is a gimmick"
Are you being serious? I can't tell. Three words for you "World of Warcraft".
So much retarded, I don't even know where to begin.
There is a simple reason they didn't. THEY DIDN'T WANT TO BREAK COMPATIBILITY
You mean like they did with the 3DS? Ooooops.
And if they did that guess what when they would release the next system NO ONE WOULD BUY IT cause they would be scared of the new one getting replaced in a year or so with a slightly improved one where new games would be completely incompatible.
I wonder if that's why no-one is buying this one? It's certainly why the Wii has gone from "dying on its arse" to "deader than a dead thing".
As for people still saying 3d's a fad or a gimmick EVERYTHING IS A FAD your 2nd analog pad you cry it not having is a fad IMO.
Two analog sticks is a fad? Have you even heard of the Playstation? Or the X-box? Or - I dunno - the Gamecube? Or all the howling and wailing from the PSP crowd until the Vita turned up? That's a bloody long and useful fad...
Playing games online is a gimmick
*Brainsplode*
Stupidest thing I've read in a long time. I barely play multiplayer, but I've been barely playing it since 1993.
The rest of your post is just frothy-mouthed fanboy ranting. Honestly, you lot are worse than the Apple bunch.
Terrible platform, terrible games. I don't know why they don't just release a DS with all the decent games (5 of them) built into it and forget about making new ones. I own a DS and have played the only good games on it:
1) GTA Chinatown Wars
2) Mario Kart (ripped off from other console)
3) Mario World (rehash of classic)
4) Zelda Phantom Hourglass
5) Mario Brothers
The gimmicky 3DS only served to make my device obselete...awesome.
"underlining the decline handheld consoles have experienced over the years"
There may well be a decline in handheld consoles but I'd put a fair amount of money on betting that is in large part down to Nintendo and their continuous stream of slight rehashes which are sold at full price, more or less, a year after the original. DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSi XL, 3DS, 3DS XL and lets not forget "now available in <different colour>!"...... The only real differing hardware in those models comes down to size, a camera and 3D. If you ignore the 3D then even the original DS can still play new games so you're essentially seeing re-releases that somehow still sell millions to the same crowd.
At least the Sony is attempting new things and the really sad thing is that they're ignored in favour of a new DS colour. I really do hope this is a sign that people are waking up to the same old tactic of new colour / bigger screen / tiny hardware addition that Nintendo have profited from for over a decade.
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