Think the 3DS is Expensive? Blame E3 Attendees
I guess next time we'll try to play down the enthusiasm.
Nintendo held an event for the 3DS yesterday and announced pricing, release dates and specs for the handheld. Despite all the interesting things Nintendo had to say about the device, a lot of people just couldn't get past the price. The company put a 25,000 yen ($300) price tag on its newest handheld and a lot of people (including most of our commenters) felt that it was just too high. Want to know why it's so expensive? Because we all got so excited when it was revealed at E3.
Reports based on a Japanese article from Bloomberg Japan say that Nintendo president Iwata Satoru yesterday attempted to explain the high price of the 3DS to analysts by highlighting the positive response the device got at its unveiling. The president apparently said that the hugely positive response to the 3DS at Nintendo's E3 keynote was one of the contributing factors in determining the high price of the handheld console.
Though it's depressing to think that our excitement was partly to blame for the high price, it's important to remember that its not unusual for a DS to sell for more in Japan than in America; the DSi launched at 18,900 yen ($226 today) but sold for $170 in the United States. So let's give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt and assume, as commenter Fracture guesstimates, that the company will charge stateside customers somewhere between $229 and $249 for the 3DS. A more reasonable price, but still not cheap.
How much would you pay for a 3DS? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Andriasang via PC World
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They need to get the price closer to $200 if they want another money printing handheld. $250-$300 is console price territory.
mm...
no more than 25$
I dislike portable gaming
Id pay 300 if ALL the games were free!
And then we played the waiting game...
HAHA, just a new toy in shiny color. Games are not that exciting on it. Small screed bad graphics, I guess it's for kids between like 1-5 and their parents lol.
Sony Playstation 3 $299, sorry 3DS!
lol, who cares, everyone will still buy it. just wait for the novelty to ware off and buy one second hand off ebay for like 1/3rd the price.
$200 at most, anything more is a ripoff
No way in hell am I paying over $200 for that, Lol...
Simply depends on how impressive the 3D impact is and the game offerings. 180-250ish might work.
don't follow apple's price system...
I'll pay around $100 plus a free game
$199.99 for just the system
$279.99 for some kind of deluxe package with a game, carrying case, maybe a unique color, and some token extras.
id pay 1k$, but i dont have to...
From a hardware perspective, the 3DS ISN'T worth $300. Like the article said, the steep price is influenced by the political side of the decision making process rather than the actual hardware that makes up the handheld. I guess the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts in this case.
Anyway, I would be willing to pay in the late $100's for the 3DS. Isn't that what Nintendo handhelds usually go for at launch? I feel sorry for the Japanese people that have to feel the heat of Nintendo's diabolical marketing team.
230-250 sounds reasonable to me.
Not too high, slightly breaks the bank.
I'd say $250 would be about right. After all it does contain some cutting-edge engineering.
$300 might be a bit much. But I will hold final judgment till I actually get some real play time with it. If the 3D effects are as amazing as the initial reviews are making it out to be, this could be my next splurge.
Everyone is saying that 200 dollars is the max. But a 64 gigabyte ipod touch which isn't even 3d is 400 dollars. plus the fact it isn't as good at gaming. However i am not saying they are alike too much, but they are fighting for the same market therefore shouldn't there prices be competitive? right now the 3ds is actually lower in price.(not including 8 gig)
Just depends on how well it does. At least with it's debut in Japan; us state-side get's to see how good it actually is.
Plays my nano violin with a grin of dissatisfaction on my face -.- "got excited" yea right every one who own/runs a gas station does that and we all get high gas prices.
Over here in Australia, I'd be happy if it only cost me the equiv of $350US. It will most likely be quite a bit more than that.
I will probably end up importing from the states anyhow. Even with shipping, it's normally a lot cheaper.
well it's settled the kids are getting a DSI XL instead of this
on sale cheap now thanks to this expensive lil toy
Nintendo will be $300 richer :-)
will wait for the R4 ~ good luck nintendo ~
im here going to comment quick.
the 3ds is the first 3d device most of us will have
it will be the first 3d movie player most of use will have
it doesnt require 3d glasses for the effect, and from what i understand does a damn good job at 3d
is a 3d camera, it may be low rez but you are looking at the 3d on the 3ds screen, so its not that bad, and it may take 3d movies. current 3d cameras are 600$+ as far as i know.
its backwards compatible with nds games as far as i understand. though this may change
now as for games
zelda oot 3d remake, witch may include improved visuals (and does from what i see) and also may include levels that had to be axed for time or space requirements of the original n64 cartages, and is still considered to be the best game of all time.
a 3d remake of snake eater, i may be wrong, but its at least set in that time frame.
star fox 64 (i believe looking at some of the level sand bosses)
and a new mega man legends (not looked at highly by mega man fans, but i loved the series)
for zelda alone, i would be willing to shell out 500$ system and game, and im planning to buy most of the launch titals at launch.
and finally, i see 3d for what it is, the future. right now its a gimmick because not many people have it, and its used for gimmicky effects (like throwing something at the audience), but once it finds its place, as in non gimmicky effects, it will be what we come to expect from future media. and trust me, once you play a fps in 3d its hard to go back. i played one about 10 years ago, it was a head mount display, and depending on where i looked in real life, as in move my head was where i looked in the game. its hard to play games without it still.
No way this thing is going to fly costing more than the top end consoles...
if the price range between 130 - 180 bucks i'll consider about that
wait for the PSP2 come out. . and 3ds will be history. . LOL
I really don't understand why it's such a big deal that the price is so high. The original Game Boy was launched at the equivalent of ~200 dollars in today's USD, and it was not anywhere near as advanced for its time. The 3DS has the best graphics processor for a handheld currently on the market, AND it's running passive 3D. I mean, it'd be nice if it was $250, and it will be after a year, but do you really think it's not going to sell like mad?
$0.00 sounds about right
it will be 249.99 or less
what are they smoking. Don't they know half the folks are out of work or trying to make their mortgage payments, this is the great depression part II. 300 bucks, my god. you could buy 30-50 brand new books on amazon.