Nintendo 3DS: Bandwagon starts here

Thats a lot of money for a handheld. Wow.

Well, the original PSP cost AU$400.00, and it had no touch screen, gyroscope, online store or stereoscopic display.  Welcome to Australia: where shit costs more.

Looks like its $250 in the US.

There is a lot of profiteering in Australia.  Then they say they want to lower the GST (a tax on the value of a good or service) exemption from $1000 to $0 on international purchases.  And you know who are the ones calling for that to be changed.

Best regards,
Steven.

It's also regionally restricted, and the games are region locked.  If I buy a US Version 3DS, I have to buy US Games.  Then I can't play multiplayer with any of my friends who buy an Australian 3DS and Australian games.  Blizzard are doing the same thing; their digital purchases cost US$90.00 in Australia and New Zealand.


Haha, that was a funny little whine those retailers tried to make happen.  "We can't sell our over-priced goods because people figured out they can buy them cheaper online.  Let's add GST to it so it costs more and we can charge higher prices!"

It makes me sick.  However, it's across the board; every company with everything - it costs more in Australia because we don't have the ability to realisitcally buy it elsewhere.  For stuff we can buy elsewhere - like movies, games, etc., being available online - they region lock it so if we do, we have to buy everything online and can't share our stuff with our friends and family.

And it's not only legal to do it, it's illegal to circumvent it.  Go figure.

I pre-ordered mine from Amazon a month ago, January 19th, when the US price and release date were finally revealed. I've got a countdown on my computer going until release day  . Yes, it is $250 in the US, and yes, that is kind of a lot for a handheld. Even if it didn't have 3D, I would still probably consider it worth it for all the other stuff it brings to the table. Honestly, I think the 3D is a bit of a gimmick, albeit a very cool gimmick.

I still have my original silver DS, and the battery has been slowly dying over the last year. I had already decided I was going to get a new DS at some point; last year's E3 guaranteed that it would be a 3DS (assuming the price wasn't too high).

I don't really find any of the release games very interesting. I might pick up Pilot Wings or Steel Diver just to tide me over until things like The Ocarina of Time, Kid Icarus, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, etc come out. But on the other hand, I'll also have Black and White to do that, so I'm not really sure. Either way, I know I'll have fun.

So yes, I'm on the bandwagon I was already planning to post my thoughts on it when it comes out

That's not quite the case. Games are only region locked if the publisher chooses too do so. Some games you should be able to play even if it isn't specifically for your country. Granted, I assume a lot of publishers will elect to lock their games, but it's not a given.

Money is not everything.  If Stardock's Fallen Enchantress goes well, and there are very positive signs that it will, Stardock will have gained something much more important - trust and goodwill in the eyes of many.  And they may well, after the lessons they've learned and after the games department gets back in the black, do better then if they'd just cut their losses and run.  It's good to be the publisher as well as the developer, and to have stable income from other sources, and be relatively open with how they conduct their business (and willing to learn from mistakes).

Best regards,
Steven.

Um... consider me confused. What does Stardock or FE have to do with the 3DS?

Sorry, a bit of a tangent, I know.  Just meaning, one's company does not have to act like a faceless megacorporation to make money.  If FE and Stardock's future games succeed, it could make more money in the medium to long term than if they just dropped any game that had a bad release, or tried to be over-restrictive about where games could be played or played on what.

Best regards,
Steven.

Its interesting that Nintendo is rolling out an expensive handheld this expensive at the same time as the entire handheld game market is facing serious trouble from gaming on phones.

I'm taking a pass on this one. I mostly play my DS on the bus going to/from work, and the 3d flat out won't work in that environment due to the bumps. So it's a drastically more expensive DS to me with worse battery life. Goodie?

ZehDon ... the ACCC [A Triple C] has declared region coding a restriction of trade and does not support it.

It is legal to purchase and use region 'free' DVD recorders/players in Oz, for example, however their importation as 'region free' is prohibited under International Trade agreements....which is why there's no reference to the facility/capability in the Panasonic manuals, yet both of mine are 'unlocked'.

You don't have to buy a data/phone plan for the 3DS, though. Doesn't change the fact that the 3DS is still pretty expensive... I think it's a little too eary to say that handhelds are "facing serious trouble" just yet, although it is something to keep an eye on. Personally, I'll never make a phone my primary handheld gaming experience. Phones don't have Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, etc, and I'm not a huge fan of having a touch screen as the only form of input. I know I'm not alone in this.

Has it been confirmed that riding in a car ruins the 3D? I wouldn't expect it to be perfect, and I'm sure rough dirt roads would kill the effect, but I would also think that Nintendo realizes people use their DS a lot when they travel and that they would try to "cushion" it as much as possible. IIRC, from the previews the sweet spot for the 3D is fairly forgiving, although without any firsthand experience I don't know for sure.

The relatively low battery life is definetly disappointing (although even three hours is a significant gain over my current DS ). I'm not too worried about it though. I rarely travel for three hours, let alone play games for three hours solid (at least, not without an outlet nearby). Three to five hours is good enough for me. It's also worth mentioning that Nintendo typically underestimates the battery life. IIRC, the DSi claimed 7-9, but people regularly got upwards of 10.

Far as I know, it doesn't work well at all if the unit isn't stationary, and it certainly won't be on a bus. Would probably work alright on a plane, except for the battery life.

As for phones, what people forget is that most people already have a phone. It's not a $300 expense just to play games, it's something you're already getting for some other reason that also happens to play games. As the power of the phones keeps increasing, they reach a point where it's "good enough" for a lot of people and those people drop out of the dedicated handheld market entirely.

I mean, a phone GPS isn't as good as a full blown in-car mounted GPS system either, but phones are absolutly pounding that market because they're good enough and it's something you are already going to get. Dedicated GPS units are now becoming more limited to professionals and offroaders who need ruggedized units that work where there is no phone coverage. The rest of us just use Google Maps and the built in GPS receiver.

The last hand-held gaming system I owned was the Original Gameboy. I got it when I was 10 years old. It was awesome for what it was back in the day. Since then I've had zero interest in hand-held gaming, but, the 3DS is seriously making me reconsider getting back into mobile gaming.

Great post here, Don. Thanks for the info brother.

I'll buy this when there's a game for it that I want to play. In other words, not until it's been out for a while and the price goes down. I've got a DS that I got the same way, and it's served me fine for a long time. I see no reason it shouldn't continue to do so for a while longer.

 

And my heart goes out to you australian fellows, and your government/corporate situation. You fellows really need a good revolution. And it happens to be in style now; what with Egypt and Libya doing their thing.

Oh, yes .... we must revolt over region coding....

...a noble cause.

Quick....get the SAS out of Afghanistan....they're needed back here to spearhead a revolution over the free distribution of a kid's gaming machine.....

Well, not just that.

Once I get mine, I'll get a friend to drive me around the block and I'll see how well it works

How often do people fly long enough to need more than 3-5 hours of battery life? After you subtract the periods of time where electronics are forbidden, you can get accross the most of the continental US in that time. Granted, there is the airport and possible layovers and whatnot, but still. Unless you're frequently traveling overseas (I'm sure there are those people, but they're probably the minority) I imagine 3-5 hours is good enough for air travel.

That's true, but I still think people are blowing this out of proportion. I don't think there's a whole lot of overlap in the demographics being targeted by the two. It's like people who play Farmville vs people who play Starcraft. The people who are likely to use their phone as their only mobile gaming platfrom probably wouldn't want to get a dedicated handheld anyway. I don't think phones are taking much away from handhelds; instead, they're getting people who wouldn't game to game, if that makes any sense. It's kind of like how the Wii got parents, grandparents, etc, to play games when otherwise they wouldn't touch a game.

I don't think Nintendo have to worry about iPhones and Mobile Gaming any time soon.  While the amount of games on an iPhone and the like is impressive, the App Store is filled with hundreds and thousands of games that are terrible, and far worse than the shoveware that clogs the DS's library.  Of the good ones, they mostly follow the usual trend of burst gaming - 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there, 15 minutes when you're really in to it.  They're starting to offer more hardcore games now, however they still maintain this primary 'burst gaming' focus.

The 3DS, like the DS before it, is the middle child, offering both casual experiences and hardcore games in equal supply.  The PSP is heavy the other way; casual titles are the exception.  While there is a market for all of these, clearly, the DS hit the sweet spot for two reasons; firstly, because it walked the line.  I could play Resident Evil and enjoy a lengthy experience, or I could fire up Elite Beat Agents for 60 seconds.  Secondly, it delivered a unique package at the time; touch screen gaming.

What people don't seem to understand is simply that Nintendo doesn't want a console that can compete with the iPhone and NGP - they want something that the iPhone and NGP can't compete with.  I can play NGP titles on my 360, and iPhone Titles on my 3DS (when it arrives).  I can't, however, play 3DS titles on anything other than a 3DS.  Nintendo seem to be the only people who understand the sheer power that position yields.  The Nintendo DS is the highest selling console of all time for that reason; it's was, for it's time, a unique experience.  This is what the 3DS brings back.  3DS is a category of one.

I agree with everything you said, except that. The PS2 is still currently the best selling console I believe, although the DS is closing that gap.IIRC the PS2 has something like 150 million sales and the DS has 145 million.

I played Zelda 3d on the 3ds yesterday. It was very cool to see in 3d. Im not much of a handheld gamer (I love my huge monitor and tv to much) but the 3d did make the screen feel a lot bigger just because of the added depth. The 3d can be a little offsetting (headache inducing) so my recommendation is to try it in a store before ordering, but that is just my opinion. Also since the 3d is configured just for the person looking directly at the screen this isn't a console you want to watch someone play over their shoulder. But it's hard to imagine a more perfect platform for Mario cart.