Last week I noted that the specs on the Nintendo 3DS had been leaked, along with speculation of a November release in Japan followed by a March release elsewhere. Today we get word that some things were correct, some incorrect, and some cool new things added on!
First off, the 3DS will ship in late February in Japan and in March in North America and the EU. North America is the largest market for the DS, and also one that has seen a decline in sales as more folks move to gaming on the iPhone/iPod Touch.
The launch price in Japan is 25,000 yen (about $298), though no pricing for anywhere outside of Japan has been announced. Personally I think a $300 sticker would be a huge mistake in North America, as that is the price tag for fully featured consoles, and the PSP saw pricing resistance at $250 – it seems unlikely that the market (outside of Japan that is) will bear a $100 premium for glassless 3D. So my guess is between $199 – 249 … and we’ll see how my prognostication skills are in a few months.
Something cool – whereas the DSi has ‘DSiWare’, the 3DS is going to have a ‘virtual console’ and get a collection of classic GameBoy and GBA games!
the Nintendo 3DS will feature a Virtual Console service to download classic Gameboy and Gameboy Advance games. And, while we already knew it was coming, Nintendo confirmed that classic titles from the NES will be making their way to the 3DS and converted to 3D (I believe this also applies to all VC titles). There are currently no games announced for this service yet, however.
I will definitely pay for that – hopefully some classic games will make the leap!
Also cool – you can transfer stuff between 3DS systems and from your existing DSiWare purchases on the DSi and DSiXL:
DSiWare (and, in the future, 3DSWare) fans rejoice! With the 3DS you will able to move downloaded software between 3DS devices, in case you ever want to buy a new device. In addition, it’s possibly to transfer DSiWare content from your DSi or DSi XL to your 3DS. There are limitations on how many times you can do this (although we’re not sure of the limit) and, for some reason, not all software can be transfered, but as Joystiq explains it’s still “leaps and bounds ahead of the DSi’s current limits.”
The Nintendo3DSBlog has loads of info and a link to a YouTube video showing the launch lineup:
This is impressive looking stuff, and I can’t wait to play some of those!
There is a ton of other news floating around about Mii support, the operating system in action, upcoming games and on and on. I found the Nintendo3DSBlog to be a good source for all of that and more!
There is an official site for the 3DS at Nintendo.
Source: Reuters
