Brent L

When should these be out in the wild for us to check a demo out in person? A month before the release?

pinata242

Sounds about right, maybe just two weeks or so.

Not that it matters because they'll be impossible to find on a whim for a while anyway.

Brent L

Well, I have one of each on pre-order, so that wont be a big deal. I would love to actually see one in person before I commit to buying though. I don't doubt that it works just great, but it would be nice to be able to be 100% sure after some time with it myself.

pinata242

Haha! Yeah, if you're looking for a demo unit so you can cancel an order, I don't think you'll have a problem. Waiting to order, on the other hand...

Decker

I'm wondering about the resolution. I saw some prototypes of portable no-glasses 3D video players on phones and mobile devices at CES a couple of weeks ago and they all looked vaguely 3D but they also all looked crappy with poor resolution. Nobody wants to play a 3D shooter that looks all blurry, do they?

Anubis2005X

I may actually cancel my order and take a wait and see approach with this. My backlog of games is kind of ridiculous, and $250 or $300 (with a 3D game) is no chump change. I'll have to think about it some more...

Brent L

I'm sorta shocked that you can still order it on Amazon.

Decker

You might be over-estimating the demand of this item. $250 for a handheld is a hell of a lot of money, especially one targeted at kids primarily. Yeah, the PSP was $250 at launch, but it was a portable MP3 player, web browser and movie player at a time when other handled devices didn't do that. And it was way overpriced and easy to find at/near launch. Sure Nintendo will do better -- they own the handheld market, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if these sales were sluggish. I can't even imagine spending $250 on one for my kids, and I'm kind of an early adopter and over-spender usually.

pinata242

You're also a bit of a curmudgeon lately. See: any Kinect discussion.

Decker

Lately???

Hey, I probably wouldn't buy a 3DS at $199. I rarely touch the DS at all. But $250 just seems like such a high price point.

Then again I still think $150 is too high for a Kinect and I bought that. So all we've really established is that I'm a grumpy hypocrite.

fujishig

The PSP was hard to find at launch, though. That was back when TRU was fulfilling Amazon stock, but they had a "value pack" up, canceled all preorders, then put up a bundle. Heck, there were times way after launch when the DS Lite was hard to find.

CreatureX

The Nintendo 3DS can play MP3's, browse the web, and play movies in 3D.

Decker

MP3 and browse the web is no big deal any more. If it can indeed play 3D movies, that would be a huge selling point. How would one acquire these 3D movies to play on the 3DS? Would they be a dedicated format? Because the UMD didn't exactly take off as a video format.

Decker

I don't recall the PSP ever being scarce. Certainly not for long. It should also be noted that the $250 PSP at launch was a bundle with headphones, remote, case strap and Spider-Man 2 UMD. Not the greatest value, but at least it was more than bare hardware.

All the normal rules are void with Nintendo, though. They've long since mastered the art of scarcity engineering. I expect the supply to be extremely limited for months. That's just how they roll at the big N.

Michael Corvin

As Decker alluded to, in a world where 90% of the population has iTouches and iPhones these are no longer selling points. Outside of the 3D gimmick, the 3DS doesn't have much going for it... certainly not $250 worth of new and/or cool features. It's a $150 DSi with a $100 premium for 3D.

Moopher

Well, I want one. I saw Bomberman 3DS and I'm in. I love my DS, I don't play it much anymore, but I have loads of fully completed games because everything was so addicting. I'm sure this won't be any different, and I'm actually into the 3D without the glasses.

Michael Corvin

Improved graphics is a non-feature, that's standard progression with new consoles.

Decker

And how much do improved graphics matter if the resolution is too blurry to appreciate them? The showdown between this and the PSP2 might be interesting if the hardware for the PSP2 is as impressive as they are implying. BTW I expect that the PSP2 will be even more pricey than the 3DS, so that should help ease the sticker shock here.

CreatureX

It's also "standard progression" for a price increase to go with those improved graphics.

U.S. launch prices:
Gamecube: $199
Wii: $249

Xbox: $299
X360: $399

PS2: $299
PS3: $499/599

DS: $150
3DS: $250

Michael Corvin

Not exactly. This gen brought with it a host of features (hard drives, wireless controllers, broadband, blu-ray, 5.1, HD, etc)) that justify the price increase, so those are poor examples. In fact, up until this gen prices stayed relatively stagnant for 20 years for consoles. Improved graphics just came with the territory.

The 3DS doesn't have a host of new features worth the $100 jump. Hell, improved graphics is relative anyway. $250 for the graphical capabilities of a system from 1995?

Comparing handhelds to consoles is also a fallible argument. Here's the real progression:

Gameboy: $90
GBAdvance: $150
Nintendo DS: $150
Nintendo DSi: $180
Nintendo 3DS: $250

orangecrush

You also get a "good" analog stick (suck it lefties)

PerryD

I think we can all agree that $199 would have been better than $249, as you mention, just doubling the resolution of the DS screens or upping the processor speed isn't the deal breaker. But what 3D will bring to handheld gaming is the real unknown, and it will be up to the developers to take advantage. Early adopters will pay though, and perhaps even by fall, the price will drop to $199.

None of us have the exact specs, but my guess would be that the 3DS will now be as powerful as the current PSP, but with 3D capabilities. When the PSP2 comes out this fall, it will very likely blow the 3DS out of the water with their specs, but as the DS/PSP battle shows, no one really cares about specs. But if the PSP2 launches at $249 and has a better App store ready and waiting, it could very well be Sony's chance to overtake Nintendo (and take on Apple's iPod).

Tracer Bullet

That was the first reason I wasn't going to buy a 3DS, but it's not the only reason.

pinata242

If they sold it for only $199 they'd likely be taking a loss on the hardware for the first few months and we know Nintendo can't have that even if they limit production to create artificial demand.

Besides, who's going to reverse all those animated gifs?

Anubis2005X

I don't get the lefties argument. I'm a lefty, but I made due with the DS. And it's not like the DS had a digital pad on the right side either, so...