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Full Version: Nintendo loses a bunch of money, announces big 3DS price cut coming soon
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Nintendo loses money for Q1 of the 2011 fiscal year (Apr-Jun 2011):
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2011/110728e.pdf

Here you can also see charts showing system sales so far this year. So far this year the DS and Wii are both down by almost 50% versus last year, and the 3DS isn't fully making up for the gap. This isn't really surprising though, given how badly the Wii in particular has fallen apart this year... as if Nintendo should have expected anything else when they're barely trying and aren't releasing any games for it anymore in the US, though? Also, the strong Yen hurt Nintendo again. But yeah, whatever teh cause it's a substantial loss for the quarter.

3DS price cut:
http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=30048

The 3DS's price is being cut from $250 to $169 as of Aug. 11. In Japan, prices are going from 25000 yen to 15000. To make up for that for people who bought the system for the higher price, Nintendo will be giving people who register their 3DSes before that date 10 free NES VC games for the system and 10 free GBA VC games for the system, in both cases before the games for those systems are available for purchase otherwise.

Games Japan gets include:
Quote:Free VC NES games for 3DS (from sept 1st):

Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros.
Donkey Kong JR.
Balloon Fight
Ice Climbers
The Legend of Zelda
+ 4 more

Free VC gameboy advance games for 3DS:


Super Mario Advance 3
Mario Kart Advance
Metroid Fusion
Wario ware
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
+ 5 more


... So yeah. The price cut isn't surprising, given the 3DS's mediocre sales, but the SIZE of the price cut is somewhat surprising, I'd have thought they'd go to $220 or $200, not all the way to $170... they must really want sales to increase. We'll see how it works. I hope that Nintendo can get back on track, they seem to be slipping this year and I hope they recover and get back to the success they've been having. Oh, and actually release some games here please...
Success was the worst thing to ever happen to Nintendo.
You'd have thought the N64 would have taught them that lesson.
They forgot it when the DS and Wii started selling like crazy.
Yeah, it does seem like success has been bad for Nintendo oddly enough... you would think they'd be more prepared for this given the past, but... nope, I guess not. Well, we'll see if this $80 price cut works at helping things. It does make the 3DS a lot more desirable, for sure, at least...
Wow, that's one heck of a price drop. That's something I can stomach a lot sooner I think.

Nintendo still has some great games for their "core", and the 3DS is a pretty powerful little handheld besides the 3D gimic. It is true though that they haven't really done as much as Microsoft when it comes to the user experience. Ripping off Apple designs can only get you so far.
In more financial news, Nintendo's stock dropped about 20% in reaction to the bad financial news, which means that Yamauchi, who still owns 10% of Nintendo, lost $500 million in a single day... (he is, remember, one of the richest men in Japan)

Also, Iwata's taking a 50% pay cut, and other top executives 30% pay cuts, in response to the poor results.
Well the good news is those paycuts weren't being spread around the lower peons, as is customary in America.
Hah, very true. That's exactly what an American company would do isn't it...
It seems that "rich" is "THEIR WORD", the PC term is now "job creator".

<img src="http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/i-GgW57X4/0/L/i-GgW57X4-L.jpg">

Funny, though I disagree with crazy hair up there. I've seen Action 52. If those 40 games are terrible, I'd gladly pay the same price for ONE amazing game (which is exactly the number of amazing games currently on the 3DS, a remake of OOT). I mean, is there really even ONE exclusive title on the e-phonez that's worth actually buying?
Yeah, I entirely agree -- the one full-price game is almost certain to be better than the 40 $1 games, provided that you put some thought into what to get.

And yes, while smartphones are a threat to handheld consoles, I think the Apple devotees are wrong when they say that iOS and Android devices are going to kill handhelds. They aren't. There is a place for buttons, and for games that aren't $1... you can't make a major, expensive game when you're only selling it for a dollar or two, it's just not possible. There are some larger iOS games, but they're usually ports, like SFIV, the DS version of FFIII, GTA: Chinatown Wars, FF Tactics, etc. Those games couldn't have been iPhone/iPad-first games, they just wouldn't have made enough money that way to justify the cost of development.

And "well just increase the price of the cellphone games" isn't going to work, people expect very low prices from cellphone games. The average price for a paid smartphone game is something like $1.50...
Dark Jaguar Wrote:I mean, is there really even ONE exclusive title on the e-phonez that's worth actually buying?

Game Dev Story
I am not an Apple devotee, but I do believe that smartphones will eventually marginalize handheld gaming devices, if not necessarily eliminate them entirely. Casual gamers are the bulk of users for almost any successful games device, and smartphones are changing people's expectations as far as casual games are concerned, and one of those expectations is that $40 for a handheld game is pretty goddamn ridiculous. And, the thing is, they're right in a lot of cases. There definitely are games that justify a $40 price tag, or even $20... but, not very many, not enough for most people to spend $250 on a device that only plays games when their phone--something most people own anyway out of necessity--satisfies their gaming needs.

I expect that as mobile phone technology gets better, handheld gaming will become largely a feature on those phones rather than a standalone market. That standalone market will persist--Nintendo will resist this for years, knowing them--but Sony is already ditching physical media for the Vita and PSP, and they already have a significant stake in the mobile phone market (Sony Ericsson). It would not surprise me in the least to see either a future version of the Vita, or at least, its successor, to be a smartphone. The Xperia Play is no doubt a prototype of their vision in this regard.
In the long run, you're probably right. I don't think we're there yet though. I think the right price for handheld games should be more around the $30 point. The thing is, that's what I'm willing to pay for a game that invests a lot of talent into something genuinely fun.

Speaking of, I looked into that game GR. It looks like a cheap simulation. I'd rather get a high quality simulation.

Here's what mobile phones/tablets need to become a serious gaming device and bring us from "not quite there" to "there". Buttons. If I'm flinging a bird at a wall in a sling shot, touch screen is probably the best interface for that. However, if I'm going to play a platformer or shooter, I've gotta have tactile feedback. I'm not going to get myself killed countless times because my fingers, unknown to me, have kept slipping off the on-screen buttons.

There's countless ways to work buttons into a handheld. Tablets have plenty of space along the thick edge to stick them. Phones can use either a clam shell design or a sliding design. The Sony Xperia thingy uses that, and it seems to work well. Most phones stick a keyboard there, which are buttons, but the layout is too crowded and small to work for games as well as a nice button layout. Anyway, stick some buttons on those things, make it standard. Then, make the phones themselves standardized. I don't want a billion phones with their own exclusive dev kits and complete dependence. The market could only barely support two portables when the DS and PSP were on top (DS the clear winner and PSP niche). If phones are going to be the dominate portable game devices, they need to start working together to consolidate a standard. Japan already does this. That's why the mobile market already exists there with some actual decent games from, mainly, Square Enix every few years. Ideally, just get to work to join Japan's standardization group so it's a world-wide standard.

Lastly, cut the phone companies out of the decision process. Let the phones be used on whatever provider there is, and be bought independently.

There's work to be done. Yes, you could say "progress has it's price", but not a single one of the problems I listed is an inherent part of this particular "progress". All of them are solvable, right now.
Quote:Speaking of, I looked into that game GR. It looks like a cheap simulation. I'd rather get a high quality simulation.

Doesn't make it any less fun/addictive.