Hacking Estimating Gateway 3DS Manufacturing Cost

[elmoemo]

I think once we see a clone coming, it will be about that price.

You can just delete the game when changing it and use 1 msd cars (have the games stored on a pc)

 

[Rydian]

The "convenience" argument is no longer valid. If you don't want to carry around a lot of card then buy them on the eshop. I understand wanting to only carry one card around. It is a valid point. But since digital copies can be bought from the eshop it's no longer a valid argument for flashcarts.

Because everything is available in the eshop, you can get the eshop version free if you have the cart, and the 3DS has plenty of internal space to store all the games.

... right?

 

[FAST6191]

The "convenience" argument is no longer valid. If you don't want to carry around a lot of card then buy them on the eshop. I understand wanting to only carry one card around. It is a valid point. But since digital copies can be bought from the eshop it's no longer a valid argument for flashcarts.

In addition to what Rydian said can I resell my eshop games when I am done with them?

Also a few microSD cards is somewhat easier to transport than a a few full size 3ds cards.

[Bill of materials = $8]If this is true, its a poor move on their part.

If it was $40 everyone would buy one. But $80 makes you rethink it as it is the price of 2-3 used 3ds games (and for most people they are only look for maybe 2-3 more games at the moment). Not to mention you have to pay for every micro sd card per game.

It's unfortunate that many companies have technical know-how, but lack the marketing/entrepreneurship experience to really push their business forward.

A potentially interesting discussion. There is the psychological component of 40 vs 80 but I do have to mention a price at that level is nothing new when it comes to hacking devices or low volume/highly specific custom electronics. Before I start that in earnest I do have to say I am not really getting the neoflash vibe from these guys and to that end I have to wonder what position the early adopters will be in here.

I am not really seeing the microSD card thing either -- they are cheap as you like (16 gig ones being about $12 USD new and less used, can be reused both as standalone storage and in basically every device under the sun).

 

[n1ghty]

Their distributor chinadistrib.com is selling the card for 55$ to the resellers.
The Gateway team probably sells the card for ~40$ to the distributor.

I don't think the Gateway is overpriced at the moment.
They had a lot of costs and it's a risky business.
The manufacturing costs will decrease over time, and so will the price.

IMHO, the gateway is worth beeing supported.
The latest development (region-free/fw-spoofing) looks very promising.
Even if this could also be achieved without the red gateway card by modifying the exploit,
it was the gateway team who gave us this opportunity.
They may evolve to the "Supercard" team of the 3ds era.

just my 5 cents

 

[RenegadeKid]

They could have easily fixed the price at $100, but they didn't, I also think it's a reasonable price, not overpriced. The blue card can be also used to play DS games and this is great too and you can use wood. So it is is totally worth it imo. I'm very happy and very satisfied

Thank you Gateway !!!

 

[elunesgrace]

In addition to what Rydian said can I resell my eshop games when I am done with them?

Also a few microSD cards is somewhat easier to transport than a a few full size 3ds cards.



A potentially interesting discussion. There is the psychological component of 40 vs 80 but I do have to mention a price at that level is nothing new when it comes to hacking devices or low volume/highly specific custom electronics. Before I start that in earnest I do have to say I am not really getting the neoflash vibe from these guys and to that end I have to wonder what position the early adopters will be in here.

I am not really seeing the microSD card thing either -- they are cheap as you like (16 gig ones being about $12 USD new and less used, can be reused both as standalone storage and in basically every device under the sun).

They could have easily fixed the price at $100, but they didn't, I also think it's a reasonable price, not overpriced. The blue card can be also used to play DS games and this is great too and you can use wood. So it is is totally worth it imo. I'm very happy and very satisfied

Thank you Gateway !!!

Just to be clear this isn't about unfair pricing (they're a business they can price things however they want).

Essentially they are first-lead in the market so they can choose the price, and by charging a high premium they can get away with it because its exclusive to them.

But in terms of value, the reality is that for most established consumers it wont be there.

Used 3DS games are retailing around the $25 dollar mark for a $40 dollar game, and they come with the case, manual, etc. That's about 4 games used if we include the price of the card ($80) and the price of say a decent microsd card ($15 with tax/shipping).

Considering most consumers will have a few games they have already wanted, and will only be looking for a few more, they'd much rather just buy the game itself than this.

There are only three category of consumers who would buy this:

A- Those that have yet to purchase games or a console, and thus they can get 5-6 games at a cheaper price than buying them individually used.
B- Those that are making an investment for the future (ie anticipating that this will work for another year or so and they will be able to reuse it for future games).
C- Those who want to support the developers of the card.

The first market is bound to be pretty small, because 3DS sales have been great, as have game sales. You also have online issues, for games like animal crossing or even fire emblem there is definite value in sticking to the actual game.

The second market is a wild card but at this point is also going to be pretty small, because this is a new team, a new product, and we have no guarantee of support. In addition, its not an actual root and requires an old OS to run it, and until we see CFW and the ability to apply to use it on 3DS's that are 6.2 or lower a lot of the market won't buy. I do not anticipate the pricing makes as much business sense.

The important market in my opinion is the third one, where someone will pay for this card to try to encourage growth of it and the team. As someone pointed out it is a risky business and because they are making an effort despite the risk they are worth supporting as a team, provided they aren't in it for a cash grab and walk away from their loyal customers. The Supercard team for instance has been really good to us, and continue to support their customers. If they produced a new flash card for 3DS I'm sure it would be an instant hit!

A final consideration is that many of us buy such things for legal things like homebrew and emulation, as far as I know you can't do either on this.

 

[RenegadeKid]

I agree with you, and I'm actually A,B and C^^

 

[Rydian]

Most people, when given the possibility of pirating, will pirate far more than they'd normally buy.
Courts even have to take that into account in piracy cases. (One example of the idea.)

I mean, the shit's "free", why not go wild? If people can get more for their investment, they're going to do it. We even see people trying to format SDXC cards (64GB and up) for use on flash carts and the Wii simply to hold all the things they've downloaded.

When you go from buying to pirating...

"I'm going to get just these five games because any more would be money spent I'm not going to make much use of!"

suddenly becomes

"I might as well get these extra games I heard about since I've got high-speed internet and it's not going to interrupt my youtube viewing!"

 

[n1ghty]

Gotta Catch 'em All!