No 3DS Until March 2011?

[IBNobody]

I posted this in the 3DS FAQ but thought it would make good news.

"Nintendo, based in Kyoto, will start selling the 3DS player by March 2011, President Satoru Iwata said in an interview yesterday. A price for the device, which is equipped with three cameras and a motion sensor, hasn’t been set, he said."

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-1...r-update2-.html

Full article in Spoiler.

Spoiler

Nintendo Rises After Introduction of 3-D Game Player (Update2)

(Updates with comment from analyst in fourth paragraph.)

By Mariko Yasu

June 16 (Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co., the world’s biggest maker of portable video-game players, rose the most in almost three months in Osaka trading after the company unveiled a handheld machine that lets users see 3-D images without wearing special glasses.

The stock rose as much as 5.9 percent to 26,700 yen, the biggest rise in intraday trading since March 24, and changed hands for 26,400 yen as of the 11 a.m. midday break. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced 1.6 percent.

Nintendo and video-game machine rival Sony Corp. introduced 3-D products yesterday as consumer-electronics makers adopt the technology to revive earnings. Game publishers including Activision Blizzard Inc., Electronic Arts Inc., Ubisoft Entertainment SA and Konami Corp. are making games for the new device, the companies said.

The 3DS “will probably sell well,” said Etsuko Tamura, a Tokyo-based analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. “They are starting with hit titles like ‘Metal Gear Solid,’ so that should give gamers reason to buy the console,” said Tamura, who rates Nintendo ‘neutral plus’.

Nintendo, based in Kyoto, will start selling the 3DS player by March 2011, President Satoru Iwata said in an interview yesterday. A price for the device, which is equipped with three cameras and a motion sensor, hasn’t been set, he said.

Sony, Microsoft

Sony demonstrated PlayStation 3 titles with 3-D capabilities and added a new motion-activated controller like those uses with Nintendo’s Wii at the game conference yesterday. Microsoft Corp. earlier this week showed motion-sensing technology that lets people play games on its Xbox 360 console without a controller.

Shares in Sony, based in Tokyo, rose 1.5 percent to 2,653 yen as of 11 a.m.

DS handheld sales worldwide will rise 11 percent to 30 million from 27.1 million in the year ending March, the game maker forecast last month. By comparison, global sales of its flagship Wii will probably fall 12 percent to 18 million units, after declining for the first time last fiscal year, it said.

“Nintendo added higher specifications for the 3DS and managed to attract big action game titles which had been popular among Sony’s PlayStations Portable users,” said Hideki Yasuda, a Tokyo-based analyst at Ace Securities Co. “It was a surprise to see a number of third-party game titles for the 3DS.”

“Resident Evil” by Capcom Co. is among such titles, Yasuda said. “Sony may struggle to boost PSP sales during the yearend shopping season if Nintendo starts selling 3DS by then,” he said.

Sony Losses

Sony, whose game unit has posted losses for four consecutive fiscal years, aims to restore the business’s profitability during the current year, which runs through the end of March.

The company’s new controller will sell for $49.99, while a companion navigation piece is priced at $29.99, Sony said yesterday at E3. The device will be released on Sept. 15 in Europe, four days later in the U.S., and on Oct. 21 in Japan, the company said.

More than 40 games for the new controller will be available for the U.S. holiday season, with Sony-owned games costing $39.99, the company said.

--With assistance from Yoshinori Eki, Maki Shiraki and Jason Clenfield in Tokyo. Editors: Young-Sam Cho, Chana Schoenberger.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mariko Yasu in Tokyo at [email protected].

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at [email protected].

 

[.Darky]

I guess that's more than enough time for me to save for a PSP and a 3DS.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Your link doesn't work, but it sounds like the "by the end of the fiscal year" line that we got before. Nintendo's fiscal year ends in March. It only means the 3DS will be released before that, which could be anytime from tomorrow up until March 2011.

The most likely release date being reported in rumours is around November of this year.

 

[IBNobody]

Your link doesn't work, but it sounds like the "by the end of the fiscal year" line that we got before. Nintendo's fiscal year ends in March. It only means the 3DS will be released before that, which could be anytime from tomorrow up until March 2011.

The most likely release date being reported in rumours is around November of this year.

I hope so. Trust me. My DS Lite is on its last legs.

Updated the link.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Iwata probably can't say any more than the "by March 2011" line... but "by" is the operative word, there. It makes no sense to release something like the 3DS in March (or anytime in the first quarter of next year) when they can take advantage of the holiday shopping season.

There's no way that the 3DS won't be the hottest gift that parents climb over eachother to pick up for their kids, and Nintendo knows it. No way they won't capitalize on that.

 

[Tomobobo]

No 2nd analog stick on a handheld until two-thousand-and-never?

 

[DiscostewSM]

Sony's Move is set to be released as early as mid September. Microsoft's Kinect set to release as early as late October.

While I know console and handheld competition doesn't exactly exist, the holiday season is the most important time of the year in terms of product sales. Reggie during the E3 Nintendo conference made known to the crowd that even though "reports" have said the Wii was losing momentum, this last holiday season showed Wii sales to be the highest in that period of time in comparison to any other time, and more importantly, more sales than the competitors, giving Nintendo that sense of being in the consumer's minds. Last year was basically software-based. This holiday season, both Move and Kinect will be available. It will become whether people want to continue to buy just software, or new hardware that helps alter their gameplay, and new hardware requires software to interact, making non-Nintendo software sales rise even more.

February/March (in my opinion) are not exactly known to be months of high product sales. January is just after the holiday season, when people don't want to spend any more money. Early-mid December may be too late unless advertisements were launched earlier and frequent. If they want to get high sales the moment it gets released, then November should be the latest, even if it is after the competition's new hardware releases.

If E3 showed us anything, it showed us that the 3DS is nearly complete (if not already). Developers have had their hands on the development kits for some time now. We've seen a plethora of screenshots of titles in the works, and at least one title running actual gameplay (Kid Icarus). If November was the month of the 3DS, and developers are well underway with 3DS titles, would 5 months be too soon?

 

[DeltaBurnt]

Am I seriously the only one to know that this has been the planned release date for awhile?

 

[gameguy95]

that means by the time i get this there will probably make a Supercard3DS

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Am I seriously the only one to know that this has been the planned release date for awhile?

You think it's March? I think you're wrong. March is a terrible month to release something like this.... so are January and February.

 

[CJL18]

we wont see the 3DS probably until summer 11 or winter 11

 

[KuRensan]

Am I seriously the only one to know that this has been the planned release date for awhile?

You think it's March? I think you're wrong. March is a terrible month to release something like this.... so are January and February.

You're right I was bored a lot in march this year because there were no good games released
I think it'll come in fall with 1 or 2 games and in the winter a few new games so maybe also Pokemon
on the 3DS (because of the uploading and downloading of the sav file)

 

[jonesman99]

Start or mid November, just like the DS and DSi thats when ppl start taking advantage of the coming holiday shopping season.

 

[DiscostewSM]

Japan, North America release dates

Jul 83, Oct 85 - NES
Apr 89, Jul 89 - GB
Nov 90, Aug 91 - SNES
Jun 96, Sep 96 - N64
Oct 98, Nov 98 - GBC
Mar 01, Jun 01 - GBA
Sep 01, Nov 01 - GC
Dec 04, Nov 04 - DS
ÂÂÂÂNov 06ÂÂÂÂ - Wii

While release dates fluctuated between mainly the 2nd and 4th quarters for earlier consoles and handhelds, the last 3 releases have been focused mostly in the last quarter, prior to the holiday season. Unless Nintendo plans to change this, I can only assume they will continue the pattern of late-year hardware releases.

EDIT:

I know this doesn't contain things like the DSi, or multiple iterations of the GB hardware, but those, imo, are merely revisions and not actual leaps from one generation to another.

 

[DeltaBurnt]

Am I seriously the only one to know that this has been the planned release date for awhile?

You think it's March? I think you're wrong. March is a terrible month to release something like this.... so are January and February.

The DSi was released August 4th.

The Japan 3DS will most likely be sold November like most of their consoles (and yes the DSi was released in November in Japan).

Nintendo follows a pattern with releases

 

[juggernaut911]

I posted this in the 3DS FAQ but thought it would make good news.
...Kyoto...

Kyoto = Tokyo?!
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHAT?!?!

In other news, this sucks! I can't wait that long! My $20 I've saved up thus far won't last either!

 

[DeltaBurnt]

I posted this in the 3DS FAQ but thought it would make good news.
...Kyoto...

Kyoto = Tokyo?!
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHAT?!?!

In other news, this sucks! I can't wait that long! My $20 I've saved up thus far won't last either!

Unless you can set down a pre-order with $20 I doubt it'd help anyways

 

[Edgedancer]

I bet it will be out by the end of the year. I remember taht the DS was released in NOvember when it came out and I expect much the same now. It is too much to think that it will be out in the next couple of months. In november it will be 6 months which is a nice amount of time. I may be enitrely wrong though.

 

[syko5150]

DS was shown off at E3 2004 and went on sale November 20th of 2004
Wii was shown off at E3 2006 and went on sale November 19th of 2006
3DS was shown off at E3 2010 goes on sale November 2010???(just a guess)

DS lite,DSi and DSiXL/LL release dates are irrelevant here because they are essentially the same thing

Nintendo has a thing about releasing their new hand helds/consoles right before Christmas sales start. So if i were to take a guess i say the 3DS gets released the week before Thanksgiving like the Wii & DS.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

The DSi was released August 4th.

A redesign is a bit different than a brand new generation. The sheer numbers of Phats and Lites in the market prevented the DSi's potential from ever being used. Unless you consider Hair Salon a valid use, anyway, lol.