Hardware Too expensive

[dsfanatic5]

I think $250.00 (US) is a reasonable price. Most of the major cell phones exceed this price if you don't sign a two year contract, and the 32-64gb iPod Touch is more expensive. For a portable gadget that can play movies in real 3-D, amazing games, and a laundry list of impressive features, I don't feel it's too much to pay at all.

 

[doyama]

The pricing for the 3DS is somewhat interesting. You already have the DSi XL going for $189, the DSi going for $169. So where do you position the 3DS? My assumption would be that the 3DS would be priced at $199, and then a price cut would occur downwards for the other models to create a stratified pricing system. I suppose it could go for $249 and keep the existing systems the same price. But I wonder if consumers will be turned off by this rather large jump in price. Also the difficulty of paying so much when you can get a home console for almost the same. Or maybe they'd split the difference and go $225.

Certainly there are many marketing and financial people looking over a ton of data to figure out how to optimally price the 3DS out.

 

[Painguy]

knowing Nintendo probably $200-$250.

 

[MADKATZ99]

I have asked some of the game shops what the 3Ds will sell for in Australia, the reply $350Au they also said it won't sell or as one person said(crash and burn) because it will be too expensive, they said it should be $250Au not $350

Employees or even the managers of our game shops usually don't know anything about anything.

Of course it will sell, that's ridiculous. The DS was a stupid ammount of money when it first came out too. 350 is a good assumtion though, it won't be any higher than that.
Australia really does get shafted in nintendo's prices, but I think Apple products are way worse here. The DSi is $300 now, isn't it? Saying a brand new system should be $50 cheaper than a new model of a 6 year old system is strange.

If only we could buy it for the same price America can

 

[DigitalDeviant]

didn't the psp cost $250 at launch, and people bought it any way back when such "powerfull" 3d graphics on a portable were unprecedented in '04 or '05 can't remember which.

if the 3ds goes for $250 it will sell like hot pancakes as they say.

 

[CrimzonEyed]

I wouldn't even buy it at $250... don't get me wrong, it looks like it will be badass, but I am content to wait until they have made their profit and the price drops below $200 (preferably below $150)

Of course, our current economy makes this even worse - the US dollar seems more worthless every day...

1 dollar is worth around 7,66 swedish SEK, 1 EUR is worth 9,79 SEK, and we have really high taxes on games and consoles:/

 

[VmprHntrD]

Considering that Nintendo has priced nothing yet, rumors are bullshit and should be ignored. But, given some basic pieces of fact we do know, it would be outrageous to think it would be over $200. Nintendo has NEVER priced a hand held device higher than their current market hardware which sits at $200. Nintendo has always prided in making sure not only their hardware is affordable, but they break even on it at launch or better. Nintendo also and it's key to remember this, overseas has already lowered the DSLite, DSi, and DSiXL all in price. In American dollars I believe the DSLite was set open(ie: price as you wish), DSi was knocked down like $40, DSiXL was knocked down $30. This would leave if it didn't come down once more again a logical price point of somewhere in the vicinity of $180-220~ to shove it at. But, given they as I said never have before priced the hardware of a handheld over the hardware, it would be more likely to see a $200 area level pricing. It's all speculation though, but it makes more sense than $250+.

I'd have a hard time justifying anyway anything over $200 as it would be just too steep. I didn't bother with a PSP until I could get it in that package deal at $200 or less.

 

[redact]

they also said it won't sell or as one person said(crash and burn) because it will be too expensive, they said it should be $250Au not $350

if people like me are willing to pay $300 for a dsi on launch i think they'll be more then happy to shell out 350 for a 3ds

dont forget that ps3 launched at $1k in australia

 

[foob]

The DSi is $300 now, isn't it? Saying a brand new system should be $50 cheaper than a new model of a 6 year old system is strange.

DSi in Australia is normally closer to $240 and often comes with 2 games bundled at that price (or a game and a case and other stuff).
DSi XL is what usually reaches for the $299-or-similar ballpark.
DS Lite goes for $180-ish, normally (cheapest I've ever seen it is $149 but that's rare here).

Though recently I have seen the DSi XL alone for $249 at "The Good Guys" being advertised.
The cheapest I've seen the DSi (not the XL model) advertised was $219 at Toys R Us (with nothing bundled, just the unit).
(All Australian dollars of course).

What's more annoying is Nintendo still don't come with world-voltage capable AC adaptors!
240V only (in Australia). These things were made to be transported like laptops; it's 2010 and these guys still think we don't want to move these units around

So anyway...
Pricing the 3DS at AUD$350 is approximately $110 more than the regular DSi and approximately $50 more than the DSi XL at current prices (and about double the price of the DS Lite).
More than likely I think we will see a slight price drop on DS Lite and DSi (and its XL model) near 3DS release date (possibly preceded by some tastier bundles). It may be a bit of a handful to deal with 4 different DS units at the same time (DS Lite, DSi, DSi XL and 3DS).

It totally wouldn't surprise me if Nintendo priced it at $399 in Australia; the early adopters always get shafted and they will hype the 3D feature like mad (after all, it is a very unique selling point for them). If we can look at earlier PSP Go prices here, they were ridiculous - (exceeding $400) - and the PSP Go doesn't even have a UMD drive - so I don't see why Nintendo couldn't get away with a higher price. Sales were (rightfully) so poor for the PSP Go world-wide that now they offer 10 freely downloadable games.

I think the 3DS will be more tempting than the PSP Go and could be priced high at release (but it doesn't mean I'll be biting!).

 

[AaronUzumaki]

Well, the original Gameboy was released with Tetris at $170, the Gameboy Color was released at roughly $100, the GBA was originally released at $100, and the DS was originally released at $150, so if the trend continues, we can expect a $150 to $200 price range. However, due to the expenses of current technology versus the far less expensive innovations of the past, the expected price range should increase to around $250 at max. Therefore, we now can expect a $150 to $250 price range on release day. Even still, estimates are almost never correct. Only an official announcement will tell us the true price.

 

[Tokyo Jihen]

It is pretty pricey. I'm sure the 3DS will be in the same range. The original DS only cost $150, which is an awesome deal. $300 can get you a console.

 

[redact]

please read before posting americans, your prices are nowhere near as bloated as those in australia

 

[monkat]

please read before posting americans, your prices are nowhere near as bloated as those in australia

I love it! The global market has grown so much out of the US economy, international prices are still set with the US dollar base - that means we don't suffer through the inflation that we should be xD

 

[bwillb]

MSRP of $250USD sounds about right. same price as the original Wii, same price as Natal... I mean Kinect >.>

 

[Issac]

Well, the DSi XL is $190, and people didn't complain about that price, so if it is $250, what's the big deal with spending $60 more? That's how much 2 DS games cost. I'm not worried about the price, since I'm going to pre-order it with Christmas money (Or get it with Christmas money if it comes out before then).

a DSi XL in sweden is US$265

and estimated prices on the 3DS lie between $330 - $370

sucks to live in sweden now... also... that is AU$ 404!!!!!

QUOTE(Njrg @ Jul 15 2010, 12:24 AM) I believe for the 1st time in history, Nintendo will sell a current-gen handheld for more than they're selling their current-gen console.

Well calling the Wii current-gen at the time that the 3DS is released (as it will mark the beginning of the 8th-gen) is kinda silly, but besides that, your sentence doesn't have much of an impact. Nintendo has only been in the business for like...40 years...that's not much of history xD.

More like 121 years, mind you. (founded in 1889)

 

[bwillb]

Well, the DSi XL is $190, and people didn't complain about that price, so if it is $250, what's the big deal with spending $60 more? That's how much 2 DS games cost. I'm not worried about the price, since I'm going to pre-order it with Christmas money (Or get it with Christmas money if it comes out before then).

a DSi XL in sweden is US$265

and estimated prices on the 3DS lie between $330 - $370

sucks to live in sweden now... also... that is AU$ 404!!!!!

QUOTE(Njrg @ Jul 15 2010, 12:24 AM) I believe for the 1st time in history, Nintendo will sell a current-gen handheld for more than they're selling their current-gen console.

Well calling the Wii current-gen at the time that the 3DS is released (as it will mark the beginning of the 8th-gen) is kinda silly, but besides that, your sentence doesn't have much of an impact. Nintendo has only been in the business for like...40 years...that's not much of history xD.

More like 121 years, mind you. (founded in 1889)

heh they've been in A busniess for 121 years, but they've been in the electronic entertainment busniess for a lot less

used to be a trading card company.

 

[joelozy]

I think that they will keep the old DS lites and Dsis, but lower the price. After all, the DS Lite has been $129 for like 5 years now. It's about time it got a price cut. The prices should be like this:

DS Lite $99 (they lowered GBA SP from $99 to 79 when the DS came out)

DSi $139

DSi XL $169 (to the old DSi price)

3DS $199

No one will buy a handheld game console for $250. Look at the PSP Go. It was a complete failure.

 

[joelozy]

MSRP of $250USD sounds about right. same price as the original Wii, same price as Natal... I mean Kinect >.>

Kinect is $150. And it is cheaper than buying 4 wii remotes and nunchucks. You know what's truly a ripoff? PS Move. You need 8 controllers (2 for each person), plus 4 nunchuk thingys.

 

[Midna]

I think that they will keep the old DS lites and Dsis, but lower the price. After all, the DS Lite has been $129 for like 5 years now. It's about time it got a price cut. The prices should be like this:

DS Lite $99 (they lowered GBA SP from $99 to 79 when the DS came out)

DSi $139

DSi XL $169 (to the old DSi price)

3DS $199

No one will buy a handheld game console for $250. Look at the PSP Go. It was a complete failure.

That sounds right to me. Ninty has always prided themselves on affordability. They wouldn't make Sony's mistake. If it's $200, I can buy at least another game with what I've saved up.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

I think that they will keep the old DS lites and Dsis, but lower the price. After all, the DS Lite has been $129 for like 5 years now. It's about time it got a price cut. The prices should be like this:

DS Lite $99 (they lowered GBA SP from $99 to 79 when the DS came out)

DSi $139

DSi XL $169 (to the old DSi price)

3DS $199

No one will buy a handheld game console for $250. Look at the PSP Go. It was a complete failure.

The DSi XL is $250 in Europe (well, in the UK, at least). IIRC the PSP Go was $390 at launch in the UK.

I hate the fact that everything is cheaper in America (and the ironic thing is that Americans appear to complain the most about the prices of video game software/hardware).