If you are a gamer that is tuned into the latest gaming news and trends in the industry, then you already know about Nintendo’s 3DS, the successor to the extremely successful DS. But what you should really know about the 3DS is that with just a few months of shelf life under its belt it has been declared a failure on Nintendo’s behalf. Is all of this doom and gloom justified or is the gaming industry jumping on the 3DS hate bandwagon a little too early?
In order to understand all of this dilemma, plus wonder if you should invest on a 3DS, let’s go back to 2010. At the beginning of the year, rumors surfaced about a possible new Nintendo handheld waiting to replace the DS, a system that was already wildly successful by the time the news hit the internet. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2010, Nintendo finally announced the 3DS. One of its biggest assets was the ability to display stereoscopic 3D visuals without the need of special glasses and graphics that were almost on-par with the Wii. The system showed a lot of promise, with many gaming outlets proclaiming it to be the one of the best announcements at the show.
Flash forward to 2011, specifically when the 3DS was launched in North America. Not only was the system priced at $249.99 (the same price the Wii received when it launched in 2006), the launch line-up of games was deemed as mediocre and weak save for a few titles like Capcom’s Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition. The sparse release of big games couples with the high price point are believed to have caused a slump of 3DS sales, to the point where analysts saw this as a sign that Nintendo should support iOS gaming as well as mobile phone and device gaming and drop hardware sales altogether. Even Nintendo noticed the slow sales and the poor adoption rate the system hard in all three regions. This caused them to dramatically drop the price from $249.00 to $169.99 and focus a lot more on the games rather than the 3D effect to sell the system. Nintendo even rewarded first time buyers with free downloadable games that would be exclusive only to them.
With all of this established, should you buy a 3DS? The system itself is a solid gaming device with lots of great features outside of games that make it very appealing to many. The new price tag makes the system even more approachable, especially if you are the type of gamer that likes to pick up a couple of games alongside the system. This Fall will see the release of two of the system’s killer apps of the year: Mario Kart 7, the next entry in Nintendo’s famously popular racing franchise, and Super Mario 3D Land, a platforming adventure exclusively for the 3DS. Prior to this, Nintendo also released two remakes of its most beloved Nintendo 64 classics: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Star Fox 64 3D. Third party support has also been doubled since the system was launched, and next year sees the promising releases of Kid Icarus: Uprising and Luigi’s Mansion 2.
The 3DS’s is still unclear, though. The new games are looking like it might turn the 3DS onto one of the most requested gifts for the holidays, but with next year’s release of Sony’s PSP Vita and Nintendo’s own Wii U gaming system, the 3DS is looking to have a tough year to conquer. It is, however, worth picking up just to try out its features and play its initial set of games.
Written By: Scott Wrigley
http://www.bloggcasting.com/
Source:
http://abiztechnologies.com/the-3ds-worth-getting/