Report: Japanese Press Leaks Forced Nintendo to Reveal 3DS

[John Funk]

Report: Japanese Press Leaks Forced Nintendo to Reveal 3DS

Nintendo's surprising out-of-nowhere announcement that it was developing a new 3D handheld may have been timed to beat the Japanese media rumor mill to the punch, even at the expense of the DSi XL's North American launch.

Last week, Nintendo revealed that it was making a new, 3D-capable handheld device [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99347-Nintendo-Reveals-New-3D-Handheld] as the next true successor for its popular DS platform - codenamed the 3DS.

This announcement was surprising in quite a few ways: The reveal of new hardware by one of the Big Three is traditionally something done at major shows like E3. It would have even made more sense for Nintendo to take the veil off the 3DS at GDC several weeks prior, not in a quiet overnight press release. Furthermore, it came just days before the North American launch of the DSi XL [http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-DSi-XL-Burgundy-DS/dp/B002I08UWU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278949884&sr=1-2], meaning that prospective buyers would be picking up a $190 piece of technology that Nintendo itself had already rendered obsolete.

According to Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata's supposed comments about the DS' successor [http://www.cnbc.com//id/36087758?] - Nintendo claimed Iwata never said that, Nikkei maintained that he did - and M2 Research senior analyst Billy Pigeon thinks that the reveal was probably timed to avoid anything further being leaked by scoop-seeking media.

"Apparently, the Japanese press was all over it and talked with suppliers there and Nintendo just wanted to get out ahead by breaking the news to prevent a leak," said Pigeon. "Does it clash with the DSi XL? Yes it does."

It clashes with the XL in the West, anyway. "The XL is old news, however, in Japan - and Nintendo is a very Japan-centric organization. This is just the corporate parent in Japan maybe not acting in the best interest of Nintendo of America."

Speaking as someone who picked up an XL on Sunday, it's still a pretty slick product, and the big screen is gorgeous. So while there's no doubt that the reveal of the 3DS will have some impact on DSi XL sales, perhaps it isn't quite the shot in the foot that some are predicting it will be.

(Via Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27864/Report_IllTimed_3DS_Announce_Due_To_Japan_Press_Leaks.php])

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[LTK_70]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't rumors generally more effective at creating a buzz than official announcements? You hear all this crazy stuff about nintendo developing a 3D portable, some people deny it, some people swear it's true. That makes the 'big reveal' all the more exciting.

 

[Fappy]

Well I suppose Nintendo of America probably didn't appreciate this at all. How long ago did the DSi XL come out in Japan anyway?

 

[rezboyjoey]

This just pisses me off a little. I just invested $170 in a brand new DSi and now Nintendo is telling me that its already obsolete? @#$%. Is it too late to change my vote to Blizzard in the March Madness brackets?

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Seems likely. Don't care much for DSi XL anyway. Just gonna get a 3DS.

 

[Jared]

Didn't surprise me. I had a feeling it was media influenced somehow.

It's a shame it was so badly timed in the west...

 

[CrankyStorming]

It would have even made more sense for Nintendo to take the veil off the 3DS at GDC several weeks prior, not in a quiet overnight press release.

Was Nintendo even at GDC? They don't seem to have been mentioned in the coverage by anyone.

 

[Kiithid]

Insatead of shooting right in the middle of the foot it just hit some of the fingers, a smaller damage is still a damage.
They better release it by the end of the year then, hyping about something can only take you so far... and I'm dying of curiosity on how the hell it'll work.

 

[dochmbi]

This just pisses me off a little. I just invested $170 in a brand new DSi and now Nintendo is telling me that its already obsolete? @#$%. Is it too late to change my vote to Blizzard in the March Madness brackets?

If you had thought about it for a bit before buying, you would've realized that it's been almost six years since the DS was released and that a completely new handheld console had to be just around the corner.

 

[Xersues]

If you had thought about it for a bit before buying, you would've realized that it's been almost six years since the DS was released and that a completely new handheld console had to be just around the corner.

Yeah but when they have all these flavors coming out, it makes it look like they're going to support it for a really long time. It's like being sold an Icee, and then being sold each flavor, then when you just get the newest flavor, they're trying to sell you ice cream.

Its bullshit really and what's even dumber is people buy into each iteration. Apple and Nintendo are notorious for this crap and that is why I will not buy into either. The DS has been redesigned 3 times.

What does that tell about this new console? They'll just be a better one a year later. Pick your poison.

 

[The Rascal King]

This is great news. I predict myself beating up a 12 year old at my local Toys R' Us just to get one.

I wonder how long we'll have to wait for it to come out this time.

 

[AceDiamond]

If you had thought about it for a bit before buying, you would've realized that it's been almost six years since the DS was released and that a completely new handheld console had to be just around the corner.

Yeah but when they have all these flavors coming out, it makes it look like they're going to support it for a really long time. It's like being sold an Icee, and then being sold each flavor, then when you just get the newest flavor, they're trying to sell you ice cream.

Its bullshit really and what's even dumber is people buy into each iteration. Apple and Nintendo are notorious for this crap and that is why I will not buy into either. The DS has been redesigned 3 times.

What does that tell about this new console? They'll just be a better one a year later. Pick your poison.

Speaking as someone who hasn't upgraded in the DS line at all (yes that's right, I stayed with the DS "Phat"), I can only say that people who feel burned by this have nobody to blame but themselves for poor purchase decisions. I decided I didn't need to upgrade until we got a true successor, and that's what the 3DS is. If they release a smaller/bigger version a year later? I won't get it, because it's probably not necessary.

Also Nintendo's only real notoriety in doing this has been with the DS. The Game Boy only went through 6 iterations in a 16 year period. This pattern of rapid updates is nowhere near as bad as Apple's 5 generations of iPods in 8 years with 5 different models, and if we are going to castigate Nintendo we should also look at Sony and their trend of releasing 5 different iterations of the PS3 since 2006, and 4 different versions of the PSP (not including the Go). I'm starting to think there may be a bigger problem at hand if all these companies are doing the same thing in terms of rapid reissuing. The problem is most likely that they know customers are idiots who will buy something just for one extra feature and again, the customers themselves are the only ones to blame here...especially for the ones who kept buying iPods to show the world that they could get away with Apple levels of BS.

 

[Xersues]

snip

At least the PS3 and the Xbox 360 SKUs are fundamentally the same product. The only difference was harddrive and accessories if I'm not mistaken. I don't own a 360, but I do own a PS3.

The only difference between the old PS3 and the new ones is backwards compatibility which has been phased out and (was) the Other OS feature that's not removed.

All the TV consoles sold you the same product at a cheaper price. Apple's i-whatevers, Nintendos DS, and even the PSP all have these incremental updates usually without a price drop and even an increase.

It's definitely a problem with handhelds and they can't expect people to take this trash seriously, but these idiots pay yearly for new gadgets.

 

[Icehearted]

I'd considered getting a DSi XL since my old DS was one of those from that bad hinge batch, but in all honesty the news about a New DS really did make me reconsider. Fine if Nintendo of Japan doesn't care, I'll spare them the burden of getting my cash, and save myself the potential regret of getting both.

Win/win, I s'pose.

 

[rezboyjoey]

This just pisses me off a little. I just invested $170 in a brand new DSi and now Nintendo is telling me that its already obsolete? @#$%. Is it too late to change my vote to Blizzard in the March Madness brackets?

If you had thought about it for a bit before buying, you would've realized that it's been almost six years since the DS was released and that a completely new handheld console had to be just around the corner.

Yeah, another one was just around the corner. The DSi XL. Which is stupid if you think about it. The entire point of handheld gaming is to have a portable system you can put in your pocket and that thing is comicly oversized. Anyway, this being my first purchase of any DS type system I looked through the pros/cons of each flavor of DS and decided on the DSi based on the information that I had. Considering that this system has been on the market for 6 years and had 3 hardware upgrades in that time I thought it would be a reasonable to assume that it would be another 2 years before we saw another hardware upgrade rather than another two weeks.

And really, I'm rather skeptical about any new innovations that are going to be released for the handheld market any time soon. I don't know what you could possibly do with the DS to make it any better than it is.

 

[blarghblarghhhhh]

I was seriously considering upgrading my lite to the xl after i saw the deal gamestop was running, but as soon as the announcement hit my wallet snapped close. I can wait another year or so to get basically the same thing with better graphics and 3d.

the thing about releasing new devices every year is that a company like apple isnt expecting you to buy every ipod. why would you buy a shuffle if you already have a 250 gig classic model. Theyre throwing out as many options as possible to try to cover every corner of the market. taking the shuffle again, you could have the ipod name without the extreme ipod price.

dont take that as me defending apple though. i hate those bastards.

edit: also, I think alot of people play there ds at home and dont take it out anywhere. I dont think my ds has actually ever been exposed to sunlight so I had no problem with the fact that it wouldnt fit in my pocket.