Nintendo's Iwata Wanted the 3DS Out for the Holidays

[Greg Tito]

Nintendo's Iwata Wanted the 3DS Out for the Holidays

The president of Nintendo admitted to analysts after the press conference this morning that he wanted the 3D handheld to drop in time for the holiday retail season.

Satoru Iwata said the 3DS was delayed because he was afraid that Nintendo would not be able to produce enough units to meet the demand. Rather than risk massive sellouts and scrambling for hardware like what consumers experienced with the Wii, Iwata decided to release the 3DS in Feb. 2011. Despite the common sense of Iwata's strategy, financial analysts are calling the delay a "worst-case scenario."

"While the 3-D has been well-received, we are not overly optimistic," Iwata said. "One hurdle is that people cannot understand the positives of the 3DS without getting their hands on it."

One person who is definitely not optimistic is analyst Jay Defibuahg. "Today's 3DS announcement was a worst-case scenario," the equities research director at MF Global FXA Securities in Tokyo. He had hoped that the 3DS would come out in 2010 and have 3G wireless connectivity. Nintendo's stock fell 4% with the news of the delay.

Nintendo also issued a statement reducing its profit predictions for this fiscal year from $2.4 billion to $1.08 billion, in part because of the strong Japanese yen but also due to the delay of the 3DS and the lagging DS and Wii sales.

Iwata is indeed heavily gambling on the 3DS, but he wants to make sure that he has the units to back it up. We'll see what happens in February 2011, but I know that at least I am going to buy one when it comes out.

Source: Wall Street Journal [http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100929-705956.html]

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[Onyx Oblivion]

I'm going to pre-order one. I'm very worried about stock issues...

 

[Ranooth]

Pre-ordering and going to midnight launch so i can defiantly get one

 

[Jumplion]

So is it coming out all over the world in February or only Japan? IGN [http://ds.ign.com/articles/112/1124158p1.html] over here says that it's going for 21,000Yen, or $300. That doesn't seem like a good start-up price *coughcough* [http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/02/sony-psp-go-announced-bye-bye-umd/]

But I'm just skeptical of the whole thing overall. I've never been much of a handheld gamer, and Nintendo's never really done it for me, so I'm just going to sit this out.

 

[SimuLord]

Fun fact: I have a Japanese classmate in Accounting who calls that source (phonetically) "Wah Stoo-reet Joe-nah."

This is the first time in awhile Nintendo's had a drop in stock of something besides the Wii.

 

[omega_peaches]

So is it coming out all over the world in February or only Japan? IGN [http://ds.ign.com/articles/112/1124158p1.html] over here says that it's going for 21,000Yen, or $300. That doesn't seem like a good start-up price *coughcough* [http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/02/sony-psp-go-announced-bye-bye-umd/]

But I'm just skeptical of the whole thing overall. I've never been much of a handheld gamer, and Nintendo's never really done it for me, so I'm just going to sit this out.

Holy shit!
300 DOLLARS?

 

[Alphakirby]

I'm going to pre-order one. I'm very worried about stock issues...

Yep same here,Pre-ordering this,Kid Icarus,and Paper Mario

 

[Jumplion]

So is it coming out all over the world in February or only Japan? IGN [http://ds.ign.com/articles/112/1124158p1.html] over here says that it's going for 21,000Yen, or $300. That doesn't seem like a good start-up price *coughcough* [http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/02/sony-psp-go-announced-bye-bye-umd/]

But I'm just skeptical of the whole thing overall. I've never been much of a handheld gamer, and Nintendo's never really done it for me, so I'm just going to sit this out.

Holy shit!
300 DOLLARS?

And supposedly it's just about as powerful as a PSP-1000, about 5-year old technology, but take that with a grain of salt.

But...I dunno, I just don't care about Nintendo at this present moment. I've never really gotten into their games, both my Wii and DS were impulse buys when I saw my friends getting them, and I barely touch them. I really want to love Nintendo, I really do, but they just aren't for me.

And if Nintendo is stupid enough to transfer that money as is, then I don't see it catching on as fast as others.

[sup]probably sell, like, a billion units eventually tho...[/sup]

 

[Tom Phoenix]

And supposedly it's just about as powerful as a PSP-1000, about 5-year old technology, but take that with a grain of salt.

No, it is more powerful than the PSP. It would be more accurate to compare it to the GameCube with a few additional effects mixed in. It's not as good as the latest generation of smartphones in terms of sheer graphical prowess, but it's still fairly robust while also being far more energy efficient.

But anyway, you are not under any obligation to like Nintendo or it's hardware/software. If they are not to your taste, that is completely fine. Everyone has their preferences.

While the initial 3DS sales won't be as strong as they could have been if it's release date was during the holiday season, I still think it has massive potential. Even if it doesn't experience as much of an initial boom as the Wii/DS, it could still compensate for that by selling very well in the long run.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I will be buying one when Paper Mario 3DS (or whatever it's to be called) will release. Or preordering, depending. Anyone have a date for it, and wants to be nice and tell me?

 

[Rad Party God]

Worst case scenario?. How come?. They said right from the beginning that the 3DS would come in March 2011. And I'll be there, day 1, when the thing launches =D

Metal Gear, Ocarina of Time, Kid Icarus, Professor Layton, Star Fox... I need to stop right here before I start drooling over my keyboard.

 

[Brotherofwill]

So is it coming out all over the world in February or only Japan? IGN [http://ds.ign.com/articles/112/1124158p1.html] over here says that it's going for 21,000Yen, or $300. That doesn't seem like a good start-up price *coughcough* [http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/02/sony-psp-go-announced-bye-bye-umd/]

But I'm just skeptical of the whole thing overall. I've never been much of a handheld gamer, and Nintendo's never really done it for me, so I'm just going to sit this out.

Holy shit!
300 DOLLARS?

And supposedly it's just about as powerful as a PSP-1000, about 5-year old technology, but take that with a grain of salt.

But...I dunno, I just don't care about Nintendo at this present moment. I've never really gotten into their games, both my Wii and DS were impulse buys when I saw my friends getting them, and I barely touch them. I really want to love Nintendo, I really do, but they just aren't for me.

And if Nintendo is stupid enough to transfer that money as is, then I don't see it catching on as fast as others.

[sup]probably sell, like, a billion units eventually tho...[/sup]

The expensive thing here is definetely the 3D technology and the rendering of 2 images simultaneously.

I know what you mean though. PSP Go launched at 250, people go apeshit. 3DS launches at 300 and everyone is like "uh...that's...uh..a bit high?".

Anyway, Nintendo has been the only one that delivered on handhelds for me, all the way back to the grey blocks. I really like the DS, altough I think the flagship titles are rather mediocre (but independant stuff makes up for it).

I feel you on the Wii. I really wanted to love it, just like I loved the SNES, 64 and to some degree the sturdy cube, but I just don't care about anything the Wii does. It's got some good games but just leaves me with a bad aftertaste.

 

[Jared]

It would have made alot of money for them, I am sure - However, seems they will just need to please themselves with next year

 

[Mister Benoit]

It boggles my mind that people are freaking out over a 300$ price tag when the PSP was originally around that at launch.

Also is everyone forgetting Apple's ability to sell 300-500$ ipods? Those for the most part only played audio and video files up until recently. The touch, phone and pad are still all over priced and can easily top 300$ and they can't do most of what the 3DS apparently does.

I know people could blame Apple's fans for constantly buying the same products with slight upgrades for ridiculous prices but Nintendo consumers are no better, at least we get good games.

 

[Jumplion]

The expensive thing here is definetely the 3D technology and the rendering of 2 images simultaneously.

I know what you mean though. PSP Go launched at 250, people go apeshit. 3DS launches at 300 and everyone is like "uh...that's...uh..a bit high?".

Anyway, Nintendo has been the only one that delivered on handhelds for me, all the way back to the grey blocks. I really like the DS, although I think the flagship titles are rather mediocre (but independent stuff makes up for it).

I feel you on the Wii. I really wanted to love it, just like I loved the SNES, 64 and to some degree the sturdy cube, but I just don't care about anything the Wii does. It's got some good games but just leaves me with a bad aftertaste.

Yes, I hate that double-standard here. Though to be fair (and coming from the #1 Sony/Ps3 fanboy here), I'm pretty sure the main gripe was the fact that the PSPGo wasn't backwards compatible with a whole generation of PSPs, thereby negating the cost. Still a bit annoying how people are going "PRE-ORDER!" for a $300 piece of plastic (it is! It's made of plastic!), though.

The main thing I worry about the 3DS is the, of course, shoehorned 3D mechanics. The Wii suffers from a huge influx of games pointlessly phoning in the motion controls, even the good games sometimes struggle with it, so the prospect of 3D as a mechanic being shoved into a game just because they can does not bode well for my eyes.

Though, on the Wii, one random theory I have is that the games and the console itself all feel "plastic-y" or something. Like, if I grab a PS3 game case and smush it around or something, it feels sturdy and worth the money. With a Wii game case, I can bend it all over like a flimsy piece of cardboard, and it doesn't have that satisfying feel to it. But that's just a random thought I've had.

 

[SpaceMedarotterX]

It boggles my mind that people are freaking out over a 300$ price tag when the PSP was originally around that at launch.

Also is everyone forgetting Apple's ability to sell 300-500$ ipods? Those for the most part only played audio and video files up until recently. The touch, phone and pad are still all over priced and can easily top 300$ and they can't do most of what the 3DS apparently does.

I know people could blame Apple's fans for constantly buying the same products with slight upgrades for ridiculous prices but Nintendo consumers are no better, at least we get good games.

So you soon forget that people DID freak out over the PSP's price and the people who'll but $300-$500 apple products are pretty much apple whores at this point.

I just find it funny that Sony do it and it was a grave sin, but nintendo does it and it isn't.

Don't get me wrong I don't have a problem with either.

 

[Jumplion]

It boggles my mind that people are freaking out over a 300$ price tag when the PSP was originally around that at launch.

Who's freaking out here? From what I understand correctly, the PSPGo launched at $250 and people flipped the fuck out, while here people are going "PRE-ORDER!" without concern of the cost.

Though, read my above post for my take on it.

 

[HentMas]

damn.. 4% is an awfull lot!

lets hope it doesnt get into "snow ball" mode and get further than that-

 

[Greg Tito]

ouch. 4%? *shudder*. i hope shit gets better.

anyway, 3DS by February 1011? i'm down with that. i thought it was going to be in a couple years or something silly like that.

 

[icyneesan]

Damn looks like I wont be getting one at launch, need to save up for Pokemon