3DS price drops to $170 on August 12

@MarkHawk Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad thing. Cheaper game peripherals are always welcome.

@MarkHawk I didn't realize this was a story about discount styluses. :)

@MarkHawk
Sometimes its better to learn the hard way. Nintendo was reluctant, but I hope they get the message now. If they have learned, I foresee some changes to their WiiU strategy.

@onan

As long as we're correcting people, I believe you mean "styli."

@MarkHawk $20 more and they are where they should be. Still isn't enough to stop smartphone dominace though.

I am so sick of being right all the time.

@RedRaptor82: The plural form of stylus is really styli? I honestly did not know that.

Wow Joystiq, witty AND instructional!

Ahem, can I have my advertisement fee now, McElroy?

@MarkHawk
The price drop doesn't really bother me. The free NES and GBA games they're giving early adopters probably equate to around $80 of free games when Nintendo's pricing system is taken into consideration, so that makes up for it.

@RedRaptor82

Actually, you're both right!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylus

A stylus (plural: styli or styluses[1][2]) is a writing utensil....

@MarkHawk
Yeah it was fast and could it possibly affect the price if the PS VITA?

It's not that far off from the PS3 price-cut of $100 that happened a little over half a year of it releasing. People thought it was doomed but things leveled out for them. Of course, I bought mine when the price was cut by $200! :P (2008).

Honestly $169 seems like a good price point and should have been the launch price which would have been very close to the DS when it launched.

@K1LLZONE13
Probably not - this is partly in response to poor sales but I'm sure it's also partly in response to the PS Vita price. Sony said they're expecting to lose money on PS Vita so they have less room for a drop; Nintendo had a large profit margin on 3DS.

I bet Nintendo, like everyone else, expected PSV would be $350 or at least $300, against which their $250 (or a little less after a normal drop) looks okay. After the actual PSV price was announced... um, Nintendo really don't want to be selling at the same price come November.

Btw, I already have 3DS and don't mind that I could've paid less if I'd waited a few months - who cares, I bought it knowing that things get cheaper, and so what if that's happening a bit faster than expected. Not really a big fan of virtual console stuff but I guess I'll download it seeing it's free!

I'm not sure if this will help their sales problem in general compared to, um, putting out more games. It probably will cement the 3DS's position for kids' games though.

@MarkHawk

seems too fast lol I bet you that they are planning on bringing out a 3DS+ or something like that.

Or an upgrade of somekind, like they might add what the vita has on the back maybe lol. I guess we'll see. But I might just be skeptical.

@MarkHawk

That's what she said?

@xxxsam
Once the price cut takes effect, Nintendo will be officially losing money on each 3DS sold.

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/07/29/3ds_losses/

@dfnj123
Actually, those gba downloads are currently only planned for those who bought/buy the 3ds before august 11th. So then everybody wins kind of.

@dfnj123

I'd rather have a free 3DS game. This console is for 3D gaming, right?

@Smithsmithers

cmon man, just let the guy have this one...

@ColorblindMonk

I'd say certain folks can rage as 20 old games as a band-aid is pretty lame. What's more, is why would I want to buy the new system when Nintendo is going to be locking me out of content that I may or may not be interested in?

It all seems to be like the 3DS itself, dumb.

@Nintenuendo

Errr its 20 in total, not 20 from each.

@libregkd I noticed that too late. Where's my edit button!? >.

@Nintenuendo

Here's a better idea. Instead of Nintendo handing out lame band-aids of 20 virtual titles from systems that have been long dead, which everyone has already played to death, howsabout giving early adopters their choice of any two retail 3DS games, to properly make up for the $80 in early adopter tax that people are getting ripped off on.

We've known from the beginning that 3DS was overpriced, and now that fact is coming back to bite Nintendo in the ass with far below expectation hardware and software sales on the platform. So, now they are scrambling to price the 3DS the price it should have launched for in the first place, the least they could have the decency to do, is refund the $80 difference to existing customers - barring that, then some proper 3DS games should be in order to placate the masses, not more virtual games from 15 years ago, that have been repackaged and resold to Nintendo fans on every Nintendo console since they came out, that many 3DS owners never had any intention of buying in the first place.

See, that is part of Nintendo's problem now. They are so busy trying to milk the shit out of their past successes, that they have almost completely neglected the need to have anything truly new on their platforms. Seriously, how many times in one lifetime does Nintendo expect everyone to re-purchase Ocarina of Time? I know it is one of two greatest games of all time, but still. And in the meantime, outside of their new line of casual games (like Nintendog) that began to spring up a year after they released the original DS, when was the last time Nintendo created a new IP from the ground up? I'm getting more Mario Bros this year, and more Mario Kart, but when was the last time Nintendo gave us a new IP from the minds of the people who created those classics, that non-casual gamers could actually care about?

This price drop will help 3DS sales, no doubt about that. But (and I said as much when the 3DS launched back in March), until Nintendo can start seriously investing in the creation and maturation of new IP, 3DS sales are never, ever going to equal DS sales, GBA sales or GB sales, at the height of those system's popularity. There is an age old rule in videogaming, that it is not about the hardware, it is about the games. And while true all of Nintendo's existing IP are legendary, in constantly milking and heavily depending on those IPs, eventually you are going to reach a point where everyone who could have played them to death, will have played them to death (even among the younger generation) - and then those people are going to want something just as brilliant, that is at the same time, something completely new. And if the Big N is not prepared to give those customers something truly new, then the long time almost religious hold that Nintendo has had over their fans since 1985, will start to showing serious chinks in the armor. And every quarter in that past year, when I look at Nintendo's financials, and see them dropping, because sales of hardware and software across the board are plummeting and not meeting projections, it is looking more and more like the chickens have at last come home to roost.

@Tachyonic Cargo

I'm sure people would rather have 20 awesome old titles than 2 shitty new ones (I am assuming that anyone who has a 3DS already has already bought the 2 or 3 decent games out so far.)

@Tachyonic Cargo

I don't know why people are downranking you. That makes logical sense to me...especially since all the good 3DS games are rehashes of old games we've already played, give two of the rehashed games away for free to cover that $80 price difference. That'll be too much like right I guess...-_-

@Tachyonic Cargo

"And in the meantime, outside of their new line of casual games (like Nintendog) that began to spring up a year after they released the original DS, when was the last time Nintendo created a new IP from the ground up?"

Xenoblade, Nintendo owns Monolith Soft. Also, though their developers aren't owned by Nintendo, at least Mistwalker isn't, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower are owned by Nintendo.

Then there is also stuff like Zangeki no Reginleiv, in the same vein as Last Story and Pandora's Tower, and Disaster Day of Crisis.

So don't go after Nintendo for the lack of new IP. Go after Reggie for not bringing them over.

@Tachyonic Cargo

A-F'ing-Men.

@Theneverendingsoda

"Those aren't first party. He's talking about first party games DEVELOPED by Nintendo's internal house. "

They are nintendo owned Ips, and Monolith Soft is first party.

Goal post moving isnt good for anybody, dont do it.

@Tachyonic Cargo

Why are early adopters owed anything?

They chose to buy it at that price, and any moron knows that prices on new technology drop within 1-2 years.

@libregkd - I think they were hoping for a "Three hundred and ninety nine US dollars" announcement from Sony, that would make their 3DS seem extremely cheap by comparison. Instead, Sony cut their margins to the bone (assumedly) on the Vita with a $250 price point, and made the 3DS look like an overpriced toy by comparison.

$170 is a good price point. It brings the handheld down to levels where kids might adopt it in droves (if they can be wrenched away from their iPod Touches).

Hopefully this isn't the first nail in the 3DS coffin.

@libregkd

They definitely were being too greedy with the launch price point. They upped the price of the system because everybody thought it was cool at E3 when they showed it off. They determined the price based on everyone's reaction and since people hadn't really seen anything like it at the time, of course they were wowed. I hope Nintendo learned a valuable lesson and will think about it when they're pricing the Wii U.

@libregkd

Arguably it was overpriced to begin with.
If they had presented with more compelling launch titles they might have gotten away with it.

But I commend them where Sony could have probably saved the PSPGo with a price drop and better support but chose not to. Nintendo has chosen to bite the bullet and I am hopeful that better support (see: games) are on the horizon.

@Scuffles
the PSP go had the major problem of having to rely on digital games, which excluded a lot of people's UMD libraries as well as several games that have never had a digital release.

Killing it and then focusing on the PSV was a wise choice.

@libregkd
Simple. Nintendo pulled a Sony and like Sony, it came to bite them in the ass.

Nintendo looked at the DS's success and thought that everyone and their mother would buy the next Nintendo handheld, no matter how expensive, gimmicky, or lacking in software, simply because they would associate the DS name on it.

The 3DS's launch was appalling. Half the features were locked out because they weren't even finished. Battery life is abysmal AND was horrendously expensive for a Nintendo handheld. And there were absolutely no good games to boot for months (now there's ONE good game, and that's a remake of a 12 year old game).

Nintendo dropped the ball big time with the 3DS, not only rushing the system with the "release-now-fix-later" mentality, but also mistakenly thinking that everyone would buy into it simply because it was new and was from Nintendo.

@PointlessPuppies

Sure it wasn't the best launch line-up, but there were some good games in there.

Pilot Wings Resort, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, Ridge Racer 3D were all top notch and showed off the 3D very well.

eShop was ready on the first FW update and the free Excitebike 3D was a nice surprise.

Netflix, Web browser, & Nintendo Video (all available now) were never promised to be ready at launch so I knew not to expect them.

The 3DS is looking to have a bright future with the hits coming out and constant upgrades via firmware. The PSP had a ton of FW updates too, but unfortunately most of them were just to block piracy and didn't add very good features. The fact that they never had a YouTube app on the PSP was crazy imo.

Anyway, the 3DS isn't going to roll over and let the Vita win. Competition is always a good thing for us consumers.

@Revengez

"I could easily get a fking emulator and play all of them."

Where's the legality in that? At least you'll legally own these in a portable version with support for real buttons!

@Revengez

What a whiner. Did someone force you to open your wallet and remove $250 at launch? No, they did not. Spare us the entitlement rant.

@Bighouse
entitled : 1. Give (someone) a legal right or a just claim to receive or do something
No, i'm not entitled. They're trying to compensate with something easily accessible and readily available for free. $80 is a dramatic price cut in such a short period of time. They could have easily compensated the early adopters with something more worth while. I was giving my opinion, I didn't demand it. if I felt entitled i'd go to gamestop or call / email Nintendo and demand compensation... Saying "how about a 3DS game instead," has nothing to do with entitlement you fgt.

@Revengez

a) It has everything to do with entitlement, you feel you didn't get enough value, and you feel entitled to more. It's nothing to do with demanding it.

b) 3DSes are readily available for free too, just steal one from Wal-Mart. Oh, you meant readily available without stealing it? Then emulators are out.

c) You're a dumbass.

@Revengez
go to /v/ or ign, you have no place here with your slurs. we may not agree around here but we are at least civil with each other when having a disagreement. enjoy 10th grade when september rolls around.

@Revengez

Nintendo isn't obligated to give anyone anything. You're fault for shelling out $250 for something w/a crappy launch lineup.

@(Unverified)
One hundred and s... Oh, I see what you did there. Clever.

@BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam Yeah.... I'd be aroused for that price too.