Breaking news live from the (admittedly a little bit dull) Nintendo 3DS event in Amsterdam; the UK launch date for the 3DS has been confirmed for 25th March, with the price ‘up to the retailer’… The console will be $249 in the States, and several European retailers have said ‘250€’.
Nintendo also confirmed a relationship with Sky 3D, Aardman and Eurosport, which will provide 3D content directly to the console, and showed off Street Pass, which will enable easy, automatic sharing of data whilst your 3DS is on standby as you meet other users.
In addition, the 3DS will also only use one Friend Code, which is per console, not per game, thankfully.
We’re there at the conference, and we’ll be bringing you our hands on impression of the 3DS and all the games we can grab from Nintendo’s sweaty hands in the next day or so.
In the meantime let us know what you think.
[Update] Unconfirmed reports are quoting HMV’s price at £229.99.
Rocket_345
i can go upto £250 as i can split the cost between my parents and my nan this Xmas and have a few games.
Serebii.Net
I’m getting it for my 18th Birthday, so the price doesn’t really natter to be, although I do hope it is annouced at around £200 :P
stingraz
Ouch.
That is way too much for me to spend on a handheld. I’d expect to pay from £100 – £150 for a handheld device. That price, the battery life, and the poor line – up of games (for me anyway) has put the 3DS off of my list to buy.
I can’t believe how much Nintendo have got wrong with this one. Price will put many off, battery life is terrible, and the timing. Right between all off the major releases (KZ3 before, then Crysis, etc), and possible placed right next to the iPad 2 ‘s release.
cc_star
Don’t think you’re ever going to see a handheld for that little.
The iPod Touch was £149 in 2009 which went up to £179 in 2010, gawd knows what this years model will be. The PSP2 will surely be dearer than the £195 you can but the 3DS for now as well.
Personally can’t think of better games for a launch lineup to be honest, Zelda, Pilotwings, Resi, Street Fighter, PES, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell etc…
I’ll be waiting for a 2nd SKU though, it will no doubt be cheaper have a far wider selection of games which will also be cheaper and will probably redesigned to be more user friendly in some way
stingraz
Well, I’d say the iPod is an exception. It isn’t really a classic handheld console. It is more of a handheld device. The difference being that handheld consoles such as DS and PSP focus solely on gaming. Handheld devices like the iPod provide a variety, eg. Music, Video Calls, HD recording, etc. (those are just a few features off the top of my head). That’s not mentioning the apps.
As for the games. I’m not a fan of Zelda ocarina of time. Would never touch a PES game. Street Fighter I would get bored of too quickly. I’m not saying nobody will like their launch line-up though.
One other reason for me not wanting to part with £200 + for a 3DS is that my 3DTV will be arriving soon. I won’t want to spend £200 more on a portable device that offers the same (probably less) than my large screen TV.
KeRaSh
That’s what I’m doing. There will probably be a 3DS Lite with hopefully better battery life. I was hopeing for a brand new Zelda game. That even might have tipped me over to get it earlier but a OoT remake is not a must buy for me. Rerelease Majora’s Mask and we’re talking!
djhsecondnature
The ‘launch’ line-up isn’t that good. Especially when considering they are from launch to E3. Launch line-up should be available on launch.
Juelz345
@ djhsecondnature
“The ‘launch’ line-up isn’t that good”
Well that’s clearly a matter of opinion. I think the launch line up is fantastic, being a fan of most of the series being represented. And as far as the release window, I’m fine with the fact that they’ll be spread out over a few months, it’s not like people will be able to afford all of them on release day anyhow.
It’s all subjective. I’m interested to see what peoples reaction is going to be when Sony announce the PSP2, which if the PSP go is any indication, will be priced similarly to the 3DS (if not more expensive) and will probably have less “big” titles at launch.
cc_star
I can’t think of a massive game missing? It’s got the core Ninty franchises and the best on offer from 3rd parties
It’s the strongest gaming launch period line-up I can remember, ever!
teflon
You forgot to say ‘again’. You don’t think we’re ever going to see a handheld for that little again. As I said to you on twitter, Nintendo’s previous system launches have been much lower in price at launch than the 3DS. GBA was around £120, Gamecube was £150, NDS was £120-ish, Wii was £180.
This is the most expensive piece of hardware Nintendo have released in the UK for at least a decade and a half, possibly ever.
djhsecondnature
It’s a good launch line-up but a) it depends whether they are available on release otherwise they’re not really launch titles and b)it’s not nearly as good as we were first led to believe.
I didn’t mean it wasn’t good. Just I thought it was going to be better is all.
djhsecondnature
Well there’s no Mario titles, no Zelda, no Kid Icarus, no MGS.
It’s basically games that are out already, just for the 3DS. So yeah it’s good, but nothing there is amazing.
ruinereraser
219 at Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_19301_23418191_fe_txt_2/?ie=UTF8&docId=1000483253
solidsteven
It’s £220 on amazon. I think that is too much for a portable console.