If this rumour turns out to be true, it’s worrying times for Nintendo. According to 01Net, a French site, has posted a report stating that many behind the scenes at Nintendo greatly regret the omission of a second circle pad on the 3DS.
According to the site, which broke the Wii U and Vita specs before they were public, there will be a new add-on circle pad that Nintendo are readying for sale at around $10. This new peripheral will somehow clamp on to the 3DS and provide a right stick for games that require it.
Some of the claims made in this first part of a four-part report seem outlandish. The site seems to claim to have much more access to the behind-the-scenes workings at Nintendo than any outlet we’ve ever seen before, detailing the attitudes and workings of third party developers within Nintendo’s validation process.
Among the more outlandish claims made by the French site (and our tranlatory skills are based on my GCSE French from fifteen years ago…) are the suggestion that a whole new 3DS model, playing down the 3D angle and perhaps even rebranding entirely, is on its way. There is also the suggestion that the recent price cut was an attempt to clear stock in readiness for this new model which will launch in 2012.
It must be said, the omission of a second analogue input does feel a little backward on Nintendo’s part but we’ve never seen this degree of panic from the company before and very strong sales after the price cut would seem to indicate that it wasn’t the feature set that was putting off consumers. We advise a huge amount of caution goes along with reading these rumours but 01Net has been correct in the past.
If the rumours turn out to be true, it’s a worrying development for Nintendo which would possibly unsettle consumer trust in a brand that has been exceptionally trustworthy in recent years.
SavageOranges
Wow… so Nintendo are on a massive downward spiral?
Jaffa-the-Cake
I was suprised that Nintendo dared to launch a handheld with only one analogue stick after the furore surrounding the original psp. It seems Nintendo is n complete dissarray.
Jim H [Teabags]
Can’t really think of any upcoming 3DS titles that desperately need a second stick so even if it is $10 I will probably pass.
hazelam
there aren’t any because there’s no second stick.
but i bet there are games that developers were looking at making for the 3ds but didn’t because of the lack of a second stick.
we may never know of course.
colossalblue
IF this turns out to be true, they’ll bundle the second stick attachment with something. I’d guess something similar to Geometry Wars or Super Stardust and line developers up to design for it long in advance.
teflon
I’ll be very very surprised if this has any basis in reality at all. Peripherals for anything that isn’t a ridiculously huge success always fail.
colossalblue
Yeah, heavily rumour-tagged for now. This same site did correctly leak the Wii U and Vita specs before they were official though… and look how outlandish that Wii U stuff seemed a the time!
jcor
I paid €270 for mine a few weeks ago, wasn’t too bothered about the price cut as the 20 free games was a decent enough jesture.
But if they end up bringing out a new model with a 2nd circle pad that would mean certain games wouldn’t be playable on my system…….then I will be annoyed!
hazelam
that would piss off the early adopters no end.
suddenly their machines are rendered obsolete by a new machine with a second stick.
you know, even with some of the dubious decisions they’ve been making lately, i don’t think nintendo would bring out a whole new version of the hardware that quickly.
a different size or colour? sure.
but not something like adding another analog control.
it’s way too early for that big of a hardware revision.
i could see one without the 3d feature being released though, the popularity of 3d seems to be waning a little.
as to what they’d call it though, who knows, maybe the 2ds. ^_^
hazelam
ok, i didn’t read the article fully, it’s a peripheral.
still that sounds a bit unwieldy.
but it would mean early adopters not having their machines being made obsolete overnight.
but would people actually buy it?
Klart
These rumours might just make the rise in sales come to a halt. If a new 3DS (that plays different games) is on it’s way, people will want to wait for that.
Maybe they want in on the future portable FPS market?
If the CoD/BF success on consoles transports somewhat to the Vita…
colmshan1990
The screen is more than enough for a FPS.
Think of it as the mouse on a PC.
Uhyve
I tried Black Ops on the DS and it really did not control like a mouse, there had to be a ton of auto aim just to make the game playable… even then, it wasn’t really playable, but not due to the controls.
KeRaSh
Wow, this will be very interesting if it turns out to be true. I woudln’t want to rely on an accessory to play newer games but a revisioned 3DS would certainly be a good thing for people who held back with an early purchase.
TSBonyman
That’s an interesting rumour although it seems a bit unlikely that they would change the design so drastically at this early stage.
mynameisblair
Hmm, seems very silly. Doesn’t need it IMO.
Foxhound_Solid
Only a rumour at this stage…..
KeRaSh
Just like the PSP didn’t need it? :P