The next gen hand held war (3DS Vs NGP)

[Neon Ignition]

One quick glance through the threads on here alone shows that there's plenty of people who spent ?200 on a 3DS who are willing to complain about the system after a short amount of time. As for the other points it sold less than the initial Nintendo projections but sold more than any other Nintendo launch so it really depends on your measurement of underperforming really. The complaints point is a little silly to be honest seeing as you're opening sentence contradicts this. People either are or aren't complaining about the system they just bought and the noisy opinionated anonomous world of internet forums doesn't equate to mass unhappiness with the hardware. And for the last point, well, one look at the sales figures shows that if you're store hasn't sold a unit since launch then the issue is very much with your stores ability to sell given everyone else managed to contribute to the 113,000+ and ongoing units tally. The whole 3DS thing is getting eirilly like the NDS and Wii launched now with a lot of unfounded snipes made against it despite the blatant evidence against them.

[SH4R4KU]

The DS and PSP are massively popular in Japan and I really think the 3DS and NGP will also be massively popular. I see a huge amount of these systems on the trains to and from work each day here in Tokyo; it's really quite something. Back in the west, driving everywhere, it's a completely different story of course.

[rmoxon]

Nobody who has just blown ?200+ pounds on the console is openly going to admit in the first 10 days they made a mistake so id say your opinion is rather rosy. Low sales figures (not low but what 50,000 less than expected) numerous complaints/faults. Poor launch line up. Only yesterday i was walking through the warehouse where the 3DS are kept in our store, i asked the Home and leisure bloke if we had sold any this week. "No but we have had two returns from pre-orders" ..... says it all, not sold a single unit since launch day. Got loads of them in the warehouse.

Actualy thats not true at all, i spent ?450 on a PS3 back when it was first released and wondered why I had bothered, I was disapointed, there was only one game I really liked on it for about 6 month infact.

The 3DS has had a good launch, it has some games Ive really enjoyed and the 3D effect is good, its not distracting or particuarly showy, all it does is add depth of feild to the games.

As I have said already in this very forum I think its a nice little handheld and anyone who says it has had a bad launch probably doesnt own one.

[Sketcz]

Region lock means I will never, ever buy a 3DS - not until someone creates a modchip or finds a way to hack it. Seriously, **** region locking. **** it, **** it, **** it, **** it, **** it.

So far no word on the NGP region locking, so that's cool.

Falcom officially supporting the NGP means it's almost a guaranteed purchase for me. Can't get enough of Falcom.

[importaku]

LOL oh Sony, you really should learn to shut up your PR monkeys as they really do make you look bad. Oh & change the record as well.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/04/jack-tretton/

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/08/playstation-chief-nintendo-makes-%E2%80%98babysitting-tools%E2%80%99/

[Dogg Thang]

Considering Nintendo spent much of this gen advertising to adults and OAPs, I think what really comes through here is that Jack Tretton is a gob****e.

[Bond James Bond]

Man, Jack Tretton can talk some ****e. Sony would have given their left bollock to have sold as many PSP's/PS3's as the DS and Wii. It's this sort of attitude that has landed them where they are this gen.

[Flabio]

Judging from twitter, I think we can expect todays Penny Arcade to touch on this... (even if it's just in the news post)

[Decider-VT]

I'm slightly surprised by how badly the 3DS is selling in comparison with the Wii and DSL, if only at work. We used to be constantly out of stock of Nintendo hardware and had to turn people away all the time- now we have quite a few 3DS units happily occupying most of a stockroom, accompanied by a stack of slowly-selling Wiis. I can't help but wonder if Nintendo has ruined consumer confidence with multiple iterations of the DS, as lots of customers tell me that they think there's no point in buying one now because they believe that a 3DS Lite will be released within a couple of years. People also seem really nonplussed after they've actually played it.

[abigsmurf]

It's launched without a killer app. It's got 2-3 reasonable games but no pure console shifters and the launch lineup lacked anything fresh. It needs Zelda or Mario ASAP

[Family Fry]

Jack Tretton talking ****e?
Well he does work for Sony, who would have thought!
Well I think with the Wii Nintendo have got to saturation point, there are only so many people interested who will buy and it has been a few years now on top, naturally that will dry up as the games dry up.
3DS on the other hand, if it hasn't shifted that could be down to loads of different factors, money, launch games, 3D effect and even bad press.
The title 3DS basically says it's a 3D console and some people have tried it with terrible effect, a few I spoke to and told you could switch it off were like "but isn't that the main selling point? Isn't that why it cost ?200?" people don't want to have an option and be paying for that only to find they can't enjoy it whilst using it.
Also the games being ?39.99 in most shops doen't help it shift in-store, I fear retail will have a tough time with this until xmas.

[Dogg Thang]

The title 3DS basically says it's a 3D console and some people have tried it with terrible effect, a few I spoke to and told you could switch it off were like "but isn't that the main selling point? Isn't that why it cost ?200?" people don't want to have an option and be paying for that only to find they can't enjoy it whilst using it.

Yeah, this would sum up my view. As it happens, I think the 3D is great. I love it. But it does seem to be this system's single reason for being and, if I couldn't see the 3D or wasn't impressed with it, being told I could turn it off wouldn't exactly encourage a sale.

And perhaps, without seeing the 3D in person, many people look at it and just think, well, it's a DS isn't it? I already have a DS. On the ads, it looks like a DS and all the branding is identical. Perhaps they should have made more of an effort to differentiate the 3DS with the branding. But I do think once people start seeing it, sales will rise. Pretty much everyone who has seen mine has said the same thing - I didn't expect the 3D to look this good. And, if they didn't expect it to look good, they'd hardly be there on day one buying one. But they might now.

[112]

I think the problem with the adverts on TV are that you don't see any game footage, just random enthusiastic slack jawed individuals looking in awe over the console. Its understandable as to why they don't show footage, as it is probably impossible to sell the fact that it is infact 3D, if you can't show it in 3D to the majority of the public who are just about adjusted to HD TVs.

We have to bare in mind that the cost of EVERYTHING seems to have gone up in price over the last few year or so (even more so in recent months) which has obvioulsy had a dramatic effect on consumer spending. I for one don't buy anything first day any more... Infact Ive only brought like 5 games tops this year alone (two of which were brought last week) which is A LOT less than I have brought in the past.

112

[rmoxon]

Surely the 3DS's biggest selling point should be that its a new Nintendo Handheld thats more powerful than the DS and will have loads of new games?

Its the quality of the games that matter, we really shouldnt care if they are 3d or not.

[Flabio]

Nah, that's not how you sell consoles to punters I'm afraid.

For us, it's the games that count. But Joe Public may only buy about 3 or 4 games for his new console over it's entire lifetime.