3DS As a Dying Platform


At E3 2010 the the 3DS was the spotlight of the event. It had an awesome first quarter for the release, in which it sold over a million devices in Japan only. Then again, as time passes, the little handheld has been loosing it's limelight and becoming less and less attractive. All of this is happening for various reasons that only Nintendo can solve, if possible.Ranging from the lack of software to the unimpressive hardware, one can only ask the following question; How did this happen?

Breaking the two concepts let's take into consideration the fact that the hardware is just a small bump into the existing technology of a DSI, only with a back and front facing camera and a cool but not marvelous 3D feature. When people noticed the lack of powerful hardware, mixed with an unfriendly price tag, everyone and their dog started to slowly go away. This facts bring the next one, which is lack of software.

No one can expect 3rd party developers to create game for a handheld that isn't selling. For Nintendo there is a limit to how long they can sustain a large sales run with only two or three games like Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake (which has been remade like XXX,XXX times already). To this situation, only Nintendo ca try to do something to attract new people to buy and thus bringing new developers.

Let's hope the reduced price tag they made official (from $249.99 to $169.99) makes a difference or we will be watching the slow and painful death of a console/handheld of our recent times.

12 comments:

Neon said...

Tbh, I never bothered getting any of the DS series. It just wasn't worth it for me. Most of the games I liked at that time were for the PSP, even a price drop wouldn't have changed my opinion

PxZ said...

Not dying in Japan I assure you!

SoreLosersGaming said...

There are only so many times that you can (essentially) re-package the same console. After spending a lot of money on various iterations of the Nintendo DS, people probably didn't want to shell out on another one.

Sinclair said...

My brother has a 3DS. It's an alright system, but I highly doubt it'll catch on as much as the Gameboy systems did.

Arrpii said...

Hope they will recover. Would be sad if the 3ds ended up hurting Nintendo

Mark said...

I really hope they do recover, the world NEEDS Nintendo. They're the only games company left that produces consoles unless Sega manage to get off their asses and release the Dreamcast 2, which is in actuality a Dreamcast 1 with Shenmue 3 built in. Then sales would go up. Massively.

Unknown said...

My younger brother has a 3ds, and it's really got potential to be an alright platform; it's main problem is it's lack of decent games. I might get one after the price cut and a few good releases.

Haunter said...

I think I'm done with handhelds unless something absolutely stellar comes out. Pokemon was enough reason for me to at least stay up to date but idk. Might just be getting old.

Anonymous said...

Mine isn't dying, I play it all the time. :)

Leelee said...

3ds seemed pretentious to me. certainly not something I would spend that much money on. :/

LoneIslander said...

The only reason I'm not getting it is because I don't want to kill my eyes with their 3d effects. Even if you can turn it off, I'd be too tempted to turn them back on like a idiot.

Jack said...

just as long as the new system plays older model cartridges, Im ok with this. Im still mad they didn't include a gameboy cartridge slot.

Post a Comment