The Allure Media offices were filled with passionate discussion yesterday about what price Nintendo would unveil for the 3DS handheld. Mark from Kotaku was adamant we’d see a $399 price point and a March 31 launch, while I was leaning towards a $379 price point on the same day. We were both partially wrong.
Nintendo announced official pricing at an event last night, and it’s relatively good news. $350 and available from March 31. That’s still a premium over the $US250 price our American friends will enjoy, but on the relative scale of US to AU Nintendo pricing, it’s still a step forward.
The question now is who’s going to buy one?
[Kotaku]
Alex K
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 8:52 AMme. from america.
icurafu
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 9:05 AMThat’s a 40% markup on what the Americans are paying. There’s no chance that I’ll be buying this.
woodsdog
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 9:27 AMYou know this whole scale of economie get a bit old after a while. sure they spend more one adverts & alike in US, but they do less for less cash here in Aus. They are all made in and shipped from the same country…(which is closer to us)… excuses excuses… I’ll wait for the price to drop in 6m to $299 or $249….
Damo
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 9:51 AMX2. Nintendo have always had a better price point than Sony and have always had strong market share because of it. This is not a good move.
Jacob Taylor
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 11:20 AMIt doesn’t matter that the country is closer. It’s all about tariffs.
Matt
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 9:50 AMOuch, that’s pricey! No launch day pick up for me.
fred
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 9:55 AM$100 markup?
I’ve bought several DS’s from HK, I guess the 3DS will be from overseas too.
Awnshegh
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 10:11 AMNop. No day 1 purchase for me. I’ll be waiting for the price drop.
simon c
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 10:28 AMcan we please get over the USD/AUD parity malarky. 24 millionish people is a potential customer drop in the bucket compared to americas 300 million. japan, 120 million.
potential sales, actual sales and all the magical number crunching jazz.
Awnshegh
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 3:33 PMI’m just cheap. So I won’t get it day one. Though if it hit parity with the US I’d consider it. So maybe if Ninty didn’t region lock their machines I’d be tempted to import.
Dave Goodfellow
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 10:48 AMDefinitely getting one!
LoZ: OoT 3DS = WOoT WOoT WOoT
Tøe Hansen
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 11:13 AMi dont really care what the price is compared to US. 100 dollar (40%) markup or not. 350 is too much compared to how much I’d use it, so no thanks.
lolSnarfSnarf
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 11:50 AMBtw, for those unaware, Nintendo is offering a free test-drive of the 3DS in every state. Visit http://nintendo3ds.com.au/#/events to find your local venue.
Tyronomo
Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 4:49 PMYup, I’ve added those dates to my Calendar. I will be waiting ’til I have played the damn thing before I decide to buy.
Pretty damn keen tho. Also weighting up the AU/US purchase options.
Streetsy
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 12:03 PMToo expensive overall when cartridges are expensive too. Back to the multi-purpose iPad and sub $10 games.
Sammy
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 3:22 PMI’ll buy one. In fact have already pre ordered on e and you only live once, so why not???
Jim
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 3:56 PMI pre-ordered from Dick Smith. I got the console and a game included for $298 shipped to my door.
I wouldn’t import one due to the region lock, shipping costs, incorrect power supply and lack of warranty. It really doesn’t seem worth the $50 – $100 difference in my opinion.