I wholeheartedly agree that Nintendo's response via facebook and twitter was pretty bad simply because their immediate response provided a semblance of false hope. It reminded me of some girl I knew in college who used to string along guys by giving them just enough encouragement to hang around, only to completely toss them to the wind later.
I'll agree with Mike that Nintendo's response was better than saying nothing at all, but they should have waited to respond until they had a definite answer.
I also rarely buy new at all, though I'll never buy used at a Gamestop, unless it's a series that I really want to support. Sometimes that comes back to haunt me. I think I've bought all of the Layton games, Dragon Quest games, and others new. I also made sure to buy A Boy and His Blob new, though I kind of wish that I hadn't; the sales went south quickly anyway, and you can obtain the game for a $10 - $15. Like many others, I don't buy everything new because I simply can't; I don't have the resources and won't for a long time (two kids, a mortgage, and a single-income home.)
The truth is, a reduction of price in $10 - 20 goes a long way towards encouraging me to purchase a game. The $50 game price tag has discouraged me from picking up a 3DS right away, and I certainly don't plan on getting many Wii U titles at $60.
At least Reggie isn't still making that ridiculous claim that video games are "recession proof."
I've got to say, all the talk about getting scratches on the 3DS and shoulder buttons not working are giving me serious pause about purchasing a 3DS. I've been saving up cash for it, but I'm starting to wonder if I wouldn't be better off waiting for another iteration of the system. I have to say that the complaints have gone a long way towards changing my perceptions of the quality of Nintendo's hardware; for the first time in a long time, I feel negative about a Nintendo system. (I had problems with my old-school Gameboy pretty early on.)