Topic: Who's still buying a 3DS at launch?

[NWR_insanolord]

We've seen a few discouraging things about the 3DS recently, from the lower than expected battery life to the lack of much first party software at launch, and now the news that the eShop isn't coming until May. I've seen a lot of people who had previously intended to pick one up right away now saying they're going to hold off. Who here is still planning to buy the system at launch despite all that?


I still definitely intend to grab one on day one. I figure the price isn't going down any time soon, and I'd definitely end up buying it fairly soon anyway, so I'm just going to get it at launch. It doesn't hurt that my birthday is in March, so I won't have any issue with the price. There are a few games I'm interested in coming out in the launch window, and while none of them are things I'd have too much trouble waiting for, there's something to be said for the feeling of being there on day one.

[ShyGuy]

Not I said the pig.

[Morari]

Nope.

Over priced system? Check.
Over priced games? Check.
Features useless 3D gimmick? Check.

[Shredder5655]

ONLY if the Gameboy Virtual Console is 3DS only.... 

[KnowsNothing]

Originally I shared the opinion that the console is too expensive, the games are disappointing, and the battery life is terrible...and I still feel that way. However, I honestly can't see myself waiting long enough for an update or price drop. I know I will cave, so there's no point in losing a few months of play time for no reason. The e-Shop and great games will come before a price drop, and my iPod has taught me how to live with short battery life. Besides there will probably be a third party solution to that problem and if it really turns out to be a hassle extra batteries are usually pretty cheap.  I predict I'll just learn to live with it though.

Edit: I should mention that if the games are all $40-50 that will likely dissuade me. It might be foolish but I'm still hoping for $30-40. Most DS games were $30 at launch and a $20 increase seems unreasonable.

[Caliban]

Not I.

[Fatty The Hutt]

I will be buying.
Since the announcement of price and release date I have been setting aside $40 per week to cover the cost of the system and 1 to 2 games.
I have pre-ordered. I am stupidly excited for this thing and even if I only have a couple 3DS games to start, I also have a health backlog of DS games so i am good to go for awhile. Plus there are those funky built in games and apps.

[TJ Spyke]

The battery is not a problem, and I am interested more in 3DS games than old Game Boy/Game Boy Color games, and the price is not bad. So yes, I will be getting it day 1. The early games look great. I may not buy as many games if they do end up being $40-50 (I wish Nintendo would announce MSRP's for games already), but I will still get a couple.

[Ian Sane]

I won't but it has little to do with the battery life or the price or anything like that.  I got burned TWICE by Nintendo releasing revisions of their handhelds.  The GBA SP really pissed me off because I found it be a big struggle to have good lighting for the original GBA screen.  The light should have been there from day one and I felt like a real sucker for having bought what I saw as an unfinished product.  With the DS I did not notice any obvious flaws so I felt it was safe to buy it but they again released a superior revision.

I'm not falling for that **** again.  I will not buy the original 3DS because I know they're going to release the "true" version a few years from now.  I'm not going to be a sucker ever again.  And if they never release a new version then I'll wait until the 3DS successor comes out to make the call of when it's safe to get one.  I'm not going to risk buying the damn thing and having the better model get announced a week later.

[KnowsNothing]

There isn't a portable product out there that doesn't go through that same process.  The GB, GBA, DS, PSP, iPod, iPhone did/do this...hell, the minute you buy ANY cell phone it's immediately outdated.  Even most consoles go through major hardware revisions.  Why waste time waiting for this "true" version that will fix all of the problems you admitted didn't bother you?  And after that there might be a third version, so you definitely shouldn't buy the second one!  It never ends.

If you have legitimate complaints about the 3DS or think that there are some important features they might add later on then you have reason to wait.  Otherwise it's just silly. 

That said I think there are TONS of legitimate complaints that can be made about the product so I wouldn't blame anyone if they didn't buy one at launch.  I think it's just silly to wait for a mystery product at some mystery point in the future at a mystery price with mystery features that you may or may not want.  Just get it and have fun!

[Ian Sane]

There isn't a portable product out there that doesn't go through that same process.  The GB, GBA, DS, PSP, iPod, iPhone did/do this...hell, the minute you buy ANY cell phone it's immediately outdated.  Even most consoles go through major hardware revisions.  Why waste time waiting for this "true" version that will fix all of the problems you admitted didn't bother you?  And after that there might be a third version, so you definitely shouldn't buy the second one!  It never ends.

I expect that sort of thing with cellphones and MP3 players and such.  With videogame systems it is a relatively new concept.  The NES and SNES got new versions but that was after those systems no longer were current.  The original brick Game Boy lasted 6 years before the Game Boy Pocket revision came out.  The GBC had no revision.  Aside from colours the only N64 revision was a weird Pikachu design, there was no Gamecube revision and thus far has been no Wii revision.  With the GBA this clearly superior variation came out right in the peak of the system's life.  Same with the DS Lite.  I'm fine with some end-of-life redesign but one thing I like about videogame systems is you buy it and that's it.  It doesn't change.  I'm not pleased that I now expect a better 3DS to be released during the peak of the 3DS's life.  I don't like how Sony and MS are constantly releasing new SKUs.  Stability is a large part of the appeal of this propriatary console/handheld model.
 
If the battery life is a problem well you can bet your ass a 3DS revision will address that.  I don't want to feel like I've got an out-of-date system during the peak of the 3DS life cycle and I sure as hell am not going to be a sucker and buy the damn thing twice.  Nintendo has established a pattern that I don't care for, that I feel is designed specifically to take advantage of their customers, and I'm not going to play ball with it.  They want you all to buy the 3DS now and rebuy it later when the better version comes out.  I'm not going to participate in that.

[nickmitch]

I already pre-ordered mine on Amazon.com

[GoldenPhoenix]

I am buying one at launch, Pilotwings will likely be a launch title and it is a game I am really looking forward to. Also I sold my DSi to prepare for the 3DS. In regards to price, it is a fair price IMO, and I really don't see anything striking that will make long for a revision, the battery will likely have solutions available, and beyond that there isn't anything it seems to be suffering from, it is basically an evolution of all the revisions done up thru DSi.

BTW I guess Ian will not be buying a handheld ever again considering there will always be a chance new revisons. Seriously, if you see the system and nothing is really bothering you hardware wise, why must one wait?

[TJ Spyke]

there was no Gamecube revision

Yes and no. There was a revision in the DOL-101 model, a negative one though. It removed support for AV and component cables (with Nintendo trying to justify it by saying very few GameCube owners were using it).

[BlackNMild2k1]

there was no Gamecube revision

Yes and no. There was a revision in the DOL-101 model, a negative one though. It removed support for AV and component cables (with Nintendo trying to justify it by saying very few GameCube owners were using it).

"TJ Spyke
Why is no one impressed by my mastery of Wikipedia?"

[TJ Spyke]

Except I knew that, I didn't need to look it up. You smited me because I let someone know they were wrong and gave them useful info?

[BlackNMild2k1]

i didn't smite you. I pay no attention to the scores. You accuse the wrong person for your declining score.

[Chozo Ghost]

Not me. It wasn't that long ago (just before the 3DS was announced) when I sold my Phat and bought a DSi. I would like to get enough use out of that to feel like it was a justified decision before I move on to something else. Plus there will almost certainly be revisions and price drops in the future, so it will definitely pay to wait.

[Ian Sane]

Yes and no. There was a revision in the DOL-101 model, a negative one though. It removed support for AV and component cables (with Nintendo trying to justify it by saying very few GameCube owners were using it).

Man, I totally forgot about that.  But that's the exact opposite situation where waiting was a negative.  Technically they did something similar with the SNES that made later models incompatible with the Game Genie.  And this isn't that weird redesigned look one.  This was like in 1994 and the systems look exactly the same.  I found out the hard way which version I had when I bought a used Game Genie and had to return it.  Turns out a second version of the Game Genie was made to work with the slightly different SNES but it also looks the same so good luck trying to find one of those in the wild.
 

BTW I guess Ian will not be buying a handheld ever again considering there will always be a chance new revisons.

I figure the first revision, likely to be released two or three years from now, will be the most significant jump up and any later ones will be minor.  What I have learned is to not get the original model.

[Adrock]

I can wait for a revision, but if some really awesome games come out, I may reconsider. Currently, the only game I care about on 3DS is Resident Evil Revelations. 2D Metroid or a NSMB based on SMB3 could convince me otherwise.

[Tanookisuit]

As long as I'm not broke, I'm getting it. 

[Chozo Ghost]

The GC revision that removed features isn't the only example of a revision making things worse than the original. That's actually more of the rule than an exception. Look at every Playstation and how Sony kept cutting features out, starting with the original and then the PS2 which initially had support for a hard drive, but then they released the slim which removed that ability. The PS3 removed support for PS2 backwards compatibility. Then there was the DSi which removed the GBA slot which not only removed GBA compatibility, but also wrecked certain DS games like Guitar Hero which required that slot for peripheral use.

It kinda makes you wonder why companies add these features in the first place when they seem intent to remove them at a later point. I mean, what the hell? Why put it there if you're just going to pull it out later on anyway?

i didn't smite you. I pay no attention to the scores. You accuse the wrong person for your declining score.

People on here are like Piranhas. Once you go into the negative they smell the blood in the water and they all come after you and you tend to stay in the negative forever and can't get out of it. Believe me, I know. Mine goes down one or two points every day for no apparent reason. Sometimes I get a positive point or two, buts its never enough to get out of the negative... so I just say the hell with it and gave up worrying about it.

[DAaaMan64]

Waiting a few months. Willing to pay that launch price, but I won't like it.

[Adrock]

I mean, what the hell? Why put it there if you're just going to pull it out later on anyway?

That's what she said.

Seriously though, I'm not sure Sony or Nintendo planned on pulling features. I don't think they're just fucking with people. It usually makes sense from a business standpoint. I'm not saying it's fair/unfair (let's not go there, please), but clearly there's a reason and I'd assume 9 times out of 10, it's based on profits. Additionally, I wouldn't lump DSi in with PS3 in this case because Nintendo didn't stop selling DS Lite. In fact, you can still buy one today. And unlike Sony, Nintendo didn't retroactively remove features. The option is still there though I suppose, ideally, DSi could have just had a GBA slot and avoided this. Still, I think Nintendo wanted to make a clear distinction between the 2 systems. The main draw for DSi is access to DSiWare. The drawbacks are obviously no GBA support and incompatibility with less than 1% of DS software, basically just Guitar Hero and the random Japan-only slide controller that supported 1.13 games. Those are limitations Nintendo could live with having and obviously didn't mind. Nintendo has to abandon legacy support at some point. No matter when Nintendo does it, someone somewhere is going to be upset about it.

Anyway, to bring this sort of back on topic, the only thing Nintendo can realistically remove is DS support. I guess that's still a possibility though I'm not sure how DS games work on 3DS, emulation or otherwise. Since I still own a DSi and my brother has my old DS Lite and I plan on selling neither, I wouldn't be too heartbroken if Nintendo lamely removed DS support in a future 3DS model. Not ideal because I like the perceived value of backwards compatibility that I probably wouldn't take advantage of ever, but it wouldn't affect my decision to buy a revision. Given the choice, I'd buy the revision if it improves upon the current hardware even at the expense of previous hardware support.

[Nemo]

I'm not planning on getting a 3DS. It's mostly a money issue. Not that I think it's not worth it... I just don't have the expendable income. I bought the last 4 Nintendo launch products, too, so this will break my streak. (Wii, DS, GameCube, GBA)

As for hardware revisions, it's generally not a factor for me. I did get a GBA, then a GBA SP. This is because $99 was totally worth actually being able to see the game I was playing. But I still exclusively have my DS Phat. The Lite doesn't have $129 worth of upgrade. It's just slightly smaller. The DSi just let you download some crappy games... I've never heard of any DSi games that are really must-haves (unless I'm just out of the loop?). I'm not angry that Nintendo has released other (better?) versions of the DS. Ultimately, if I felt they were worth the price, I'd buy the newer version and I'd be happy because I chose to buy something that was worth having. Or, I'd keep enjoying the version I have, knowing that keeping my money is better than buying something that's not worth it.