Topic: Breaking Down the 3DS Ambassador Program

[Flipster]

"At the end of it all, you paid $80 more for 20 free games. Is it worth it?"

Actually, at the end of it all you paid $250 for a Nintendo 3DS because you thought it a fair price and because you wanted to get it at release but now, since the producers of the product find that it isn't selling and need to drop its price to make amends, they are offering you free stuff. Still, regardless of what deal you had originally accepted, it does seem a little unfair that Nintendo soon after offers a much more modest price to everyone.

I'm just happy I sold my 3DS while it was still valuable so I could get a Vita for around the same price (not that the 3DS isn't awesome or I am making a point as a Vita fanboy or anything, that's just what ended up happening when I saw what the Vita had to offer and my specific 3DS had a terrible d-pad. Now that the 3DS's price has dropped I could see myself picking one up again around the holidays if I have a sudden interest to play some great looking Nintendo exclusives). I just hope consumers will start flocking to the 3DS so that it and what's shaping up to be a great library will thrive, although I think what the biggest problem is now is branding; like the Wii U I think casual gamers will get the 3DS confused for "just another Nintendo Wii/DS."

[Mop it up]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of paying for free games.

[leahsdad]

. The ten yet to be revealed are likely to be mostly games I own as well, since I'm a Nintendo fan and therefore I own most of their games. I'd much rather have gotten some eShop credit, and not $80 but rather even $40 would have been much better for me than what they are offering.

I would almost guarantee that all the other games will be Nintendo 1st party.  They own it, so they don't have to pay anyone for the right to give it away.

This is also why Nintendo would never give you e-shop credit, even if it's less money, because that would still be actual money.  If I got let's say a $50 eshop credit, Nintendo would be fine if I chose from their library.  Nothing lost there.  But what if I picked out..let's say, Shantae.  Then Nintendo would either tell Way Forward "Sorry, you're not actually getting your cut of that sale, that was an ambassador," or Nintendo would pay WayForward for their cut of the purchase out of their own pocket.  Which would cost Nintendo more money than just giving me a digital copy of one of their games.

And hey, Nintendo is handling this a whole lot better than Apple with the Iphone price cut.  Remember that?   $599 down to $399?  And all we got was $100 Apple store credit, not itunes,  And that was only after people started screaming their heads off after the price cut was already announced, Steve Jobs was very reluctant to offer us anything, and even after that, you had to do all sorts of crap like enter in your serial number and phone number, get a text message, use a random code in that text message on a website, enter your personal info, then print out some coupon. 

With Nintendo, all I have to do is go to the eshop once.  Easy peezy.

[Plugabugz]

Can i play devil's advocate and point out none of these games are free: you've already effectively paid money for them, and will simply pay no more at the point of receiving them.

[NWR_insanolord]

Can i play devil's advocate and point out none of these games are free: you've already effectively paid money for them, and will simply pay no more at the point of receiving them.

We paid $250 (or whatever it may have been in other regions) for the system, and that's what we got. Everyone who paid $250 for the system did so without expecting any of this, and were willing to pay that much just for the system.

We are now getting 20 free games because we bought the system early, to make up for the fact that people are going to get the system for much less than we paid, a lot quicker than we probably expected when we bought the system. The games are free because they were not included in our original purchase price.

[gbuell]

Yep. The games are free. Nintendo does not owe them to anyone.

[Chocobo_Rider]

Can i play devil's advocate and point out none of these games are free: you've already effectively paid money for them, and will simply pay no more at the point of receiving them.

You may play devil's advocate ... but in this instance, the devil lost. =P

[BlackNMild2k1]

Can I play the voice of reason here and play the middle ground.

Yes, the games are free and Nintendo doesn't owe them to anyone, but Nintendo is only giving these games to people that they feel over-payed for the 3DS. That effectively means that they are attempting to make up the difference in cost of a really early and very significant price drop for early adopters by paying them back in "free" games.

It's as if you already paid for them even if you never expected them.

[UncleBob]

With Nintendo, all I have to do is go to the eshop once.  Easy peezy.

Hopefully... ::remembers the Zelda OoT Soundtrack mixup::

[gbuell]

Can I play the voice of reason here and play the middle ground.

Yes, the games are free and Nintendo doesn't owe them to anyone, but Nintendo is only giving these games to people that they feel over-payed for the 3DS. That effectively means that they are attempting to make up the difference in cost of a really early and very significant price drop for early adopters by paying them back in "free" games.

It's as if you already paid for them even if you never expected them.

That's all well and good, and it's a very nice bit of customer service on Nintendo's part, but my issue is with people who seem to think that Nintendo is OBLIGATED to do this.

[Ian Sane]

If Nintendo had this big list of games due to come out between the launch and September and then moved all of them back after you had already bought the 3DS, then I could see the idea that Nintendo owed you something.  But everyone who bought a 3DS knew what games were available at launch and what games would be available for the first six months or so and were willing to pay $250 for it.  That is what you paid for and that is what you got and if you don't feel that it was worth it, maybe you should have done some research before buying the thing because the information was well available.  You know why I don't own one?  Because I didn't feel it wasn't worth $250 based on the games available.  If you felt the same way you shouldn't have bought one.

The fact that Nintendo is offering anything at all is very considerate because usually you get jack **** for buying early and getting burned by a price drop.  But always remember that you chose to buy a 3DS and you chose to buy it at $250.  No one forced you to buy it, it is not a necessary purchase in any way and you knew exactly what you were getting for that price.

A better example of not truly getting something for free was the inclusion of Wii Sports with the Wii.  The Wii cost less money without Wii Sports in Japan.  Therefore you could argue that because of the higher price point we were being forced to buy a Wii/Wii Sports bundle.

[Mop it up]

I bought mine based on the upcoming games, which wasn't a good idea obviously. That's why I feel a little slighted, since I haven't been using it to play anything I couldn't have with a DS. I didn't anticipate a price drop but I also didn't realize just how poor sales really were; I knew they were slow but I thought it had at least reached one million. Though it was kind of an impulse purchase and that means it was dangerous anyway since I didn't think about it for very long. I had planned to buy a DS Lite but then I started thinking about it and it seemed a little strange if I was just going to buy a 3DS in six months, so I justified the high 3DS price by considering it two systems in one. Now, I could have gotten a DS Lite and a 3DS for only $20 more than just a 3DS, so it didn't work out for me.

Oh well, I learned my lesson.

[Ceric]

I bought mine based on the upcoming games, which wasn't a good idea obviously. That's why I feel a little slighted, since I haven't been using it to play anything I couldn't have with a DS. I didn't anticipate a price drop but I also didn't realize just how poor sales really were; I knew they were slow but I thought it had at least reached one million. Though it was kind of an impulse purchase and that means it was dangerous anyway since I didn't think about it for very long. I had planned to buy a DS Lite but then I started thinking about it and it seemed a little strange if I was just going to buy a 3DS in six months, so I justified the high 3DS price by considering it two systems in one. Now, I could have gotten a DS Lite and a 3DS for only $20 more than just a 3DS, so it didn't work out for me.

Oh well, I learned my lesson.

If you bought both new you Saved $8.00 with your purchase compared to a DSLite + 3DS combo.   Unless they drop the price of the DSLite as well.   Plus you have had earlier access to DSiWare and the eShop.  Not to mention the little nice features the 3DS has.

I wouldn't feel to bad about it.  By your logic I made an even worse decision.  I had been away from the Nintendo scene and had literally not known the 3DS existed until I stopped in a Gamestop, saw that they were Pre-Ordering it, and did a Pre-Order on the spot knowing nothing about it.  I figured it would allow me to do DSiWare and be like my original DS Phat day one purchase.  I haven't regretted it once the eShop was in place and I regret about everything in my life. 

Chin up.  You could have done a lot worse.

[Dremmy]

I am ecstatic about this. 2011 is the year of the free game. Thanks Sony and Nintendo!


Can anyone tell me the difference between the versions of Yoshi's Island everyone seems to be talking about? What did the original have that the GBA version did not have?

[MegaByte]

More screen area, uncrapified soundtrack, lack of annoying Yoshi voice, easier controls, slightly better graphical effects (mostly just standard GBA downgrades except for the voice addition). The GBA version did add new levels and Mario Bros.

[Mop it up]

If you bought both new you Saved $8.00 with your purchase compared to a DSLite + 3DS combo.

DS Lite is $100, 3DS is $250, so there's a $20 difference between 3DS = DS Lite ($270) and the old 3DS price ($250). Though I did get it through Amazon and got a $25 credit, so I guess I could look at it costing $225.

[Adrock]

I bought DSi at launch and have barely used it. I've pretty much only played 3 games on it:  Phantasy Star Zero, Shantae: Risky's Revenge and Contra 4. I probably didn't get my money's worth in the 2+ years I've owned it but I don't regret the purchase at all. The XL being announced a few months later was kind of a punch in the gut, but I still don't regret purchasing the DSi.

Did you have fun? That's all that matters. Even if you played mostly DS games, did you have fun? I had fun with my DSi and I only started putting significant amount of time into Contra 4 about a week or so ago. I unlocked Sheena from Contra: Hard Corps which took roughly 587 hours, 291 of which was spent weeping.

I've made a lot of ill-advised videogame decisions that costs me hundreds. In 2007, I tried to collect old consoles. In 2011, I sold a great deal of that crap. What the **** was I thinking when I bought a Sega Saturn? Way to lose.

[alegoicoe]

I think is a decent thank you for paying the 250 price.

[Mop it up]

Did you have fun? That's all that matters. Even if you played mostly DS games, did you have fun? I had fun with my DSi and I only started putting significant amount of time into Contra 4 about a week or so ago. I unlocked Sheena from Contra: Hard Corps which took roughly 587 hours, 291 of which was spent weeping.

I s'pose that's how I should be looking at it instead of in terms of dollars and cents. After all, everything goes down in price eventually so it's all about if the entertainment was worth the price paid rather than getting the lowest possible price. So far, I've replayed an old favourite in a new form (Super Mario 64 DS), got to try out a previously Japan-only title (Dragon Quest V), finally got to play a sequel to my favourite GBA game (Mario and Luigi Partners in Time), and played way too much Pokémon (Pokémon Platinum). I have a few other games I haven't started yet, so there's more where that came from. It isn't like it's something I haven't used so I guess I shouldn't be thinking about what I could have saved if I waited. And who knows, it was mentioned that they could be enhancing the free games they are offering, so maybe they'll add something to make them worth playing again.

[Ceric]

...
What the **** was I thinking when I bought a Sega Saturn? Way to lose.

When I bought mine Panzer Dragoon and Nights into Dreams.  Ironically I totally forgot about those and never picked those games up.

[qwerty1098]

because there is still tax on new price which brings it to 182 got my 20 free games for 15 dollars more ($197)