This week we’ve been celebrating the one-year anniversary of 3DS, a landmark that finds the handheld in relatively good health. It’s been a dramatic, at times traumatic beginning for the console, so some of the Nintendo Life team got together to talk about their experiences and opinions of the system’s first year. for details here - http://iblog.at/elektronichouse/

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Let’s Talk About a Year of Nintendo 3DS
Co nso le NINTENDO DS i XL Ro sso Vinaccia
This week we’ve been celebrating the one- year anniversary of 3DS, a
landmark that finds the handheld in relatively good health. It’s been a
dramatic, at times traumatic beginning for the console, so some of the
Nintendo Life team got together to talk about their experiences and
opinions of the system’s first year.
Joining features editor Thomas Whitehead are editor James Newton,
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2. Joining features editor Thomas Whitehead are editor James Newton,
assistant editor Mike Mason, downloads editor Corbie Dillard, community
administrator and chat room overlord Desiree Turner, and contributors
Dave Frear and Mark Reece. We discuss the system’s launch, early
problems, the infamous price drop and its current day status, without
necessarily agreeing all of the time. We hope you’ll find a comfortable
seat and join us.
Thomas Whit ehead: First things first, please introduce yourselves to our
lovely readers.
James Newt on: Hello everybody! My name is James Newton and I’m the
editor of Nintendo Life. I like fine wine, fine food and games with talking
animals.
Corbie Dillard: I’m Corbie Dillard, Downloads Editor for Nintendo Life and
lover of all things Vita, err I mean Nintendo.
Dave Frear: I’m Dave Frear, aka that guy who reviewed the Virtual Boy
games.
Mark Reece: I’m Mark Reece. I’ve written some features and reviews for
Ninte nd o Life, both of which have been repeatedly described as
“contentious”.
Mike Mason: I’m Mike Mason, assistant editor of Nintendo Life, proud
reviewer of such classics as 101- in- 1 Explosive Megamix.
Desiree Turner: I’m Des, but most of you probably know me already as
theblackdragon. I like rainbows, long walks on the beach, and enforcing
our Community Rules with an iron fist.
Thomas Whit ehead: And I’m Thomas, reviewer of more than 10
Successfully Learning DSiWare games. First question, when you first got
hold of a 3DS, what grabbed your attention?
Mike Mason: Its 3D! To be completely unoriginal, the screen.
James Newt on: Are we talking about when we first bought or when we
first played one? Remember I touched one months before you guys.
Thomas Whit ehead: First time is fine James, you show off.
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3. Dave knows this system well
Dave Frear: Yeah it was the 3D. I had been curious to see what the effect
was like and spent quite a bit of time just looking at the games rather than
playing them. I liked snapping away with the 3D camera too.
James Newt on: I remember seeing the Resident Evil demo in 3D and
knowing I was in the presence of the future. Seeing proper depth in
Pilotwings Resort was just amaz ing.
Corbie Dillard: Well as some of you may remember, I was one of the first
people on the planet outside of Nintendo to play the 3DS at E3, and I
thought it was incredible, absolutely…well you get the idea.
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4. The first thing that grabbed my attention was the sheer depth of the
display. I had built up a picture in my mind about how it might be, but it
just blew me away at just how much depth there truly was. And seeing
Ocarina of Time that night at the Developer’s Roundtable was jaw
dropping. Seeing a game I’d enjoyed for years, now with that incredible
depth, made me so excited for what it could offer as far as a portable
gaming experience.
Mark Reece: For me, aside from the 3D, it was the wealth of built- in
software. I spent ages fiddling around with all the bits and pieces on there.
Oh, and the Circle Pad, too: no more repeatedly and tentatively poking at
a d- pad to negotiate a narrow ledge in Rayman!
Dave Frear: I thought Pilotwings was a good one for showing off the
system to newcomers.
Mike Mason: Yeah, Pilotwings was one of the first things I played pre-
release, too. It totally sold me on the system.
Thomas Whit ehead: I went to a public preview event in Glasgow, and
the demo I got to first was Ridge Racer. The 3D was so extraordinary I just
drove into a wall.
Desiree Turner: I’m with Mark — to be honest, the home menu was what
impressed me most at first! So many options, so many different things to
mess around with. The DSi home menu is kind of bare- bones in
comparison to all the things that were there when I first turned on my 3DS.
I’m probably one of the few people who didn’t buy it for the 3D!
A 3D horiz on, what more do you need?
James Newt on: It’s interesting that nobody talks about Pilotwings now. At
the time though it was really impressive, wasn’t it? A game with a proper
horiz on and everything.
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5. Mike Mason: It’s still great, it’s just that it only lasted about two hours…
Mark Reece: Am I the only person who found Pilotwings — 3D aside —
underwhelming?
Desiree Turner: Pilotwings is kind of like the AR games — we messed
around with them, and now we’re on to other things.
Thomas Whit ehead: Pilotwings would have been a good eShop launch
title, to be perfectly honest, but was certainly eye- popping. When I had my
own 3DS, I was also quite pleased with the operating system. It felt
surprisingly modern, initially, by Nintendo standards.
Dave Frear: I skipped the DSi so I guess I was ready for more than just
3D in my upgraded handheld, but it was very impressive.
James Newt on: Oh, and the AR games were amaz ing.
Dave Frear: They were but I don’t think I’ve played them since the first
day.
Mike Mason: Ha, I remember showing people the AR games and
everybody gasped at their tables caving in.
Mark Reece: My brother loves putting lava on his kitchen worktops. Or
something. To be honest, the AR games are the one thing on 3DS I’ve not
really bothered with.
Thomas Whit ehead: I often played AR games in 2D because of all the
moving around. Anyone else do that?
Desiree Turner: I did, because the 3D hurts my eyes. I’ve turned on the
3D maybe a handful of times since I bought mine.
Dave Frear: The 3D in general is a pain if you lean ever so slightly out of
the sweet spot.
Mark Reece: Same here, Des. Mostly because I’m partially sighted, and
can’t hold the 3DS that far away from me for too long. So I can play in 2D
and see what I’m doing, or be impressed by 3D and drive into a wall,
Tom- style.
Desiree Turner: Tom isn’t that bad at MK7, I’ve raced him a few times!
Dave Frear: I crank the 3D up to full. I’m hardcore! Or something…
Thomas Whit ehead: Our head- to- head is heavily in your favour, Des!
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6. So, a bit of variation in early experiences, overall. When the console
launched and had issues with a lacking software library, low sales etc,
how did you think it would turn out for Nintendo at the time?
Corbie Dillard: I knew it would only be a matter of time before it took off.
It’s pretty clear that Nintendo rushed the 3DS out the door, so the lack of
games after launch was no real shock to me. And once the inevitable price
drop came, along with the top tier first- party titles we knew were coming
during the holiday season, it was smooth sailing from there on out.
I thought then that a price drop was a possibility, but I didn’t
expect it so soon. I thought it would be closer to the Vita launch.
Desiree Turner: I figured it’d be the same as it was for the DSi — a long
wait, though the 3DS was guaranteed a nice full library eventually.
James Newt on: I remember getting my 3DS at launch and thinking “this is
great!” and putting it aside for about three months… I love it to bits now,
but at the time I thought it would struggle. It’s certainly turned around!
Dave Frear: To begin with I didn’t worry. The lack of eShop was annoying
but I knew it was on the way, same with big name games. After a while
though I did think ‘I thought it would be doing better than this’. I thought then
then a price drop was a possibility, but I didn’t expect it so soon. I thought
it would be closer to the Vita launch.
Desiree Turner: The DS had quite a few good games out at the time,
though, so I was able to finish up Okamiden (yay circle pad!), Radiant
Historia and others in the meantime.
Mike Mason: I was pretty optimistic about it. I knew Nintendo would turn it
around, you don’t let a few setbacks take you down after you’ve ran a
market for two decades. There were a few jitters, but on the whole I
figured Nintendo would sort it out.
Dave Frear: I think some people saw the good regular DS games, not
much on the R4 3DS and decided the upgrade wasn’t worth the expense.
Thomas Whit ehead: I was concerned that the problems would lose Iwata
his job. A strange priority I know, but I admire his vision and conviction,
and wanted him to stay at the helm.
Mike Mason: Ah yes, I felt the same way, Tom. I didn’t want to see Iwata
go!
James Newt on: I should imagine Iwata had some very tense
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7. conversations over the summer of 2011…
Early hope made way for troubling times
Desiree Turner: Something as amaz ing and innovative as the 3DS,
though, I don’t see Nintendo allowing Iwata to take the company down like
that. They already had the new- handheld blunder with the Virtual Boy (it
was technically a portable…), they wouldn’t allow it to happen again!
Mark Reece: I bought my 3DS with Pilotwings and Rayman, neither of
which blew me away. I then didn’t buy anything until Ocarina of Time 3D…
then Star Fox 64 3D… then Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7. Couple that
with the late arrival of the eShop, and from March until November, I was
thinking, “Nintendo might actually mess this up”.
Obviously now, things are running a lot smoother. But there was a time
when I was genuinely worried that I’d spent £200 on something that would
be obsolete in a year.
Mike Mason: Despite my optimism, I have to say I didn’t really play the
thing for a few months after launch.
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8. Thomas Whit ehead: You made a good point earlier about the brand and
the sense of ‘upgrading’, Dave. Do you guys think sticking a ‘3’ in the
name confused people in the early days, particularly with the slow start in
software?
Mike Mason: The name remains a mistake. It sounds good, but it’s
confusing. I think Nintendo liked its word play a little too much and couldn’t
let it go.
Mark Reece: The “3″ was no doubt confusing. Peoples’ attention would
naturally be drawn to the “DS”, as opposed to the “3D”. I imagine many
people wondered why they should bother with it.
Dave Frear: I do think some people thought it was just a DS but with a 3D
e ffe c t applied, and that maybe 3DS games would still work on their
existing system, albeit in 2D.
A lot of people also didn’t seem to care about the 3D. At one point the
adverts started to mention it less and I think Nintendo wished it had been
called the DS3 instead.
Corbie Dillard: I think anytime you put the name of the previous game
system in the new title, you’re leaving yourself open to the possibility of
consumers automatically assuming it’s just a minor upgrade. But by the
same token, I know once people got a chance to see the system and
what it could do in person, the assumption of it being just a small step up
from the DS would quickly dissipate.
I think anytime you put the name of the previous game system in
the new title, you’re leaving yourself open to the possibility of
consumers automatically assuming it’s just a minor upgrade.
Desiree Turner: To be absolutely honest, what else would they have
called it?
James Newt on: NINTENDO OMNIBOX.
Desiree Turner: I’m having a hard time coming up with something that
doesn’t sound like what James just said!
Mike Mason: 3Dii?
Mark Reece: DS3D?
Thomas Whit ehead: Mark mentioned a concern about a £200 handheld
failing and becoming obsolete. How much did the price drop and big
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9. game releases turn it around later in the year? Or to put it another way,
would the device have enjoyed a turnaround with the big games and its
original price?
James Newt on: I think Mario Kart and Super Mario 3D Land would have
sold a £200 3DS no problem. People love those games.
Mark Reece: Personally, if Nintendo delivers the goods, then I’ll buy the
games. More Mario, Zelda, etc was why I bought the 3DS, and why many
consumers would have splashed the cash. I’m not sure if even some of
the big- hitters would have enjoyed nearly as much success had the 3DS
no t had its price slashed though. Weren’t software and hardware sales
pretty dismal up until that point?
Mike Mason: Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land were critical going
into that holiday period, but I think the system could have used them far
closer to launch and they would have done just fine. The slowing down
post- launch might not have happened if they’d come a little sooner.
James Newt on: It’s telling that Zelda is yet to top 1m sales in the US but
SM3DL and MK7 are both well past that point. I imagine the price has
something to do with that…
Thomas Whit ehead: Good point that, so both were perhaps needed,
price drop AND games.
Mark Reece: I agree with Mike. A quick barrage of Zelda, Star Fox, Mario
3D, MK7 in the summer drought period would have been a great help in
the 3DS’ early struggle for sales.
Dave Frear: I think the big games would have still sold well but the price
drop enticed a bunch of people who would have waited a few years
before maybe picking a 3DS up.
Corbie Dillard: I think the price drop, in conjunction with the big name
Nintendo titles, were a great combination. While I have no doubt Super
Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 would have boosted sales of the system
quite a bit, I don’t think it would have exploded quite the way it did without
the rather radical price drop.
Le t’s face it, dropping the price of the 3DS less than 6 months after its
launch, not to mention by one third, was a mammoth drop and a far cry
from the way Nintendo normally carries out pricing on its hardware. But I
think Nintendo knew it needed to do something to kick start the system’s
sales, and it worked like a charm.
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10. Desiree Turner: Nintendo also had bigger fish to fry at that time — with
Vita around the corner, they were looking to get that install base up. Those
games (and others afterward, and still to come yet) would’ve sold a full-
price 3DS easy, but with the price drop too, I’d imagine they sold much
more that way than they would’ve without the drop.
Mike Mason: I don’t think the price was even the biggest problem. Sure,
dropping the price helped to turn the fortunes around, but the biggest issue
was really the lack of big, system selling titles. The system sold well at its
initial price point, people just stopped buying because the games didn’t
keep coming in the first few months.
Thomas Whit ehead: I don’t recall huge sales after the initial drop, just an
increase. It was really the two Mario titles that truly set it off. I don’t think the
drop had a huge instant impact, but statistics may prove me wrong.
Let’s talk about Nintendo’s updates, which tied in with game releases and
the price drop, in a sense. How important have the new features and apps
been to existing and new 3DS owners, in terms of the device’s value?
Just one of the system update freebies
Corbie Dillard: While I should be ashamed of myself, I pay little attention
to the system updates and what new features they bring. The updates are
p re tty much only a means to an end for me as they are typically
necessary in order for me to play games on the system, which is about
the only thing I do with it. I don’t use the apps on it and I seldom even
peruse the system menu other than to quickly select the game I want to
play or download.
Having said that, just from seeing posts from fellow 3DS users on the
internet, it’s clear that many consumers do put quite a bit of stock in the
apps and updates, so I think it’s important for Nintendo to keep adding
new twists to the system, especially as they continue to bring in new 3DS
owners.
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11. Desiree Turner: They pull us back in for a few days, and then we set the
3DS aside again, still waiting for the games we want (unless there’s a
game we’re currently playing, of course).
Mark Reece: They’ve certainly added value for money, considering
whenever Nintendo releases a new app or feature for 3DS, it invariably
comes free of charge. Imagine how impressed you were at how much
pre- loaded stuff there was on 3DS at launch: now imagine being a new
3DS owner now and being presented with all this cool free stuff.
Dave Frear: Like Des I don’t bother with them much. I’ve liked some of the
shorts on the video channel but I wish they were doing more with it.
James Newt on: I like having the icons on my 3DS menu more than I like
using them.
Desiree Turner: Ditto!
Mark Reece: I like arranging them into categories. I’m obsessive like that.
Mike Mason: I’m very obsessive with my icons, they’re in groups!
Desiree Turner: I put the ones I don’t use on the second page, and I
rearrange my games according to which ones I’m currently playing.
Dave Frear: I’m always reorganising but for some reason I keep the ones
I don’t use on the first page.
Mark Reece: I arrange them by DSiWare, 3DSWare, app, etc.
Thomas Whit ehead: Let’s not talk too much about the excitement of icon
organisation
Nintendo DS Lite Co nso le
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12. € 119,99
Thomas Whit ehead: How about the growing eShop library, has that
boosted the console in a major way, or is it a sideshow?
Dave Frear: Sideshow. The Virtual Console selection could use some
bulking out. There’s actually more than I thought on there but it took a long
time for Game Gear games to appear.
James Newt on: To guys like us it’s useful but I wonder if it makes any
difference to your average 3DS user.
Desiree Turner: It’s still more in the ‘sideshow’ category to me, though I
feel it’s a disservice to games like Pushmo, which are great fun.
Mike Mason: The new additions have been very necessary in my
opinion. The system launched without eShop, and in this increasingly
digital age that hurt the system. I reckon the eShop is a big boost — it
doesn’t have a massive catalogue of original 3DS games yet, but in the
future I’m sure that’ll change.
Desiree Turner: It’s like it was with the DSi — a waiting game, really.
Mike Mason: The integration with SpotPass and notifications will help to
make it relevant to people in time. As long as they’ve got their system net-
connected.
Mark Reece: I tend to use the eShop games as stop- gaps. If I’ve got a
few days to wait until an anticipated release and I’m beginning to get
antsy, I’ll splash a few quid on something to keep me going. Other than
that, I don’t spend a lot of time looking at eShop games.
Corbie Dillard: Judging from eShop sales, I’m not sure how much
influence they have on actually boosting the system, rather being more
like icing on the cake. It shocks me still how many 3DS owners I know
personally rarely, if ever, take their system online. When I begin talking
about games like Mutant Mudds and Mighty Switch Force, most of my
buddies look at me like I’m craz y. I can’t count the number of them I’ve
had to show how to go online and purchase games from the eShop.
Co nso le Nintendo 3D
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13. Mark Reece: Apart from games that use 3D to its full potential, I demand
a fourth entry in the Mario & Luigi RPG series.
Dave Frear: Something else that interests me is Colors! 3D. I liked
mucking about on the old homebrew release so I’m looking forward to
trying it out when it turns up on the eShop.
James Newt on: There is some cool stuff on the way to the eShop, and
we now have Game Gear games!
Mike Mason: I agree with Dave’s earlier comment about 3D films, too.
There’s a big advantage there — use it! The video apps are a good start,
but more please!
Mark Reece: Triple Trouble is the only GG game I’ve got my eye on.
Love that game. I’m wary of everything else. I fear they won’t have aged
as well as I’d like. Like Sonic Drift. After MK7, playing Sonic Drift on 3DS
might tarnish my memories of that game forever.
Dave Frear: Give it a few laps and you’ll be fine.
James Newt on: 3DS is cool but it needs more SEGA games.
Thomas Whit ehead: Here we go again: SEGA SEGA SEGA.
James Newt on: That should be the title of this feature.
Mark Reece: I wonder how soon we’ll see the inevitable hardware
revision? There’s only so long the 3DS can survive with the circle pad pro
add- on, in my opinion.
Mike Mason: We’re forgetting cool things here — SEGA X Capcom X
Namco Bandai. What will that be?
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14. James Newt on: Keeping that off my radar until I know more.
Dave Frear: I think if retail downloads were available from the eShop that
wo uld also make a lot of people happy. Maybe one day Nintendo will
release a ‘3DS Go’ that’s download only – as well as having that second
stick.
Desiree Turner: Lord I hope they don’t! It’s too early for that.
Thomas Whit ehead: 3DS GO = NO
Desiree Turner: The digital- only day is coming, but John Q. Public isn’t
ready to take that step yet.
Mike Mason: Which is why PSP Go didn’t do very well, to say the least.
Desiree Turner: Perhaps with the next generation we’ll see it, but then
with Nintendo, you never know.
See also
12 most popular Nintendo 3DS Games so far
26 best role playing games ever
Ta g s : a Year of Nintendo 3DS , Nintendo 3DS, R4 3DS, R4i 3ds for
NINTENDO 3ds + 2gb
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