Nintendo 3DS dropping to $169.99

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Originally Posted by Bastian

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

OOT was a great game, but it's not really something I have the desire to play over and over, like with the original Zelda or A Link to the Past. Does the remake update it at all or add anything new?

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Yes, and yes. First of all it's in 3-fricken-D, dude. Second of all it has been completely remade from scratch with much better models and textures and animations and on and on (curiously, though, while the music was remade from scratch, it was remade to sound exactly like the old N64 version).

Also, it adds a Master Quest unlockable after completing the game, wherein enemies hit twice as hard dungeons are remixed the landscape is flipped puzzles are a little different.

And then there's the boss rush mode.

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So basically no.

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Originally Posted by Happy Noodle Boy

So basically no.

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Pretty much what I was thinking. While the master quest might be an interesting challenge for those who have beaten the game plenty of times before, I can not care less about 3D. It's stupid. When I start seeing developers use it in a way that actually adds something new to the gameplay then I may start to give a rats ass, but until then, it's nothing but a gimmick that cuts the battery life to around 3 hours and jacked the price up at launch, and which a sizable percentage of the population can't even see properly. And while the idea of having to wear glasses to view 3D never appealed to me, the idea of 3D that requires me to hold a handheld console in exactly the right position to view it properly appeals to me even less.

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Originally Posted by Bastian

The augmented reality stuff is mind of mindblowing. They should have had more adverts that make use of that.

They finally added Netflix. Well, that should have been available at launch. And you know what else should have been? The ability to stream glasses free 3D movies. There's no other portable device that can do that. The 3DS CAN, but they still haven't made that function available.

And the ability to take 3D pics and vids. It CAN but they haven't made a big deal about that and they should because that's pretty freaking awesome.

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Those may be interesting features, but they're not something I care about if I'm buying a handheld. My dislike of 3D aside, I'm buying a handheld for the games it can play. So far, that seems to be limited to a remake of OoT, with not a whole lot to look forward to this year beyond a re-release of Star Fox 64 and apparently a new Mario Kart if Wikipedia is correct. That's a pretty lean first year, with not a lot more to look forward to going into next year. Is it any wonder Nintendo are now doing something highly unusual for them and taking a loss on every 3DS to try and sell more units?

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Originally Posted by Bastian

And its horsepower? Where the hell is the marketing talking about how much better it is than the 3DS? Nowhere. Nintendo doesn't like to talk about horsepower (the Wii U is much more powerful than the xbox 360, according to game devs, but Nintendo refuse to brag about it. Or even talk about it) but people need to know that it's not JUST a DS with glasses free 3D, but a completely brand new device.

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Better naming might has helped here as I've never been totally convinced that the casual gamers or parents who don't know much about games would realize it's not just the umpteenth revision of the DS. But Nintendo would have a hard fight in terms of marketing horsepower with this. If they wanted to go that road, then they'd only have until the Vita releases sometime in the fall to do it. At that point they stop being the most powerful handheld on the market. And I've always felt that marketing based on power alone is a fool's gambit given that the most powerful system hasn't won out in sales in a very long time.

And I would like to point out that I'm not sure how they thought they'd get away with a launch price that high for the 3DS. It literally launched at the same price the Wii originally did. I might be able to see the core market buying at that price given the jump in specs from the DS (though a competitor releasing a more powerful handheld later the same year for about the same price makes even that difficult), but not the more casual market, or the parents buying these things for their kids.

Sorry to burst your bubbles about the Netflix featuring 3D movies Bastian, but sadly that's not that case. While the 3DS could handle it, there are currently no 3D movies to watch on the handheld device with Netflix.

Between Starfox 64, Kid Icarus, Super Mario Land 3D, and Mario Kart 7.... that's 4 games this Fall. Considering I limit myself to max 2 games a month, and I have titles lined up on my PS3 to purchase like Assassin's Creed, Dark Souls etc. I consider that a great season of games. Granted, they are all first party, but that's 90% of the reason to ever buy a nintendo system. It's a good system, and the graphics are significantly better than the DS, and yes 3D is essentially a "gimmic" (I refuse to see 3D movies), but that doesn't make it a bad system. People never seemed to complain when games used to just be graphical upgrades, and that's what the 3DS is. It has some other features as well, but since when is improving graphics a bad thing? And the biggest complaint is the battery life.... Unless you're flying somewhere or long extensive road trips without a break, it's really not that bad a battery life. Secondly, I turned the 3D on for boss fights and cut scenes for Zelda, and played in 2D the rest of the time, and it certainly intensified those situations. The fact that it can be turned on and off is awesome, and you really shouldn't be using it constantly anyways.

Can I understand why people don't find it worthwhile now? Yes. Do i think it will be worthwhile after this holiday leading into next year? Definitely.

THE JACKEL

Vivi brought up something really interesting that I forgot to touch on. Mainly that due to the lack of marketing, most people tend to think that the 3DS is just another DS. Hell, even the people working at game stores think the same thing. While it basically is a DS in certain ways, it's a much more powerful DS and is different than the others in enough ways to be called something new.

A rename DEFINITELY would have helped.

So basically Nintendo hired Sony's launch marketing team?

So the Star Fox game is basically a rerelease of Star Fox 64 and not a new game? Shucks. :(

With one exception (and one I begrudgingly regret) I pretty much never buy a new system at launch or for the promise of its future capabilities from specs.

I'm waiting until the 3DS has something I'm interested in. For now its ports from a console I personally never liked (N64 was an awful system) and ports of other games I already own, I don't see the need to rush out and buy it. I'll wait until it finally has something I really want. The same goes for the Vita which has yet to have a single game announced for it that I might actually give a damn about let alone shell out the money to buy the damn thing.

So I'm sticking to my usual stance that software makes the hardware, not its features or specs.

I think for me (or many Australians), the fact that it's region locked is a huge turn off. Australians pay way too much for games, so it's always been nice to import, especially since our dollar is stronger than the US.

Other than that I'd still want one, but I'd have to see a better line up of games coming out. OoT and a possible MM would be nice to play though, I haven't played them since the N64 days.

WOW you know it's bad when i'm the most excited one for a Nintendo move.

First of all, yes, put like how it's been, OoT doesn't seem that drastic, but again, the everything's been cleaned up to such a level, it's far more than a 3D port. All the ugly, basic-geometry of the original has been cleaned up and looks pretty damn good on its own as a 2D game, like Jackal said, the 3D makes it that much more intense. But you could play it in 2D and it's an impressive overhaul on its own.

Star Fox is being directed by the original creator of the series, Dylan Cuthbert, of Q-Games who's largely known for the awesome PixelJunk series on PSN. I can't say how much of a difference that'll translate to from the original, but at the very least it's going to be an awesome entertainment package.

Mario Kart may not make it seem like such a stellar Fall lineup but I really think Super Mario is being underplayed, and it rounds it out to a pretty good one. It looks pretty damn great to me :(

Anyway like I said this doesn't make it a clear winner over the Vita to me, I still think making an entire handheld based around the gimmick of 3D is dumb, but definitely from the software perspective it's making the $180 price tag very attractive.

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Originally Posted by Bastian

Also, it adds a Master Quest unlockable after completing the game, wherein enemies hit twice as hard dungeons are remixed the landscape is flipped puzzles are a little different.

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A gamecube version of OoT has masterquest already. That's not really anything new (at least for me)
OnTopic: I'll probably end up getting a 3DS but only because some of the new games look sweet and my old DS is starting to really break down. My right bumper doesn't even work anymore :whimper: