14 DAY TRIAL // Nintendo seems to have been forced to talk about the new 3DS handheld prematurely in February of this year for fear of a leak in the Japanese press. And the reveal of a new console, with the new features it brings, might have had a depressing effect on sales of the current DS line up, which has been showing signs of weakness both in Japan and in the United States. And Michael Pachter, who is analyst watching the video game industry for Wedbush Morgan, believes that the current slow down will force Nintendo to increase the sales price of future 3DS oriented titles.
Pachter stated, “Nintendo will be able to sell millions of units even at a price of upwards of $250”, adding that, “From a software perspective, we believe Nintendo will be able to increase DS software prices, from a blended average of around $25 today to over $29 next year.” It's not clear how much Nintendo can actually increase price for its video games given that most of the target customers are still spooked about the economic crisis and are devoting less of their income towards entertainment.
The big selling points of the Nintendo 3DS is the fact that it can offer a complete three dimensional gaming experience without the use of specialized glasses. The device is also said to be more powerful than the current DS handhelds, allowing developers to create better looking titles when the device it out. An increase in quality and the leap to 3D gaming might mean more resources devoted to the development of video games which could in turn lead to bigger prices.
Nintendo has been saying that it plans on making the 3DS impervious to piracy, which has plagued the current hardware since launch. At the moment the new handheld does not have a clear launch date but players can look for it in late 2010 or early next year.