Japan: Gamers Don't Known about Nintendo 3DS

Two recent surveys coming out of Japan are showing that gamers there do not know about the existence of the upcoming Nintendo 3DS handheld while those who are familiar with the existence of the device believing that the launch price point of 25,000 Yen is too high.

Nikkei Shimbun and online research firm Macromill conducted the first survey and shows that out of a sample of 1,000 people the majority of 55.9 percent said that they did not known about the existence of the Nintendo 3DS.

A similar number also said that they are not interested in the handheld console while 36.9% said they had a little information about it with a minority of 7.2 percent saying that they “knew all about it”.

Another survey, from Getnews.jp, has found that close to 80 percent of those questioned considered the announced price for the system “a little expensive”, “expensive” and “exceedingly expensive”.

Only 16.4% of the respondents have said that the 25,000 Yen price, which translates to about 300 dollars, is reasonable.

Interestingly there are actually about 3 percent of gamers who have said that the device is too cheap for them.

Opinions on the price do not necessarily mean that the public is not interested in picking up the new handheld but Nintendo might have to communicate more with potential customers in order to show the unique capabilities of the 3DS.

The new device, which has been unveiled earlier in the year, is set to be launched on February 26, 2011 on the Japanese market, also coming to the rest of the world about one month later.

The big selling point for the Nintendo 3DS is its ability to deliver full three dimensional gaming experiences to the player without asking him to use any specialized glasses.

Initial demos of the technology at the E3 trade show looked impressive and titles for it will include Metal Gear Solid, a new Zelda game and a Resident Evil title.