Nintendo Announces March 27 Date for the 3DS in North America

Nintendo of America has just announced that the Nintendo 3DS handheld will be launched in the United States on March 27 of this year, with a suggested retail price set at 249.99 dollars.

We already knew that the device was set to arrive in Japan on February 26, with a price which is the equivalent of about 300 dollars in Yen.

It's interesting to note that the current price tag will make the Nintendo 3DS one of the most expensive gaming devices on the market, actually selling for more than the Wii home console.

Analysts said, prior to the Nintendo announcement, that the device needed to resell for lower than 300 dollars on the United States market in order to have a chance at gaining a big audience.

The big selling point for the Nintendo 3DS is that it will allow gamers who are interested in mobility to experience three-dimensional gaming without needing to use the specialized glasses that have been associated with the same technology when it comes to home consoles like the PlayStation 3.

The company says that the 3D abilities of the new device mean that it will not be delivering graphics that are significantly better than those of the current DS family.

The 3DS has been revealed by Nintendo in the first months of 2010, with the company fearing that the press would reveal the device before it could do it, and significant information appeared in the final months of last year.

Nintendo is making the 3DS the centerpiece of its strategy for 2011, with the executives saying that the device will be getting special attention, with regular releases coming throughout the year and with developers set to bring a number of their biggest franchises to the new platform.

Nintendo has announced that support for the normal DS will continue after the launch of the new device.