SAD LOVE QUOTES: Nintendo slashes price of 3DS console by 40 per cent... just FOUR MONTHS after its launch

Friday, July 29, 2011

Nintendo slashes price of 3DS console by 40 per cent... just FOUR MONTHS after its launch

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By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 12:14 PM on 29th July 2011

The runaway success of casual gaming on portable Apple devices has claimed a victim in Nintendo.

In a striking reversal of fortune, the world's largest video game-maker last night announced it will discount its new 3DS hand-held console by a staggering 40 per cent - just four months after its release.

The price reduction comes into effect on August 12. The 3DS currently costs £229.99 in Britain and $249 in the U.S.

Weak sales: Nintendo last night announced it will discount its new 3DS hand-held console by a staggering 40 per cent - just four months after its release

Nintendo drastically cut its annual profit outlook yesterday as sales plunged 50 per cent from this time last year.

The Japanese firm said it lost 25.5billion yen (£200million) in the three months that ended on June 30, the first quarter of its fiscal year.

Nintendo had been banking on the 3DS, its first major new gaming system since its wildly popular Wii home console, to lock in a new generation of fans and bolster profits eroded by maturing sales.

The hand-held machine lets users play games that appear in 3D, without the need for the clunky glasses that accompany most current 3D technology.

But sales of the 3DS - which went on sale in February in Japan and in March in other parts of the world - have fallen short of expectations, hurt partly by the device's worldwide release date just after the devastating earthquake that struck Japan in March.

Nintendo said it sold just 710,000 units in the three months to June, bringing the total number of units sold to 4.32million.

Growing competition: Apple has sold more than 200million devices like the iPhone and iPad that let users choose from tens of thousands of games to download for a few pounds, or for free

Originally, the company had said it had intended to sell that many devices in just the first weeks after its introduction.

Nintendo's earlier hand-held, the DS, started out with similarly sluggish sales. But a series of hit games that appealed to a broader audience - like Brain Age and Nintendogs - eventually led to runaway sales.

Still, the lacklustre sales also reflect increasing competition for video-game companies from new players that are redefining the industry.

HOW DOES THE NINTENDO 3DS WORK?

To create the 3D effect the Nintendo 3DS uses a device called a parallax barrier.

This is a second LCD screen that sits over the main viewing panel that consists of a layer of material with a series of precision slits, allowing each eye to see a different set of pixels, so creating a sense of 3D depth.

It works well providing the user sits in a fixed point in front of the image but does not work when viewed from an angle.

A slider at the side of the device lets users choose the intensity of the 3D display, from an extreme 'in your face' experience to a more subtle effect.

Apple has sold more than 200million devices like the iPhone and iPad that let users choose from tens of thousands of games to download for a few pounds, or for free.

Smartphones that run Google's Android operating system also run simple, downloadable games.

Casual games played within social networks like Facebook have taken off, too, as membership of those networks grows.

The new crop of casual games has added to the traditional rivalry among gaming systems developed by the top three: Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.

Nintendo has dominated the last generation of consoles and sold more than 146million DS hand-held units and 86million Wii home consoles.

Sony is set to introduce a new portable game machine called the PlayStation Vita later this year, while Nintendo plans to sell a new home console in 2012.

But for now, players complain of a lack of games for the 3DS, a problem that plagues most new systems.

But unless more consumers start buying the 3DS soon, third-party developers could be discouraged from making games for it, leading to a vicious cycle of fewer games released and fewer 3DS units sold.

Nintendo is hoping that the steep price cut will help drive sales - it expectS the price cut to help it meet a previous sales forecast of 16million 3DS machines by the end of March 2012.

To mollify current 3DS owners, the company said they would receive 20 free Nintendo downloadable games, including ten that will be released only to those who bought a 3DS before the price drop.