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3DS Price Drop from $249.99 to $169.99.

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EDIT: http://www.nintendo.com/corp/nintendo3ds/news/

"Whether it's a move to gain sales for the holiday season or simply to create a userbase too large for the PSP Vita work against, Nintendo has done an unprecedented price drop for the 3DS. Effective August 12th, Nintendo will reduce the price of the 3DS from $249.99 to $169.99. By far the biggest price drop for any system in this short amount of time from launch that I can remember.

If you already have a 3DS, Nintendo does have a way to make up for the $80 price drop. Those that own a Nintendo 3DS system and uses a wireless broadband Internet signal to connect to the Nintendo eShop at least once before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11 will be registered for the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program so that they can receive 20free games. As detailed in their email:



Starting Sept. 1, Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors will be able to download 10 NES™ Virtual Console™ games at no charge and before they are available in the Nintendo eShop to the general public. These games, including Super Mario Bros.™, Donkey Kong Jr.™, Balloon Fight™, Ice Climber™ and The Legend of Zelda™, are slated to become paid downloadable games, but Ambassadors get them early for free. Once the paid versions ofthe games are posted to the Nintendo eShop later in the year, the updated versions will be available to Ambassadors for download at no cost.
By the end of 2011, Nintendo will provide Ambassadors with 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games. These include games like Yoshi’s Island™: Super Mario™ Advance 3, Mario Kart™: Super Circuit, Metroid™ Fusion, WarioWare™, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong™. These games will be available exclusively to Ambassadors, and Nintendo currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future. "


http://original-gamer.com/?action=article&id=2676

Pretty daring from Nintendo to do this, i wonder how this will play out. The 20 free games are pretty good as well, makes me wanna go buy a 3ds just to get those. But i don't think i will. Also, i am sure this will be a big factor to play when the VITA comes out, Nintendo having the upper hand because it has so many games already and some backwards compatibility.

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  • Will Faucher
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    Will Faucher polycounter lvl 12
    Interesting. For the price, it is pretty tempting.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    glottis8 wrote: »

    If you already have a 3DS, Nintendo does have a way to make up for the $80 price drop. Those that own a Nintendo 3DS system and uses a wireless broadband Internet signal to connect to the Nintendo eShop at least once before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11 will be registered for the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program so that they can receive 20free games. As detailed in their email:

    HMV are selling the 3DS for €210 and have been doing so for ages... so for me this 'ambassador' program actually hurts this new price drop, at least in countries where HMV are selling the 3DS on the cheap. I was tempted to pick up a 3DS when the price drop came, now I'm just confused :thumbup:

    EDIT: Although I am being a typical internet retard by complaining about the chance to get lots of free stuff. So fuck me. :poly124:

    When is the red 3DS coming out?
  • TortillaChips
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    TortillaChips polycounter lvl 10
    From $ to £ that's just a little over £100, which sounds good. I bet it'll sell at £140 or something though. I was always on my gameboy as a kid but now I feel that if I'm able to use my computer I'd be on it, and the times I'm away from the PC are times I probably wouldn't use it, like at my girlfriends. Like unless I were to take obscene amounts of time travelling which may just happen, I can't imagine getting my moneys worth out of this. Maybe others are thinking the same hence the drop.
  • Richard Kain
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    Richard Kain polycounter lvl 18
    Methinks that this price drop is partially in response to Sony's announced price for the Playstation Vita. The Vita was going to look quite nice sitting next to the 3DS with an identical price tag. If they hadn't dropped the price before the Vita launched it would be hard to imagine the 3DS effectively competing.

    I'm thinking this is also due to the 3DS's sales up to this point, which have been below expectations. Now, Nintendo's sales expectations were probably unrealistically inflated by the popularity of the DS, as well as the recent push in the film industry for 3D. (which is starting to fall off itself, and has never really translated to the video game industry)

    The fact of the matter is that Nintendo was charging a rather high premium for their latest handheld. I understand the profit they were making per unit was over $100 at launch. At this point they will still be making a profit off of the hardware at $170, just not quite as enormous of one. This price drop strikes me as necessary for the 3DS to remain competitive, and should help considerably going into the holiday season this year.
  • Mark Dygert
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    This is what happens to 3D after you dust off all the movie industry hype. You find nauseous people with headaches, kids under 12 having wacky eye problems and in general people think that a lot of other people really think its awesome but when asked they rank it up there with Smell-O-Vision...
  • Blaizer
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    Blaizer interpolator
    I prefer a psp Vita... omg sony, do something!
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    Methinks that this price drop is partially in response to Sony's announced price for the Playstation Vita.

    Its in response to the 3DS not selling well at all, and its homeland completely rejecting it all in all. The response to the Playstation Vita will be the next iteration of the 3DS; I'd put money on it being on the shelves within four months of the Vita coming out.
  • Calabi
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    Calabi polycounter lvl 12
    I'll get one at this price, I dont care if it gives me headaches or wrecks my eyes.
  • Xenobond
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    Xenobond polycounter lvl 18
    Now that's a price point I can get my wallet behind.
  • JacqueChoi
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    JacqueChoi polycounter
    I think the price drop has more to do with iPhone and Android devices becoming the defacto portable gaming platforms.

    The DS began to really lag in sales shortly after the iphone came out.
  • Richard Kain
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    Richard Kain polycounter lvl 18
    At the risk of sounding like a money-grubbing tight-wad, there IS actually a way that you could get the free downloadable games and the $170 price-point. Go out and buy a 3DS sometime before the price drop, say around August 5th. Use it to sign up for the eShop. On August 12, take the receipt back to the store you bought the system from and insist that they refund the difference from the price drop.

    If you get the system from a big-box store like Best Buy or Target, they'll take your receipt and refund the difference immediately. It's part of their company policy to do this whenever a product gets a major price drop. All you have to do is ask for it. Net result, you get to enjoy the free downloadable games, while also paying only $170 for your system.
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    There's nothing wrong with the 3ds or the 3d, it's a powerful handheld with all the things that made the DS so great.

    The problem has been and still is because of the lack of games for the platform, not to mention that the massive new target audience they found with the DS and wii is not the kind of audience that adapts early.

    If anything it means that nintendo put their profit margins for the 3ds way too high to begin with, since sony isn't afraid to take a profit hit per console to have a lower price, but this is something that nintendo never does.
  • DeeKei
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    DeeKei polycounter lvl 12
    I'm tempted to get the 3DS for this. However I do wish there were more games coming out, specifically RPGs.
  • Minos
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    Minos polycounter lvl 16
    Yeah looks pretty tempting but I'm still not convinced about paying this much to play remastered N64 games in 3D!
  • Will Faucher
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    Will Faucher polycounter lvl 12
    I dunno... Ocarina of time is calling to me. And I've been dying to play the new Golden Sun. LOVED the first 2.
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    This reinforces why you should never buy a Nintendo portable on launch - I'll pick up the 3DS lite, XL, or whatever the next inevitable revision is
  • Jeremy-S
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    Jeremy-S polycounter lvl 11
    For half a second reading the title, I just about shit myself over the price of 3DS (max)...

    On the new DS, I couldn't care less. They don't have the games I want. I'll wait for the PSV, thanks
  • Mcejn
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    Mcejn polycounter lvl 12
    Damn, can't say I'm too surprised. I was tempted to buy it when Zelda came out, but realized there were literally no other games that I'd want to play on it.

    :(

    -m
  • Rick Stirling
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    Rick Stirling polycounter lvl 18
    I love mine, Zelda and Streetfighter are great on it, plus it plays all my DS games.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    At the risk of sounding like a money-grubbing tight-wad, there IS actually a way that you could get the free downloadable games and the $170 price-point. Go out and buy a 3DS sometime before the price drop, say around August 5th. Use it to sign up for the eShop. On August 12, take the receipt back to the store you bought the system from and insist that they refund the difference from the price drop.

    If you get the system from a big-box store like Best Buy or Target, they'll take your receipt and refund the difference immediately. It's part of their company policy to do this whenever a product gets a major price drop. All you have to do is ask for it. Net result, you get to enjoy the free downloadable games, while also paying only $170 for your system.

    Would the games not be locked to the system? I think Nintendo have considered that idea of yours....
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    Andreas wrote: »
    Would the games not be locked to the system? I think Nintendo have considered that idea of yours....

    Oh no, what he meant was that some stores will give you the difference back if you bought a system close to a price-drop.

    you never replace the system.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    eld wrote: »
    Oh no, what he meant was that some stores will give you the difference back if you bought a system close to a price-drop.

    you never replace the system.


    OOOOOH, sorry Rich. Hmm, I just bought mine in GAME, I reckon they'll be wise to that :(


    So after reading about this Ambassador scheme I immediately went out and bought a 3DS :D I initially planned to wait for a second gen 3DS, but to hell with it. I picked mine up for €249 in GAME with Ocarina of Time included in the price. Which means I pretty much payed €205 for my 3DS unit, and if it drops to €170 in europe, that means each of the 20 games that come with the Ambassador scheme will have cost €1.75 :)

    Already beat Gohma in OoT. Pretty good game, but the resolution on the 3D screen is insultingly bad.
  • TomDunne
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    TomDunne polycounter lvl 18
    eld wrote: »
    Oh no, what he meant was that some stores will give you the difference back if you bought a system close to a price-drop.

    you never replace the system.

    Alternately, you can take the new one and return it straight up using the old one's receipt. As long as you haven't opened the new one and it's still within the retailer's return policy deadline (usually 30 days), you can get the exchange without a hassle, assuming you don't mind making two transactions at the store.
  • teaandcigarettes
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    teaandcigarettes polycounter lvl 12
    I'm still more tempted to go for Vita (though I hate that name :P) than 3DS.

    I must say that Nintendo's current lineup doesn't interest me all that much. At the same time, that Uncharted demo for the PSP made me a little bit worried. Their implementation of the touchscreen controls seemed to make the game almost too easy for my taste. Of course, we're still able to use the traditional controls, but I hope that touchscreen won't be used to make the games "more accessible".

    Falling into pits and getting my ass kicked plays a big part in making the game fun in my eyes :poly142: And PSP1 had some of the toughest games I had played this generation.
  • leilei
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    leilei polycounter lvl 14
    The free games thing. That'll do something about those damn "i bot my 3ds for mml3 and U CANCELED IT" tears raging the internet.
  • Autocon
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    Autocon polycounter lvl 15
    170 bucks for a hand held with still no good games that I didnt own 10 years ago? yeah still going to pass on that.
  • Minos
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    Minos polycounter lvl 16
    This is a pretty stupid question but does the 3D effect work on DS titles too?
  • Two Listen
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    Two Listen polycount sponsor
    Minotaur0 wrote: »
    This is a pretty stupid question but does the 3D effect work on DS titles too?

    No.
  • Mezz
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    Mezz polycounter lvl 8
    My friends that have a 3DS and were playing Ocarina of Time again on it were making me jealous and missing it.

    So I got out my N64 and am happily replaying the original version.

    Price drop or no, I am back to having no reason to buy the 3DS. (Someday perhaps, though, but I'll wait for the 'lite' version in red)
  • ErichWK
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    ErichWK polycounter lvl 12
    The only reason I was gonna buy a 3DS was for Mega Man Legends 3..and well.. That got cancelled. So...
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    price drop? should've been 3DS max and not the nintendo :/
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    Mezz wrote: »
    My friends that have a 3DS and were playing Ocarina of Time again on it were making me jealous and missing it.

    So I got out my N64 and am happily replaying the original version.

    Haha good idea! It can be pretty uncomfortable to play on the 3DS actually, and REALLY uncomfortable if you are using the Ocarina, plus the game is unplayable in 3D cause of the horrible aliasing cause of the crappy resolution of the 3D screen.

    Still want them to remake Majoras Mask though. And a 3D Wind Waker style game. And a new 3DS model that isnt crappy.
  • Rai
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    Rai polycounter lvl 15
    Andreas wrote: »
    Still want them to remake Majoras Mask though. And a 3D Wind Waker style game. And a new 3DS model that isnt crappy.

    With all of those requests, you're better off just asking Nintendo to solve world hunger.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    Rai wrote: »
    With all of those requests, you're better off just asking Nintendo to solve world hunger.

    I... don't get what you mean. I reckon those 'requests' are actually inevitable. Are you saying that any of those things is impossible? I'd say all three things are going down in Kyoto right now.
  • Rai
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    Rai polycounter lvl 15
    Andreas wrote: »
    I... don't get what you mean. I reckon those 'requests' are actually inevitable. Are you saying that any of those things is impossible? I'd say all three things are going down in Kyoto right now.

    Nevermind.

    wolverine_facepalm.gif
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    Andreas wrote: »
    Haha good idea! It can be pretty uncomfortable to play on the 3DS actually, and REALLY uncomfortable if you are using the Ocarina, plus the game is unplayable in 3D cause of the horrible aliasing cause of the crappy resolution of the 3D screen...

    You do know the 3ds has a higher screen resolution than ocarina of time had on the nintendo 64?
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    Rai wrote: »
    Nevermind.

    wolverine_facepalm.gif

    No, seriously. Explain what you meant. Unless you were just trollin' of course.
    eld wrote: »
    You do know the 3ds has a higher screen resolution than ocarina of time had on the nintendo 64?

    You mean the N64's output?

    I'm just telling you what I'm seeing brah. I got a shiny new 3DS right here, and there are horrible jaggies everywhere; not only while playing OoT in 3D, but navigating the HOME interface in 3D as well. Its very apparent with 3D turned on.
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    Andreas wrote: »

    You mean the N64's output?

    I'm just telling you what I'm seeing brah. I got a shiny new 3DS right here, and there are horrible jaggies everywhere; not only while playing OoT in 3D, but navigating the HOME interface in 3D as well. Its very apparent with 3D turned on.

    the N64 was a 480p capable console, but few games ever went that high, most were in the 320x240 region, the 3ds top screen has a resolution of 400x240 (800x240).

    Not to mention, it is bigger than the ds.

    3ds%20screen%20size.png

    The main difference is that the 3ds screen is crystal clear versus that of a crt back in the days, most noticable with the fact that you'll never be able to read any tiny text on the blurred out crt, but on an lcd screen you see every pixel.



    How ever did you handle the DS?
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    eld wrote: »
    How ever did you handle the DS?

    Never noticed a problem there... I guess I was mostly playing Phoenix Wright though :P
  • Rai
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    Rai polycounter lvl 15
    Andreas wrote: »
    No, seriously. Explain what you meant. Unless you were just trollin' of course.

    It was just a small joke.
    Andreas wrote: »
    You mean the N64's output?

    I'm just telling you what I'm seeing brah. I got a shiny new 3DS right here, and there are horrible jaggies everywhere; not only while playing OoT in 3D, but navigating the HOME interface in 3D as well. Its very apparent with 3D turned on.

    I'm fairly sure the 3DS disables AA while in 3D due to the load on the GPU.
  • glottis8
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    glottis8 polycounter lvl 9
    It is true, the game has no antialiasing when its in 3d. This is because the aliasing is really expensive, and to re render the same offset image is double the smoothing pixels. So that hogs the buffer and slows down the frame rate. Specially when they have to alias the vertical and horizontal. so that is double on double. So it makes sense they just use it when it's in 2d mode. I still think the game looks really nice. Better texture resolution and details, and effects.

    how do i know? cuz i've been looking at a 3ds screen for work for the last 8 months.
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    Rai wrote: »
    It was just a small joke.

    I'm fairly sure the 3DS disables AA while in 3D due to the load on the GPU.

    Much like games on most consoles: performance is mostly always chosen before AA.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    glottis8 wrote: »
    I still think the game looks really nice. Better texture resolution and details, and effects.

    Aye, in 2D its a great looking game :)
  • glottis8
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    glottis8 polycounter lvl 9
    I don't think i've seen anyone post this.

    For Iwata, that translates to a 50 percent cut from his annual salary of approximately $2 million. Directors close to the project will see a 30 percent pay cut, and other executives will get their pay reduced by 20 percent.
    "We decided that if we take brave measures now," Iwata wrote in a letter, "there's high likelihood that a many players can enjoy the Nintendo 3DS in the future."

    http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/07/29/nintendo-president-takes-pay-cut-in-wake-of-3ds-39-troubles.aspx

    It's all over the place.

    Even when it's smart to see them take action to boost sales just in time for many of their bigger games to come out. It's good to see the people responsible being accountable for their actions and decisions. I wish the govt would do something like that. A paycut for those inconsiderate jerks that spend the tax payers money in ridiculous ways.
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    glottis8 wrote: »
    Even when it's smart to see them take action to boost sales just in time for many of their bigger games to come out. It's good to see the people responsible being accountable for their actions and decisions. I wish the govt would do something like that. A paycut for those inconsiderate jerks that spend the tax payers money in ridiculous ways.

    It is nice, but however, after his massive 50% paycut he still makes over 80000 USD per month, (not to mention any shares in the company) ;)
  • glottis8
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    glottis8 polycounter lvl 9
    It's a start.... at least you don't see the evil corportaion president that lays off everyone responsible for the 3ds because they did a really bad job at marketing. Releasing prematurely and bla bla. Most companies here would've been like... fuuuu the people, we'll make up by laying people off, take the revenue and be even richer!

    But i agree... he is still making bank most probably. But i agree with the gesture and sentiment. I wish more people took this attitude and man up to their mistakes.
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    Yeah, it's a start, as long as this doesn't transfer over to people with lower positions.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    Wonder if I'll be able to copy these 'ambassador' games over to a new unit when a 3DSi comes out? They should have something in place for that, and other estore bought games, right?
  • Two Listen
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    Two Listen polycount sponsor
    Andreas wrote: »
    Wonder if I'll be able to copy these 'ambassador' games over to a new unit when a 3DSi comes out? They should have something in place for that, and other estore bought games, right?

    Nobody should be expecting a "3DSi" or a 3DS "lite" at any point in the near future, I don't think. Not until at least Christmas of 2012, if even that soon (I'm not expecting it). This is the first time they've been able to update their handheld with direct system updates - and the 3DS out right now is essentially the result of years of experimentation of previous DS models. And with the exception of perhaps longer battery life (which has yet to pose a problem for me), I can't think of any changes they could make to the system that would warrant a new design release. At least not ones that wouldn't be so drastic as to no longer make it a 3DS system at all.

    Guess I could be wrong, but that's what I'm feeling. Maybe we'll get some new colors over the next year or so of holiday seasons, but that's about all I'm expecting.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    Two Listen wrote: »
    Nobody should be expecting a "3DSi" or a 3DS "lite" at any point in the near future, I don't think. Not until at least Christmas of 2012, if even that soon (I'm not expecting it).

    I'd put money on there being a new iteration of the hardware announced within four months of the Vita being on the shelves.
    Two Listen wrote: »
    And with the exception of perhaps longer battery life (which has yet to pose a problem for me), I can't think of any changes they could make to the system that would warrant a new design release.

    Faster processor, that allows for 3D AA, and 3D video capture (currently its limited to 'photos').
    Decent cameras. The current ones are very bad, especially the outside 3D ones.
    Higher resolution screen to kill off a few more jaggies.
    Same size screens like the DS. Maybe they could even meet in the middle, and both be touchscreen 3D screens to one-up the Vita and become a 3D movie screen.
    The stylus could be moved back to a decent position on the unit.

    Just some of the improvements that could be made. The 3DS feels as unfinished as the original DS in my opinion.

    Oh, and there were firmware updates on the DS carts ;) So I'd say new iterations were only half about trying to halt the rampant piracy, and half about just selling people multiple units over the course of the devices lifetime...
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