Support NeoGAF

[MercuryLS]

Am I the only person that thinks this price point is way too high for a portable regardless of features and graphical muscle?

I'm willing to bet the biggest factor hurting the 3DS is its price, I imagine the same handheld at DS1 price ($150 at launch right?) would sell like gangbusters.

Even the PSP's sales were very limited when it first launched at $250.

It's just TOO DAMN MUCH for a portable. Hell just this week the Xbox 360 250gb system was $199 at Futureshop. Handhelds need to be $150 or less at launch. Period.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

Yes.

 

[thetrin]

Are you homeless by some chance? That is the only reason you would think $249 is too high for an OLED screen.

 

[beast786]

Compare to Itouch or Ipad it seems very reasonable.

 

[pharmboy044]

A handheld called the PSP did okay at that price point.

 

[blackflag]

Yeah I think you might be considering it's priced lower than most people thought.

 

[TheExecutive]

If the software matches the great deal on the hardware, yes.

 

[dacuk]

Ask Nintendo.
They are betting the boat on it.

 

[Takao]

$249 is a good price for handhelds. It's not great, and not 100% mass market friendly, but for a launch price it is approachable.

 

[Shadow780]

I'm not a cheapass. It's a good price.

 

[Jin34]

No.

Spoiler

In before stupid cell phone/tablets comparisons

Edit: Fuck not fast enough.

 

[ntropy]

Are you homeless by some chance? That is the only reason you would think $249 is too high for an OLED screen.

even worse: he has one job.

 

[tycoonheart]

Forget about the cost of the handheld. How about the cost of developing incredibly detailed games like Uncharted that will clearly increase game prices? How much do you think it will sell for? at least 50 bucks?

 

[FoneBone]

Even the PSP's sales were very limited when it first launched at $250.

They were pretty good, from what I recall. Much better than the (much cheaper) DS.

I make this argument a lot, but I don't think price and software lineup are as separable as many make them out to be. Software is arguably the single biggest factor in a customer's determination of (subjective) hardware value.

 

[Jomjom]

$249 for a handheld like the PSV is fine. For a handheld like the 3DS which we know costs less than half to build, hell no.

 

[Rhindle]

It's a long shot, unless you give people a really compelling reason to want it.

Nintendo thought they did with 3D, but they were evidently wrong. Sony doesn't seem to having figured out what their reason is.

 

[Vox-Pop]

If it has great games.

 

[opticalmace]

Probably, though a different market look at how many people are willing to drop a lot of money for a fancy phone.

 

[Mr. B Natural]

Are you homeless by some chance? That is the only reason you would think $249 is too high for an OLED screen.

Hey look, someone stuck in a bubble. Quick get a pin before he suffocates to death.

 

[Quacking]

The price is fucking awesome.

 

[Busaiku]

It remains to be seen.

Unlike Vita, PSP had a competitor that had a $100 difference on it.
That's not the case this time, so maybe it'll take off much better than PSP did.

Of course I highly doubt either system will come close to DS's dominance.

 

[Mariah Carey]

A bigger shame than this, actually, is that there is no $99 portable system anymore.

 

[Father_Brain]

Yes, though probably not for much longer than 12-18 months.

 

[mr jones]

Sure it can. People buy iPads that cost 600+ dollars, and use it to check email, read Yahoo News and play Angry Birds. Folks like my girlfriend bought a PSP for 200 bucks, and used it for a media player.

If you show that it is worth 250 dollars, the people will buy it, plain and simple.

I haven't seen anything on it (or the 3DS for that matter) that appeals to me, so I'm not interested in buying it. Show me something special game or feature-wise, and I might bite.

 

[yurinka]

Am I the only person that thinks this price point is way too high for a portable regardless of features and graphical muscle?

I'm willing to bet the biggest factor hurting the 3DS is its price, I imagine the same handheld at DS1 price ($150 at launch right?) would sell like gangbusters.

Even the PSP's sales were very limited when it first launched at $250.

It's just TOO DAMN MUCH for a portable. Hell just this week the Xbox 360 250gb system was $199 at Futureshop. Handhelds need to be $150 or less at launch. Period.

Since yesterday, it was a normal price for 3DS who was supposed to own the market.
Now Sony also has this price, offering more content thanks to BC, PSN media like movies or music and horsepower but it's too much?

Go and see mobile phones and tablet prices, specially the Apple ones.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

The mass market price is $200.

You don't have to start at the mass market price. You can start at a price that will get people to buy it, then drop to mass market price.

 

[Guevara]

Inflation, what?

 

[chaosblade]

For comparison, laptops cost more than PCs and only provide the benefit of portability at the cost of capability. Same as a portable game system, so I don't think it's surprising at all for a portable to be as much or more than a console.

 

[JWong]

It should have been $599.

~bailout.gif~

 

[coldvein]

for me, it's too much to pay for a handheld if all it has is retreads and remakes of games i can already play on a home console. once the games that i want to see come i'm sure the price will seem more reasonable.

 

[Massa]

People buy Xperia Play's for $500.

 

[SoulPlaya]

For what the PSV is offering, it's reasonable. For what the 3DS is offering? Hell no!

 

[Mr_Appleby]

there'll be a monster hunter, right? price is fine.

 

[DidntKnowJack]

Too much for a portable? I don't think so. Considering some of the best games I've played this generation were on "lowly" handhelds.

It's like people actually think portable gaming is slumming it.

 

[mr jones]

No.

Spoiler

In before stupid cell phone/tablets comparisons

Edit: Fuck not fast enough.

Why is it stupid? It's portable tech. Tablets are capable of being gaming devices.

 

[Jomjom]

It should have been $599.

~bailout.gif~

It will be, $350 for 16gb Sony propriety memory card.

 

[Ignignort]

It's being listed for $338 for the wifi version in Australia. Think about that, a $88 increase even though our dollar is better than the us.

 

[shintoki]

I think they can be successful at 299. They just need to bring games that make people want to purchase them.

 

[lightless_shado]

Why is it stupid? It's portable tech. Tablets are capable of being gaming devices.

I'd say its a pretty fair comparison. Moreso if you can download apps.

 

[RavenFox]

Since yesterday, it was a normal price for 3DS who was supposed to own the market.
Now Sony also has this price, offering more content thanks to BC, PSN media like movies or music and horsepower but it's too much?

Go and see mobile phones and tablet prices, specially the Apple ones.

haha I was thinking the same think. Folks are nervous

 

[outunderthestars]

Am I the only person that thinks this price point is way too high for a portable regardless of features and graphical muscle?

I'm willing to bet the biggest factor hurting the 3DS is its price, I imagine the same handheld at DS1 price ($150 at launch right?) would sell like gangbusters.

Even the PSP's sales were very limited when it first launched at $250.

It's just TOO DAMN MUCH for a portable. Hell just this week the Xbox 360 250gb system was $199 at Futureshop. Handhelds need to be $150 or less at launch. Period.

The psp sold out all 500,000 units within two days when it launched at $250 six years ago.

Hell the psp core unit has just now hit $130 after six years of being on the market.

If you're too cheap to spend the money then too bad. $150 hand helds aren't coming back anytime soon.

Hell the original gameboy launched at $190 in 1989. That's roughly $330 dollars when adjusted for inflation.

 

[Khrno]

3DS is going for £159.99 on Amazon, or maybe elsewhere, in the UK (launched at £229.99), don't compare it to dollars since it doesn't work like that over here.

So the market will make them more affordable given the time.

 

[DiscoJer]

The PSP started at $250 and it went on to sell 70 million systems. Which is somehow a failure because you just have to compare it to the DS for some reason, and not other gaming systems (that's sarcasm).

 

[Cheech]

It has no Apple logo on it. Sony has a long row to hoe convincing people that this $250 PSP is appreciably different than last year's $250 PSP. Neither of them could play UMDs, and neither have Mario. I am not smelling success here.

The PSP started at $250 and it went on to sell 70 million systems. Which is somehow a failure because you just have to compare it to the DS for some reason, and not other gaming systems (that's sarcasm).

The handheld landscape today is far, far different than it was back in 2005. An iPod was just an iPod, The DS hadn't really gotten off the ground yet, and the only game people were playing on their cell phones was Brick Breaker.

 

[antonz]

Price simply impacts rate of sales. Games decide if something sells outside the initial hype window.

 

[Quacking]

It's being listed for $338 for the wifi version in Australia. Think about that, a $88 increase even though our dollar is better than the us.

Well 249 euros over the europe.

And 249 euros are like 170 dollars. -.-

 

[RavenFox]

It has no Apple logo on it. Sony has a long row to hoe convincing people that this $250 PSP is appreciably different than last year's $250 PSP. Neither of them could play UMDs, and neither have Mario. I am not smelling success here.

U Mad?

 

[OldJadedGamer]

A handheld called the PSP did okay at that price point.

PSP launched first in Japan at $200 and that is the systems best selling region.

 

[MiniBossBattle]

250 sounds good to me. I just won't order my monthly 50 Big Mac meals for one month.

 

[Epcott]

Cell phones can go up to $499, so yes.
I know, apples / oranges, but given the right amount of games and features, $249 would actually be pretty cheap!