SAN FRANCISCO — Having watched its once-mighty handheld business come under attack by touch-screen smartphones sporting $1 game apps, Nintendo Co. is betting big that it can keep gamers paying for what it considers a premium experience.
This weekend, the Japanese videogame giant will launch the 3DS as its latest entry into a fast-changing market. Modeled after its hugely popular DS console, the latest gizmo is the first gaming console dedicated to playing 3-D games — without requiring the user to wear special glasses. The device carries a price tag of $250, and games for the system have been priced at $40 apiece.
It’s a big bet considering that the mobile-gaming industry has shifted the other way of late, away from dedicated consoles and expensive game cartridges and disks, and toward cellphones loaded with games that typically cost $1 — or nothing.
“Is maintaining high-value games a top priority, or not?” asked Nintendo Chief Executive Satoru Iwata in his keynote address at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco earlier this month.
Describing what he termed as “two distinct sides” of the gaming business, Iwata contrasted the approach of Nintendo to that of companies who make smartphones and platforms that have “tens of thousands” of games available at little to no cost to consumers.
“These platforms have no motivation to maintain the high value of videogame software,” Iwata said. “For them, content is something created by someone else. Their goal is to get as much software as possible, because quantity is how the money flows.”
Ironically, Iwata was delivering his speech right across the street from where Apple Inc. was unveiling its latest product — the iPad 2.
Like the company’s DS console, the 3DS features two screens in a fold-up clam-shell design. The bottom is a touch screen that helps the user control the game; the top is a viewing screen with a slider switch that can adjust the 3-D effects, or turn them off completely.
While 3-D movies have become popular for Hollywood movie studios, the videogame industry has not made widespread use of the technology, citing the limited sales and high costs of 3-D television sets and the special glasses needed to view them. The 3DS uses something known as parallax barrier to deliver images that a user can see in 3-D without using those glasses.
The technology is new enough that Nintendo even issued a warning to gamers last year to limit playing time on the device to 30 minutes per session, and to avoid letting children under the age of 6 play games using 3-D, on the risk that it might impair eye development.
Analysts are still expecting a strong opening for the 3DS. The device first went on sale in Japan on Feb. 26 and sold out all of its initial production run of 400,000 units, according to Japanese media reports.
As for the U.S. launch, Nintendo would not say how many units are slated for the market, but some early signs are pointing to strong demand. The device has been a top seller on Amazon.com Inc.’s video-game section in a pre-sale mode.
And on Thursday, game retailer GameStop Corp. told investors that the company has received an increased allotment from Nintendo based on strong preorders for the device.
“Consumer demand for this product has been immense,” GameStop President Tony Bartel said. The retailer will have about 1,400 of its stores offering live demos of the device today before the official sale starts.
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