If you haven’t heard about it yet, Nintendo recently unveiled their next generation handheld last week, the 3DS, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Since then, a lot of information has been revealed about system specifications and games that will be released fairly early on, but no release date has been given yet. Based on everything Nintendo has announced so far, here’s 5 reasons why the 3DS will likely be released this year:
1. For the United States, Christmas is the biggest holiday season of the year. Most Company’s, as long as is doesn’t sacrifice quality, will do whatever they can to release their product in time. Nintendo is no exception. With many games that will appeal to both children and adults, the 3DS is going to be a high demand product. Since it’s demand will be greatest during the November/December Holiday season, Nintendo could get away with charging a higher opening price for their system if they release it during or before this time. Even if they don’t have a higher then planned opening price, this Holiday will guarantee they will make the most profits in the shortest amount of time.
2. Hype is another important reason. Many people are very excited for the release of the system now, but as time goes on, that hype is going to gradually decrease. If they wait until March 2011, the latest promised month for it to be released, that’s an additional 4-5 months for hype to die down. While it should still sell well in the long run, their game and system sales will get off to a slower start.
3. When discussing the release date in a recent interview with Industry Gamers, Reggie Fils-Aime (Nintendo‘s CEO), said “we will launch in all of our major markets by March 31, 2011." Releasing in all markets by the end of March means some countries will likely get it earlier then others. North America generally gets new systems earlier on then other countries, so the odds of the United States getting the 3DS before March is fairly high. With January and February having slower sales thanks to everyone spending their money during the Holiday season for gifts, this would once again make 2010 the most logical time to release the system.
4. Most of the 3DS specifications have been released. Thanks to Nintendo’s official website, we know the approximate system weight, screen sizes, screen resolution, game card size, and much more. This much information would not be available unless the system was near completed. Likely the last remaining task for release is finalizing the system design, like button placement, before it’s released based on the feedback they received at E3. Since many games are in development already, it’s likely the 3DS is already fully functional and usable. Figuring out the final design will likely not take too much time overall, so that means the system may be complete within the next 1-2 months giving plenty of time for mass production and a release of this year.
5. CVG said the UK release date for the 3DS will be in December based on the information they received from a “high-ranking source close to UK.” While they can’t name the high-ranking source directly, this does sound fairly legitimate. European countries generally get new games or systems after North America, so this evidence would support a release date at the same time or earlier for the United States.
While it’s impossible to predict any hidden problems that may come up between now and it’s guaranteed March release date, the evidence suggests a late 2010 release date rather then a March 2011 one. Make sure to check back often and keep an eye out for any more information Nintendo is likely to reveal about the release date of their 3DS in the coming months.
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