At the E3 event, Nintendo unveiled the 3DS handheld, the first console to support 3D playback without the need for special glasses.
What Nintendo did not reveal, however, was a set timetable for the handheld’s release, or a price.
Today, IndustryGamers is reporting that Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has confirmed the device will be launched no later than March 31st, 2011, although it is unclear which nations will get it first. (My bet is on Japan).
Price is still not revealed.
Perhaps more importantly, Fils-Aime says the final design may still be tweaked, after it receives feedback from E3 users.
Says the boss: “You know typically, at an E3, our engineers are looking for feedback. You know, we have an army of Nintendo representatives out on our show floor talking to attendees, getting reactions to everything in the device: the depth slider, the buttons, the sliding pad that is, essentially, an analog-type stick. These are things that we’re looking to get reaction to, including the overall button placement. When we get all that feedback, then we’ll finalize the design.”
When asked about the given timetable, Fils-Aime concluded: “Well, the reason we haven’t announced a launch date or pricing is that, first, we wanted to get reaction here. Secondly, we’ll be making individual market decisions in terms of what’s happening in Japan, what’s happening in the Americas, what’s happening in Europe. The one thing, for sure, is that we will launch in all of our major markets by March 31, 2011.”
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Being interviewed at the Nintendo Media Summit yesterday, Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aime has warned would-be buyers to expect hardware shortages of the Wii at least until the end of March.
Fils-Aime attributes the shortages to the unexpected record sales in December, where the company sold 3.8 million units.
“On the Wii hardware side, we are back to a situation where demand is exceeding supply and we’re going to be in that situation through the end of March,” says Fils-Aime. “You can’t sell 3.8m units in one month without that suction of demand pulling product through the distribution channel.”
The president continued: “It obviously caught us a little bit off-guard and we’re rapidly trying to rectify the situation.”
After selling the record amount of Wiis in December, sales fell off 31 percent in January, leading many analysts to ask Nintendo whether there was supply issues.
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Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aime had a few words today for the PSPgo, even claiming the new handheld may have a “fundamental concept problem.”
In an interview with the Washington Post, Fils-Aime says the PSPgo, which removes the UMD drive, has a “fundamental concept problem in terms of ‘Who’s it for?’ and ‘What’s the benefit?’ ”
Continuing on, Fils-Aime makes sure to be respectful. “I have the utmost respect for all our competitors. But it’s interesting to try and answer the consumer question of ‘what’s in it for me?’ in that product.”
Sony recently stated that overall PSP sales were up 300 percent since the launch of the Go, despite the fact that many retailers criticized the device and its effect on retailer margins.
