It's official: 3DS launching March 27 for $249

[TheSelfishGene]

3DS is launching in Australia on March 31st, at a cost of $350 AUD (equivalent of $355 USD).

[DONNIemo]

3DS is launching in Australia on March 31st, at a cost of $350 AUD (equivalent of $355 USD).

Indeed I am saddend by this, shit our dollar is better then the US at the moment.

I'm just going to buy a USA one and save the $100.

[TheSelfishGene]

Indeed I am saddend by this, shit our dollar is better then the US at the moment.

I'm just going to buy a USA one and save the $100.

Just keep in mind that the system is region locked - so you'll also have to import all your games too.

Also, that's retail price, so you can expect stores to start undercutting each other when it launches, so you will probably see places like JB and Dick Smith have it for $20-30 cheaper than retail.

Personally I'm going to wait and see if people can't figure out a way around the region locking, and probably wait for the second hardware itteration (phat DS owner here).

[DONNIemo]

Just keep in mind that the system is region locked - so you'll also have to import all your games too.

Also, that's retail price, so you can expect stores to start undercutting each other when it launches, so you will probably see places like JB and Dick Smith have it for $20-30 cheaper than retail.

Personally I'm going to wait and see if people can't figure out a way around the region locking, and probably wait for the second hardware itteration (phat DS owner here).

I'm always happy to import, good ol Play-Asia, and the US one will be only $250 so thats already $100 off what us poor Aussie's would be paying.

On a side note, all Melbourne Aussies, they are having hands on 3DS Demo's at the Big Ass Nintendo EB World in the city tomorrow Thursday 10th 2011, Resi might be there, saddly I will be at stupid work -_-. Worth going to people

[TheSelfishGene]

Yeah I got the email about that Swanston St EB demo. I just woke up and presume it was tonight, so I thought I couldn't go.

Might see if I can go along, and see if RE is there.

[Rombie]

3DS is launching in Australia on March 31st, at a cost of $350 AUD (equivalent of $355 USD).

Wow, for the first time that's more or less in line with the UK pricing. Usually the price parity is at least another $50 on top in AU (ie. launching at a 399 price and not a 349).

That said, they promised a launch price to be set here the same day as AU and have failed at doing so, so maybe we'll be stuck with that still when they decide to release it here at some price over $400NZD.

[TheSelfishGene]

The email I got from Nintendo this morning says
$453 NZD*
*Based on currency conversion rates as at 2 February 2011

So it might be subject to change? But the date is listed as the 31st of March in line with Australia.

[Pikminister]

Why is the Australian market so underdeveloped compared to other markets? Are the politicians holding it back?

The best selling console in Australia is the PS3... and it got there by selling a little more than 1 million units. That's a rather low number.

It has the same revenue share as Latin America (however, that market is expected to grow more this year).

[Rombie]

^ Really, last I heard the 360 was still the largest selling console over there. Where did your stats come from?

Our market here in NZ is so small, it almost seems to flip now and then as to who is on top. I think Sony picked up steam in recent years because it was an exceptionally cheap Blu Ray player for quite some time. Nintendo, as far as the Wii goes, is a distant third here for sure. It's horribly undermarketed here, most of the Nintendo marketing has been on the DS platforms.

Gene - They haven't officially stated it here yet, news sites and retailers are still awaiting an official confirmation from either Nintendo AU or anyone who sub-distributes here in NZ.

At least they've mentioned an equivalent price though. If it does end up retailing for around $450NZD then that's roughly in line with everyone else.

[Pikminister]

^^^ I was reading a news article the other day about the PS3 being the top console in Australia. And how MS was disputing those numbers because the system was being sold as a bundle with some HDTV sets. And no one could figure what use the consumers were giving the PS3. If they were using it merely as a bluray player to watch movies or as a neat looking paper weight.

Anyway, I also was looking up the revenue share numbers/statistics of Australia. And they only make a 2% impact on the big pie chart.

2% is the same as Latin America. However, that market is expected to grow to 4% this year. While the Australian market remains unchanged in 2011.

So I was wondering what the fuck was holding that market back? I mean the games are 99.9% of the time in plain English so there is no language barrier (that is a non-issue in Latin America it seems). So what gives?

[DONNIemo]

I must say my self and everyone I know own both consoles (or all 3) and most never use the 360, only just recently more with the Kinect release here. We all like the PS3 as its free to play online and is still a very high quality bluray player and 3D gaming unit.

I still like the 360, but hardly use it, as aposed to being on the PS3 each day.

[Rombie]

Pikmin - I'm not at all surprised. A while back I do recall Microsoft crowing at the point of their sales for gaming, not for anything else. They had a big start over PS3, so they'll be wanting not to make it look like it's failing there. Sony won't care, it doesn't matter if they're sold with a TV or just for BD, a sale is a sale. Microsoft would be doing exactly the same if HD-DVD had been the format winner - and later console editions of the 360 included a HD-DVD player as a bundle or inside it instead of being an add on. They'd count those.

I honestly don't know why the market isn't bigger in Australia. Some may blame the ratings system issues a little, but I don't think that would be a huge impact. Local sales here in NZ in 2010 were down from 2009 according to stats released last week here, would be interesting to know if they've really changed in the AU at all. Even staying the same in a recession and flooded marketplace is better than nothing. Latin America probably has a better growing economy at least as paid workers go, so they have more money to spend and are expected to buy more luxuries I guess.

Just after I posted here I got an e-mail from EBNZ, which really is EB Australia because our stores are run by the AU branch. They've decided the price given in AU will be set for NZ, and have announced a $449/March 31st date even though no one else in NZ has officially set it. But seeing as they frquently buy their stocks in the AU and just ship them to the stores here, they can get away with that easily.

[TheSelfishGene]

Just to follow up on this, I went along to the 3DS event and by the time I got there, there was a queue of at least 300 people, and only about 2.5 hours left to get everyone through, so my friend and I decided not to waste time, and just left.