Topic: What if there was a 3DS upgrade system like they do with phones?

Either you could upgrade your 3DS to the latest model if you owned a previous model for a certain amount of time for free. Or maybe every time a new model comes out everyone who ownes a previous model gets a massive discount on it. What do you guys think?

Well the discount thing already happens with trade-ins. The free thing just isn't going to happen. We don't pay a monthly service fee to Nintendo just to use our 3DSs and why would they give them away for free. When you get your phone for free it is your service provider taking the hit, not the manufacture. Since there is no service provider for 3DS there is no one to take the hit.

Would never happen. Nintendo wouldn't make any money that way.

I expect there will be a trade in promotion when the New 3DS hits. I believe that generally happened when DS and 3DS came out. But it will be a limited time.

Phone companies can do this because they make you sign a contract, locking in payment from you for a term of 1-3 years. Telecommunications is notoriously one of the most ludicrously marked up services in existence. What you pay $40/mo for costs your provider about 40¢/mo. They can afford to give you the phone for free because they're getting your money elsewhere.

Nintendo cannot do this. They cannot afford to take such a massive loss on their hardware.

iPhone 5 --> iPhone 5S
3DS --> New 3DS

Honestly I don't see any difference

if nintendo pulls an "apple" and releases new hardware with slightly more power/upgrades every year or two, i would seriously stop buying nintendo products.

i want it old school. release a new system every 5-6 years. stick to the generation-model

They already do though (I think)? DS went DS Lite, and that went DSi after a couple of years.

no. DS was still good even after DS lite. dsi only had some download games as exclusives. new 3DS however will have big retail exclusives that you can not play on your 3DS.

A new piece of hardware every 2 years is a minor cost for me compared to the games. (And usually about that time I would want it refurbishing or replacing anyway - probably cost half the price to just the screens buffed / button pads replaced etc / new circle pad and mechanism).

6 years is too long. If they could come up with a way to allow the cpu/gpu/ram board to be swapped out that would probably be ok. (Looking at teardowns those parts are 20$ or so). Sell it for 25$ require it for games from then on.

@ProtoMac Not quite. The DS Lite was just a smaller version but technically, the same system. The DSi was the first platform from nintendo, that was a .5 update, bringing some slight technical advantages with it.
The same goes for the 3DS, all of them are the same exact system, except for their sice or the lack of a 3D capable screen to lessen the price even further, while the NEW 3DS is the 3DSs .5 update. Better tech, new build in features, exclusive content.

The way they are doing it now is perfecty fine in my opinion. If you dont need a bigger/smaller version of your system, theres no need to upgrade since you wont miss anything. And the timespan between DS-DSi and 3DS.NEW 3DS is big enough to not come off as a cheap cash in with locked out games for older systems.

And with the mentality around here, people will ditch the system anyways because of that. I mean if the lack of a tacked on online mode is enough reason to skip a game, a handful of exclusives is not a reason to buy a new system entirely.

And as many people already said, such a system wont work with game consoles. TeleComs main revenue comes from their ludicrously overpriced and binding contracts. They recieve a steady stream of income no matter what, while companys like Nintendo are dependant on sales alone. For TeleComs, giving you a new phone is like giving your buddy a handfull of gummibears, they wont even notice financially.

@Einherjar

nope gameboy colour had many games that didnt work on gameboy. even though most of the time developers made an extra gameboy version i think. so gameboy colour was nintendos first .5 update

Tablets are not sold on contract though most of the time. I get a new one when I feel like it (Or the last one becomes useless due to websites becoming even more inefficient. Or there is something I want like iOS physical control support).

With a console hardware cost I barely notice.

(I would never get a phone on contract either unless it was going to cost me less than just a separate contract and buying the phone. Seems to pretty much never happen these days.)

You don't pay a monthly subscription to Nintendo for a mandatory term of up to 3 years.

@6ch6ris6 Right, i totally forgot the GBC there, thanks. Yes, that would be the first .5 hardware update then. Also, the 3rd in line:
GB -> GP Pocket -> GBC
DS -> DS Lite -> DSi
3DS -> 3DS XL -> NEW 3DS

Comparing two completely models...no.

You get upgrades through phone carriers, not the manufacturers... And you usually have to sign a contract to get phones for cheap or free

And you're apparently paying them off as part of the bill when you get them for "free", too.

That model could kind of work. (The way that you can get a new iphone if you water damage one for pretty much what Apple pays to make one). But the initial cost would have to be more.

Only time I would get a phone contract is if cost of phone + cost of the contract I would get separately is less than the contract with the phone included and it never seems to be these days. (It was not too many years ago).

nintendo doesnt have to work out a model like "tade in your old 3DS for the new 3DS", because those campaigns are already doen by gamestop and co