The 3DS Might Make it in Time for Christmas Shopping Lists

It makes a lot of sense for Nintendo to release the 3DS by Christmas. I mean, that's when people are most willing to spend big bucks on bleeding-edge tech, right? If they waited till February to release it, most people will probably already have bought an Xbox 360 Slim to put under the Christmas tree, and won't be ready to lay down a few hundred more quite yet.

Further "first" posts will result in serious action - Moderating team.

Does this mean that it'll be coming to Australia as well? I'd doubt it, though I'd be more inclined to buy it come launch day if they release it before the U.S.

3DS + Christmas = big bucks.and im talking 7 digit numbers of money. I'm pretty sure Nintendo knows this and will take full advantage of it. Along with some advertisements it will be a huge seller.
(goes to gamestop 3DS launch date:"can i buy a 3DS please.
employee: "we were sold out before the freakin launch day dude",
Me: Fu**
(two weeks later)
Me: "can i buy a 3DS".
employee: "we're still sold out".
Me:"oh what the fu**".
(kills someone to steal thier 3DS.)

Won't this have the side effect of encouraging buying and selling between parties for insane prices though?

I don't care when they release it. As long as I get one!

Since they said that the hardware wasn't final, I'm thinking maybe Xmas next year? But 6 months to get it ready for consumers seems reasonable I suppose.

However will Nintendo be able to keep up with demand? I can see this being out of stock on the first day, and you can see this might be the case by just looking at the Wii in '06, they were out of stock for weeks!

@Jonny That's certainly never deterred Nintendo in the past! Look at Wii Fit, the Wii and DS Lite, countless software releases: low supply always drives demand at Christmas and it's a symbol of success to be that must-have product parents simply can't find. Nintendo's mastered it in recent years and there's no doubt they'd do it again at Christmas.

With all the hype around it at this stage, and the machine not even having been finalised yet, I don't see how they could manufacture enough units in six months for a worldwide release at Christmas. I think March 2011 is more realistic but we'll wait and see!

Get your pre-orders ready folks...

@xDemon

Can you even read? They already stated it would be out by the end of the fiscal year, so X-mas next year doesn't make sense at all...

Hey Trevor, nicely written story.

Get your preorders now people as i dont see many stores getting many copies. Good luck and happy hunting! Oh and dont be tempted to pay 600 or more on ebay as this is bad for those that get one just to profit off new tech.

@sillygostly: it means that if Europe gets it early December, then we're likely to get it the day before Europe. If I were you, I'd start saving the $300-$400 it's gonna cost for the console and $100 to pick-up a launch title and pre-order them both as soon as possible, because if the critics are right it's likely gonna be sold out just from pre-orders! Well, in Australia there's a chance that there'll be a few consoles here and there; when I picked-up my pre-ordered white DSi it turned out there were no black DSis in stock due to pre-order sellouts, but they had three or four white ones on the shelf, and no more for a fortnight afterward!

All I should be deciding right now is which colour I'd like to pre-order first, and which launch titles I'd like to pre-order with it - all 8+ of the announced Nintendo titles look good after all, and if they are the launch titles, then it'd likely be Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64 or Paper Mario with one version of nintendogs + cats, and possibly Mario 3D or Luigi 3D if they end up being released as well...oh, and a good selection of launch titles from the 3DS Shop! - and pre-order the lot! And if it ends up costing more than it did to get started with the Wii, then that's my way of letting Nintendo know how much I care for them and their games. They don't call me Nintendo+Sonic+MegaManPurist for nothing, you know!

You mean you guys haven't preordered yours yet? I put my name down last week!

Please, please, please.

I doubt we'll see it that soon, but if we do, I'm not getting it. "Limited amounts" being sent to retailers in December? Forget it. I'm not fighting the crazy moms for one or waiting in line at midnight. I'm not preordering it either until I have some idea of how much this puppy will cost. Especially when I probably won't even be able to transfer my DSiWare games (I'll likely need to sell my DSi to afford it). I'll wait until you can actually find it on the shelves (hopefully it won't take 2-3 years, like it did for the Wii). Heck, I'll probably just be better off waiting for 3DS lite at that point.

@Prosody Seriously,You don't even know when it is coming out.
Maybe I should.

...3DS here by Christmas? This handheld just continues to impress!

What about the United States? It will probably release around the same time as Europe or before because that is what Nintendo has done with most consoles in the past.

Due to exams I missed the Internet Hype Train when it left for E3. But now that I caught the ride home, all I can say is:

I'm F*****G getting one of these things!

And if it's not out for christmas, 2010 will have had the most disappointing christmas ever - with everyone wanting what they can't have. But let's hope we can, anyway:D

I just want to get it first day, but having release near Christmas or my birthday will increase my chances of getting one first day or sometime soon.

So, if this is true, then if I want a 3DS, I'm gonna either have to preorder it or camp outside Best Buy until I get one...

I guess I'll preorder then.

@TLink9 Doesn't matter when it's coming out, I'll be getting it anyway and couldn't bear being second in line!

Please, oh anonymous high-ranking U.K. source.... please be correct. Unless those units go to Europe instead of the States. I can't imagine a worldwide release, and perhaps the U.K. and Japan need it more than the U.S. market? Trying not to get too psyched for it coming this year. Don't wish to be disappointed when excellent titles (Kirby, Metroid, etc.) will be out also.
And @WaveBoy: Nice icon!

If it comes out on christmas or not, I'll still be looking at the charts in Google Trends and see the spike when I search "Nintendo 3DS".

How is anyone preording now? Help!!

I need enough money for it before I preorder!!
Where's 200 bucks when you need it??

Definitely getting one on release date.
But if it'd come out for Cristmas, that would be amazing.
A miracle, if you will.

Yeah, the interesting bit about that leak was that it said the date was pushed back to December. Nintendo says this is all speculation, though. What I think is that if it got pushed back once, it could happen again, which is why they're mum on any official details about the launch. If it does launch by Christmas, which would be fantastic, I don't expect more than two launch titles.

And yes, the other tidbit to take from this story is that if you're not one of the first ten people on your local pre-order list, you won't be seeing a 3DS in 2010, regardless of the release date. Unless you feed the "grey market" traders their 1000% profits. But I'm sure we all learned our lessons on this front from the Wii's launch, right?

Christmas? That's total chances of me REAPING everything for the 3DS that I want.

Hopefully us Aussie's will get the 3DS first like how we got the DSi first :3 [excluding Japan]

I'll Bet the 3DS will be around 210 Bucks.

Well that's good, I hope it won't be a lot, though.

Please.....I'll buy one.

The elves at nintendo hq must be very busy making all these 3DSs for christmas

_

First it was Novermeber, than March and now December? Really, let's just wait for an official announcement.

I think i'll stick with the dsi

So really really what's the big deal with 3d ever Nintendo Console since the N64 has had 3d games, What's the difference?

that's about a half a year away