So Nintendo announced the release date and pricing for the 3DS in Japan. February seems a good spot for it but the $300 price tag conversely seems mighty steep. Now a lot of people are defending the pricing stating that the tech is more than worth the price. That is debatable being as many people (including me) do not have the ability to see 3D very well and for us the 3DS is really just an upgraded version of the DS. Yes the games look fantastic but $300 fantastic? I’m not so sure about that. The other argument that people are making is that Nintendo will release at the $300 price point and allow their rabid fans to flock to the hardware like flies on fecal matter and then drop the price to what the general masses will support. Now I am by no means a Nintendo fanboy but I know some and priced at $300 this is not an early lifetime purchase for them, this is a major problem for the 3DS regardless of if people want to admit it or not.

$300 is not a mass market price tag for this device, just like $600 was not a mass market price tag for the PS3. There are going to be some that point to the iPhone or iPad and state that those devices are priced outside the mass market price point yet they sell like hotcakes. However there are two things to remember here. 1) Apple products are notoriously high priced and 2) the core base of Apple products understands point 1. The core base of Nintendo is used to having Nintendo price their products at a reasonable price. Pricing your new handheld over what your home system costs is a risky move no matter how one wants to look at it.

Another thing that many defenders of the price point seem to forget is that the core user base of the DS (at least in the US) is children. I have three kids, three kids that want a DS (my oldest daughter is going to get her first DS next week in fact). I can justify getting my kids DS Lights at $130 and splurging for a DSi for me. All four of those systems would cost me half of what it will cost for me to outfit my kids with 3DSes. How many parents are going to be in the same position? For the 3DS to be successful it needs to be able to get its core base (my kids) to get one in their hand. At $300 they won’t, at least not from me.