Opinions that the rise of smartphone market spells doom for dedicated handhelds "are incorrect", says Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata.
While Iwata admits that the console's early sales were "unsatisfactory", he goes on on firmly state, "I believe we proved that such opinions are incorrect."
Nintendo expects to make a profit from 3DS hardware sales in the first half of its next fiscal year, which kicks off on April 1, 2012.
The company's money-making ambitions were significantly impacted by August's global 3DS price cut, which resulted in each unit selling at a loss, but things are starting to look up for the portable, according to Iwata.
Comments
25 comments so far...
lordirongut on 28 Jan '12 said:
I agree with him - Nintendo proved everyone wrong with the 3DS, and while I believe that it has its design flaws, I just have to say - Here's to another seven years of dedicated handheld gaming!
MD1500 on 28 Jan '12 said:
Yep.
The media desperately seem to want Nintendo to fail.
It's like a few years ago, when they predicted that everyone would prefer apps to visiting websites.
The "Gamers are abandoning Mario for Angry Birds" line is widespread.
What these articles forget is... Angry Birds sucks.
03b2wgm on 28 Jan '12 said:
Oh no, Angry Birds is by all means good for what it is, a game designed to be small enough to be played in short sessions, like on the bus or something, on your phone.
I would still rather play Mario on my 3DS though.
damoxuk on 28 Jan '12 said:
3DS is doing good now with decent games however just received the circle pad pro along with resident evil : revelations today and dang it's one ugly mofo
Works like but still FUGLY..
fatherofthenoo on 28 Jan '12 said:
There is absolutely no evidence to demonstrate that smart phones in any way impact the sales of dedicated handheld consoles. I have no idea where this hollow rumour originated but it is clearly tabloid level tripe designed to cause concern amongst shareholders, which is no surprise because it wouldn't be the first time that a particular country has been out to damage the business of a successful foreign company.
JBoo on 29 Jan '12 said:
I think it's more the so-called 'Internet Gaming Media' that want Handhelds to fail i.e the 3DS was getting bad press for silly little things & now the PSVita is getting bad press for silly little things to :-/ Or maybe they just don't want a gaming world with Nintendo & SONY in it? I would give up gaming if that happened
MD1500 on 29 Jan '12 said:
Yep, as I've said in the past - Just because you can get a £10 meal from McDonalds, there's still room for Restaurants offering three course meals at more expensive prices... People are willing to pay more for a deeper experience.
a3HeadedMonkey on 29 Jan '12 said:
I have always bought a dedicated handheld each gen. Apart from this one, I bought an Xperia Play instead. There's your evidence for you. Sorry to p**s on your fireworks.
In fact, it's probably one of the best handhelds I've ever owned. It just happens to be a phone to.
Richyrich316 on 29 Jan '12 said:
The comment about Xperia play is valid to a point & that point is unless you load it up with emulators there is not that much actually available for it to match the kind of gaming experience you can get on other dedicated handhelds.
And with Xperia play bombing pretty quickly & sony now releasing Vita which so far performance wise has not set the world on fire will be interesting to see how the western launches pan out sony must realise they need to up their game or Vita could be a costly venture for them.
The only thing I dislike about the dedicated portables is that their games should be around £30 max & not £40-£45 each like standard consoles.
a3HeadedMonkey on 29 Jan '12 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthr ... ?t=1217060
lol
slick loose on 29 Jan '12 said:
Cool list, any of them you recommend? I'm currently playing Dead Space and it aint great but i's free! I'm also playing Final Fantasy via a NES emulator...it is an awesome hand held
a3HeadedMonkey on 29 Jan '12 said:
I had Dead Space when it was free too & didn't think it was much cop either.
I'd recommend:
Shadowgun
Riptide
Raging Thunder 2
Reckless Racing
TrialsX & TrialsX2
GTAIII
Modern Combat 3
Minecraft PE
Ground Effect Pro
The PES & Tiger Woods PGA games are supposed to be really good too, but I'm not that sporty so haven't tried them myself.
There's also a few JRPG's on there you might like, but again, not my type of thing.
slick loose on 29 Jan '12 said:
How do GTAIII and Modern Combat 3 translate? Also, do you have problems with the control sticks...I can use them but they are not ideal. Is it just me 'cos someone else told me they were perfect for him.
a3HeadedMonkey on 29 Jan '12 said:
It depends on the game & how well the developer uses them. For Shadowgun they are perfect, but for most Gameloft games they are a bit gash.
Modern Combat 3 & GTAIII play really nicely. No problems with the controls at all.
I found the update to GTAIII crashed my phone though. Wasn't happy at all. I liked the changes they made but they somehow killed the game. I had to track down a cracked apk of v1.0 to get it back. I'd still advise buying it, but try & track down the 1.0 version online after. Might be able to help you out with that. I also use this in conjunction with it.
slick loose on 29 Jan '12 said:
Cool, so the thumb sticks can be made to work then? I just find aiming accurately hard on Dead Space and so I end up using the screen. I've had some trouble steering on OnLive too...
Kintypoo121 on 29 Jan '12 said:
I do agree that a handheld such as the 3DS or Vita has its purpose, to solely be a dedicated experience and to offer AAA titles from great developers.
The games on smartphones on offer aren't the greatest in my opinion, but then I feel the emulator aspect makes older handhelds a bit redundant as I can happily play Sonic and Mario games from the 16-bit era quite comfortably on my phone (Though the controls are not the greatest, but workable), so no need for my Advance anymore. If smartphones do catch up with the hardware then who knows, I wouldn't mind playing emulated PS2 games I used to own on it for free instead of forking out £30 for a 3DS game.
Padua on 29 Jan '12 said:
Smartphones won't kill handhelds but they are eroding their customer base. "Casuals" may be a dirty word but touch games appeal to them along with only carrying one device. If anything, I see hand-helds offering phone features. If you can't beat them, join them
A dual-core 1Gb Ram Xperia Play update would be a beautiful thing. Even more so if it was actually a slimmer version of a Vita.
razors edge on 29 Jan '12 said:
I phone/text people with my phone and I play games on my 3DS (which has now been upgraded with the Circle Pad Pro attachment and looks appealing to me in an ugly-cute way much like a French Bulldog). Never the twain shall meet.
slick loose on 29 Jan '12 said:
You should never cross the two.
Why?
It would be bad.
I'm fuzzy on the whole "good/bad" thing. What do you mean, "bad"?
Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously, and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Right, that's bad. Okay. All right, important safety tip. Thanks, slick.
You're welcome. Where the f**k am I....
Sentinator on 29 Jan '12 said:
Bro its not just the media wanting them to fail. Analysts, fanboys, haters, even investors. Nintendo are just trying to come up with different approaches and they're getting scrutinised for it. When 3DS wasn't selling hot "just stick with a normal controller and stop the gimmicks! SIMPELZ!" Except when they did that with Gamecube most of them didn't buy it.
steve w on 29 Jan '12 said:
What an odd saying never heard of it before had to google it.
KK-Headcharge78 on 29 Jan '12 said:
While hand helds offer a more rich gaming experience if people think that playing a puzzle game on a phone for 69p will also mean that same consumer will happily pay for a puzzle game on a handheld for 10s of £ then sorry but you are deluded. In short if smartphone gaming has no effect then explain where the multi-billion dollar smartphone game industry has come from, thin air? To suggest these consumer groups are mutually exclusive is ridiculous as is to assume they will buy both, I for one used to have generations of handhelds but now see little point when the free time I do have (out and about) is easily satisfied with my iphone.
ps played a Vita yesterday, played Fifa, Ridge Racer and that black and white Limbo type game. Looks fantastic, feels good but after 1/2 an hour of play could not imagine paying what is a stupidly expensive price. When it is £130 I may consider having one.
fatherofthenoo on 29 Jan '12 said:
I have always bought a dedicated handheld each gen. Apart from this one, I bought an Xperia Play instead. There's your evidence for you. Sorry to p**s on your fireworks.
In fact, it's probably one of the best handhelds I've ever owned. It just happens to be a phone to.
One person is hardly representative. Sorry to p**s on your fireworks.
lordirongut on 29 Jan '12 said:
Actually, yes, a fair amount of it probably has come from thin air. People who would never have considered spending money independently on a gaming machine now have smartphones which are indispensable tools of everyday life. It's far easier for them to plunge 69p, or sometimes even less than that, than go spend a minimum of £100 on a DS and £30 on a game. There is crossover, of course, but a lot of serious gamers simply aren't satisfied by bite-sized games alone - I'm one of those people. It's fine to play Doodle Jump when I'm in a queue or something, but I'll never prefer it to a full-on experience like the 3DS or Vita can provide. Especially since I travel as much as I do, I like something that I can easily spend long periods of time on. My phone is an Xperia Play as well, and even with emulators it'll never for me compare to a PSP, DS, 3DS or Vita, or even the platforms that I'm emulating. It was designed as a phone - a utalitarian tool - first and a gaming device second, where the PSP, DS, 3DS and Vita are designed from the ground up to provide entertainment and only entertainment.
a3HeadedMonkey on 29 Jan '12 said:
Yep, cos' I'm the only one! lol, dick.