I think $130 is a bit steep for essentially a 7 year old system with a bigger screen. I might consider buying one if it was $70.
DSi, DSi XL price drops on May 20
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Nintendo cutting price of DSi to $100 and DSi XL to $130 later this month, as a means to provide "even greater incentive to pick up the systems."
Gamers on the market for a DSi or a DSi XL may want to wait a couple of weeks. Nintendo today announced that it will cut the prices for both systems on May 20. The DSi will drop to $100 (from $150), and the DSi XL will be available on that day for $130 (from $170).
Wal-Mart has already put the price cut for the DSi XL into effect. The system is available today from the company's website for the discounted $130 rate.
The DSi and DSi XL price cuts will make the 3DS the most expensive Nintendo portable on the market. That system presently retails for $170, after its price was slashed by nearly a third from a launch price of $250.
Nintendo said the DSi and DSi XL price cuts will provide "an even greater incentive to pick up the systems," which currently boasts a software lineup of more than 2,000 games. May 20 also marks the release date for Mario Tennis Open and the new midnight purple 3DS.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
64 comments
1 Like Hello there. I have the DSi XL, and mine is pretty much aussie gold & black.
It's the best version of the original DS you can find. That is, if like me, you enjoyed the clicky buttons and d-pad of the original DS phat. Not owning a regular dsi I have no idea whether it's just the same as that with bigger screens....but it does have BIGGER SCREENS - and frankly bigger screen is better, although you do feel embarrased to be holding something so large tbh.
Still waiting for the 3DS XL. 3D on that sort of screen would be awesome. And maybe put that second control pad on there, eh?
Didn't Apple jjust drop their iPod 4G prices...? Does this mean a new iPod may be coming out soon?
Dsi XL is beautiful. Too bad the resolution is almost offensive. At that screen size you don't just see the pixels. You can put your finger on the black space between the pixels!
@Trickymaster Yes, that is the first thing I noticed when I first powered mine on, but once I started playing Animal Crossing it became less obvious (my eyes/brain adjusted).
2 Like Making the DSiXL $129.99 isn't going to make people buy it still. For $40 more, you could just buy the 3DS and play 3DS/DS/DSi games on one system.
2 Like I wrote a blog piece on why we (as gamers) still need handheld game systems. You can find it by going to my profile page, but the basic point is this: Smartphones are good for diversions, but they're less than optimal for high-quality gaming for a number of reasons.
If I'm waiting at the dentist, my smartphone might be fine for a quick game. But if I have a two-hour flight or take a road trip to visit my grandmother, I really appreciate having high-quality gaming options that can fit in my pocket.
The price drop on the DSi and DSi XL was long overdue.
2 Like smart phones might be everywhere.but both are not the same.gaming on mobile phones suck.and some of the versions of games on mobile devices are not as fun or interesting to play as would on a handheld!nice on the price cut though.at least people who can't afford the 3ds now can still grab this offer!
It seems strange that these price cut's haven't come sooner. heck at those prices it'd be just far better to get a 3DS. Hell it can play DS games and download DSi ware games.
1 Like I love my DSi. I don't care what anybody says, Nintendo handhelds are awesome and I can spend hundreds of hours on it anywhere I want.
2 Like @ecurl143 something tells me if I was to pick up a 3ds I would most likely pick up mostley DSi games
Hand-held gaming units are a dying breed. It's really as simple as that. They're losing boatloads of money to the developers who make games for the Android/OS X that cater to the casual gamer. There was a time when hand-held gamers were thought of as casual gamers, but that's not true anymore.
What they need to do is start winding down from the hand-held market and developing for smartphones. Then they need to make a push to make non-casual games for their consoles.
Not saying it's going to easy for them, but they're a dying company and something needs to change.
@airshocker they might not be as popular, but that doesnt mean they should change , the 3ds already sold a million more than the ds in the same amount of time which means dedicated handhelds are still doing really well. i cant say the same for the vita, but i am sure when it gets a well known game, it will do wellbesides there is a reason why game on all this phones and tablets are so cheap, its because those games are not as deep or complex or have the amount of content as an actual game. i mean yeah there are ports of some console games and spin offs too, but normally the mayority of those games are like minigames, games that you would normally find in the psn store or the eshop or xbox live market placethe fact that the 3ds is doing well proves that there is still many people who want to have a deep experience in their pockets
@airshocker it's obvious that most of you tend to misunderstand airshocker and his argument, which is quite right. Don't think about you're own preferences, because it's is without a single doubt that handhelds aren't as popular as they were in the 90's and early 00's. You can find many great games on the DS (i have an earlier message in here stating it's one of the best libraries since the PS2).But it is TRUE when he calls them obsolete, or at least "almost obsolete", because it is expected that handhelds do more and more, so the cost of them gets greater, yet sales lower. Graphics will always be a thing that defines the next generation of a console, Nintendo does not agree with that, which is why the wii was a commercial succes, but a grand failure when it came to actually appealing to what is now known as the "hardcore" gamer.I think (<- opinion) that the DS is gonna be one of the last "true" handhelds, because people just don't care for this anymore. Kids have cellphones today, and kids don't give a rats butt about controls! This is fact! You never heard kids say "i can't play this game, the controls suck!", kids do with whatever they get, so the iPhone or Android device, is more than satisfying for them. Most of the time they can get great puzzlers and good looking action games for no money at all.I hate playing on the cellphone, and prefer my PSP, heck even my Gameboy Color gives me a lot of fun, and i do want a 3DS seeing as the library is a bit better, but to be honost i only really think of myself using these devices in the bathroom (guess what) or when i travel on a plane... I simply find more satisfaction in games on the PC or consoles and i am pretty sure the majority feels that way.Sales are telling differently of course, but they are loosing money and that's a big pile of "no no" in the business worldOh and by the way, before you flame me about the Wii, i do have one and i have scouted out great games for it and like it a lot, so don't go fanboy on my ass :)
2 Like @airshocker i agreed that the handled is falling down, but keep in mind that handled games are not nearly as shallow and "disposable" as the android games, handleds nowdays offer u console feeling on the go, sure android are more cheaper but really most of those game u play it one or times and is done, while many of the handled actually require to play them for more time
That doesn't matter when the vast majority of casual gamers just want something to play with for those five or ten minutes when they have nothing to do. You can't sell a hand-held to those kinds of people. What you can sell, however, is a game that they can download in a minute and play whenever they need to.
1 Like @airshocker Fortunately the Wii was the console that brought the casual crowds to gaming and it help brought Nintendo back to first pace this gen so why was that a fail?
Ha why would Nintendo or even Sony would want to bother making games on a device that aren't even part of their own product. You had to realize there's more to Nintendo and Sony than just their handhelds and consoles. Heck Nintendo making only one new Mario and one new Zelda game for one gen on both their consoles and handhelds are enough to help them survive an entire generation of gaming. With games like Pokemon, Mario Kart, Dragon Quest, Monster Hunter, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Super Mario, Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Contra, Castlevania, Kingdom Hearts, BlazBlue, Harvest Moon, Kirby, F-Zero, Star Fox, Kid Icarus, and Super Mario on Nintendo's handheld, why would they want to take away all the awesomeness of those games and limit them to be play on an annoying device with limited compatibility and the worst control than even that of the Game.com?
Your response doesn't start in the best way, for yourself i mean.
Who are you to say who is a hardcore gamer or not? Who said a handheld gamer can't be hardcore? From that alone, it is obvious how short sided you are on your views. You do not have to clear anything like you say, because honestly i don't think you know what you are talking about. Out of curiosity, what is hardcore to you anyways? A Pc player? A console player? Handhelds are not serious gaming devices to you?
You are taking your personal views on this matter and making it seem you are the one in the right, but facts speak for themselves. The DS sold over 150 million units so far, the 3DS on it's first year is above 15 million and breaking the DS record for that time. You cannot say all of those players are casual players, because the first people to buy a system are HARDCORE gamers.The Vita is having a slow start, but it might pick up. Not bad for a dead market.
We are talking about dedicated gaming machines, so obviously phones sell more, but only a fraction of the people who buy them will use them for playing.
It's funny how you called me a minority, when in fact you are. Saying you find the same experience from a handheld on a phone, well i have to say you really are a minority on this.
The most laughable argument you presented though, is still the hardcore one. A handheld gamer is beneath a Pc gamer or a console gamer... That makes no sense at all. A person that enjoys games, regardless of what the platform is, can easily be considered hardcore, despite if it's a handheld or not.
I have a 360, a 1 month old Pc with plenty of steam games, a gamecube, a DS, an N64, a 3Ds and plenty of retro systems you probably have not even heard of. I Guarantee you, that even if i only played my DS, im more of an hardcore player than you will ever be.
You aren't a hardcore gamer when you have a hand-held. Lets clear that up before we go any further. Just because there is a group that is more casual than you are doesn't change the fact that you are still beneath those who game on consoles and the PC. I'm not saying that as an insult, so please don't think it is.
I disagree, you can have that experience on the phone. To this day I still play Game Dev Story. It's as satisfying as any other simulation game I've played on a hand-held.
Assumption? I haven't assumed anything. I'm using the financial health of both Sony and Nintendo as I form my opinion. Casual gaming didn't work on a console(the Wii), and it's being destroyed on the hand-helds by smartphone gamers.
Not a soul cares about 3D. There's a reason why 3D TVs don't sell as well as more expensive LED TVs and there's a reason 3D movie sales don't do as well as regular movie ticket sales.
As I've already said, you are a minority. If Nintendo and Sony want to stay alive they should start developing games for smartphones.
1 Like I really do not agree with you, and your perspective to handheld gaming.
Having a game on a phone for casual play is ok, if that is your thing that is fine. But like you correctly pointed out, that market is for casual players only. The hardcore crowd does not play games on a phone the same way they do on a handheld, which has higher quality products, and truly satisfying experiences. That kind of experience you simply cannot have on a phone.
You are basing your opinion, and assumption that the handheld market is "doomed" based on casual players alone, ignoring the hardcore which, if the software is good, support whatever game machine they prefer, including handhelds. There is still market for those players, and from a business perspective, handhelds still( and will, in my opinion) make perfect sense.
You cannot compare the experience of playing a console like game on the go through a 3DS in full 3D, or with the Vita and the games it provides. It simply is not the same thing.
When you refer to handhelds being obsolete, well in my opinion you are dead wrong on that one. Name me a phone that can do 3D, or that provides the same experience a 3DS does, or a Vita does.
There are still people out there that don't care about games on phones, because the experience is short and shallow, and targeted to the casual gamer who is not interested in a better gaming experience.
A lot of players out there (like me, and im not a teenager anymore) do not want their dose of Angry birds, or any other games that get boring after a few minutes. We want the best experience possible on the go, with the same quality as on a console, and we will pay for it if the quality is there.
As long as there is hardcore players demanding quality and deep experiences on the go, in my opinion, handhelds won't go anywhere.
1 Like I somewhat agree... i agree that handhelds are maybe not as popular in the sense that, phones are everywhere and are starting to get a lot of games on it, but for nintendo or sony to start dropping handhelds are focus on smart phones would be dumb, you just do not get the same experience that you get on a handheld
You do not get a good story, you do not get the satisfaction of a dedicated gaming device in your hands... there is a difference from a smart phone game, which will entertain me on a car ride to school, or in the last ten minutes in class, and a hand held game, which will keep me busy on vacation, at home when the consoles are taken up, when i know i am going on a long car ride to grannys...
I think that the handhelds are not doing as well as they used to but they are still fun and if anything they need to take a different approach to handhelds, not a smartphone approach, but maybe more of a ps vita approach... i have one and my brother has a 3DS and they are both really fun, but honestly, the ps vita has more titles that i would enjoy... i can play MK on it and in the future even COD, AC, and bioshock.... but i still love the 3ds and all the games on it.... i can play my mario, and my pokemon(dsi).
That was my first "rant"/"argument", since like 2010, so i hope that it was clear enough for everyone to understand and why hand helds are still good! Thank You for your time!
I never said handhelds weren't fun. My point is that they're obsolete. When I can get damn near the same experience on my phone for a fraction of the cost, obviously that's what I'm going to do.
From a business perspective, hand-helds are losers. The point of a business is to expand its market. Hand-helds are simply not going to sell to adults. They've already got iPods, their phones, and iPads/tablets. What do they need a hand-held gaming device when they can use all of that?
You're obviously young and in a position where having a hand-held gaming device is convenient for you. I'm not. What's convenient is my phone. If they start making decent games for it, I will buy them. What I won't do is buy a hand-held when my phone can do the same thing.
4 Like @airshocker Saying handhelds are obsolete due to smartphones and tablets being able to do much more is like saying your local grocery store is obsolete cuz of Wal-Mart. Just because something had a bunch of crap on it doesn't mean they are better.
1 Like
What you highly doubt is irrelevant. If these hand-helds aren't a dying breed then why are Nintendo and Sony in trouble financially?
Pure hand-held gamers are in the minority and as it's been shown with the roaring success of smart phone gaming, they're not selling to people who wouldn't mind playing games on hand-held devices.
3 Like "Obsolete"? Maybe to graphics whores and those who only game casual (iGadget crowd).
Me? I love the DS Lite. It does everything I want a gaming device to do, has some pretty damn good games, and doesn't cost much. Plus, I still enjoy my old GBA favs on it.
Apperantly, I ain't the only one who feels this way: the DS has outsold EVERY 7th gen gaming device to date; PS3, 360 and even the Wii. A "dying breed"? I highly doubt it.
Just because a device had a shit load of features and a bunch of shovelwares doesn't mean real gaming handhelds are obsolete. That's like saying your neighborhood grocery store is obsolete cuz your city had a Wal-Mart Super Center. A lesson to be learn, more doesn't always mean better.
Ppl who buy a device for multiple features aren't really a gamer, just a multimedia addict who just had to get more of the same craps. Also iPhones, iPads, and tablets, they lack something real gaming handheld had for ages now, great exclusives, quality first party titles, in-dept games, smooth and traditional controls, durability, and compatibility (meaning games that works on a predecessor would still work here).
Lastly it plays real games (games that in 20 years from now will still work), not just roms or files downloaded from a cheap apps store that probably wouldn't last anyways.
2 Like I'll pick up a DSi XL when they reach $100. I can't believe they're still trying to sell them for $170. I can get a 3DS for that much!
1 Like DS lite or original have the GBA slot. DSi and DSi XL does not. For me, there is NO value in the DSi line at all without the GBA. PASS.
The only reason I see in harking on this incentive is if you're hunting for limited edition versions of the handheld console.. or FlipNote !!
This comment has been deleted
@The_Dragon_Born Insane? In Brazil DSi is U$350, 3DS is U$500 and PS Vita U$700.
New releases for 360/PS3/PC are U$60 there, and here is U$150.
Luckilly, for the games issue, we have Steam ;)
There'll be more, higher quality games coming out for the 3DS in time. As for the headaches... those will never increase in quality.
5 Like Don't really see any reason a person would want a DSi over a 3DS, but still a good move by Nintendo to lower the price. Should have happened a while ago.
1 Like Agreed. If you're gonna get a DS, it may as well be the DS Lite since it can play GBA games. The DSiWare games for DSi/DSiXL just aren't as good as the GBA catalog.
I still find it absurd that Nintendo charges more for DSi when you're actually getting less. Nintendo nixed GBA compatibility in exchange for the DSiWare downloadables. And, no, crappy cameras and s___ty DSiWare games don't count as an "upgrade".
2 Like @Superzone Yeah, I say the Nintendo 3DS is better buy right now than the DSi. Don't count on a redesign of the 3DS anytime soon. You can always trade in the current model if one does come out soon, but Nintendo already mentioned they were happy with the current model. I do not see a need to spend more money for an upgrade right now, maybe in the next 3-4 years. The current 3DS is great as it is.
1 Like Good. The DSi XL was too high when it was the same price as the 3DS. The DSi needed a price drop as well. The Nintendo 3DS is accurately priced at $169 now.
6 Like About time. Selling the XL and 3DS at the same price made absolutely no sense. They should have been price dropped the day the 3DS went down.
5 Like @gix47 uh no it just had a price drop, plus they can't afford to sell it for any cheaper.
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