| RolStoppable said: It wasn't only a bad decision, it was a terrible decision. Let's look at the pros and cons: +A tiny minority likes the feature. -The vast majority either doesn't care or dislikes 3D. -Drove up the production costs of the system and thus the MSRP. -Huge drain on the battery life. -Doesn't improve games in any notable way. -Making it the main selling point (calling the system "3DS") gave the impression that everything is going to be 3D on this handheld. Which is disastrous when you consider how big the demand for 2D gameplay titles is, especially on handhelds and especially when it comes to Nintendo-made games. -3D led to (sensationalist) negative press. These are the facts and they are supported by the widespread disinterest in the 3DS and the continuously disappointing sales in America and Europe. Consumers saw so little value in this feature that Nintendo was forced to do a major price drop and run their business at a loss. Nintendo hoped that 3D would be a big asset to their eighth generation handheld, but it became a huge burden. Their focus on 3D is draining their cash reserves. As for the notion that without 3D the "3DS" would have been seen as just a better DSi, that wouldn't have been a bad thing at all. Remember, people loved the DSi. Selling a better DSi would have been the easiest thing to do for Nintendo and consumers wouldn't have complained. After all, nobody complained that the PS2 was just a better PS1. But people started to complain when the PS3 wasn't just a better PS2, but wanted to be something else, wanted to be much more. The 3DS is pretty similar in that it wanted to make 3D mainstream. Nintendo's goal should have been to make gaming more mainstream. |
Rol, if "The vast majority either doesn't care or dislikes 3D" was a verifiable fact you would be able to produce solid statistics and market research to suggest that poor sales are due specifically to that. But you can't. We could just as easily infer that poor western 3DS sales are due to the infringement of smartphone/tablet apps on the Nintendo's traditional portable gaming market. There is about as much evidence out there to support that assertion as any of your own.
I'm not saying your assertions are necessarily wrong, but the fact that te 3DS is struggling in the west certainly doesn't prove them.
I don't think that the inclusion of 3D was a mistake, quite the contrary, it gave the 3DS a way of differentiating itself from smartphones and tablets. In my opinion the two big mistakes were.
1. No second analogue stick on day one (although I don't think anyone would disagree with this).
2. Not providing downloadable 3D feature films from day one.
