Explain why Raf.

The vita and 3DS are on opposite ends of the store near my house.  The 3DS is front and center in glass cases while the vita its game and accessories are in the back left near the demo unit and next to ps3 stuff.

The original source removed the claim that this is an official price drop. They say it may just be from a single retailer.

Their both dedicated gaming handhelds and we all know they compete, why argue this?

Too soon, they already had an 80$ price cut like a year ago. 3DS is not selling bad is just not DS levels but hey smartphones.

im not aruging the fact they compete, just that they are side by side physically in most areas.

Oh, okay. It could depend on where people live right? In Canada, I usually always find the videogame stuff together (XB, PS, Nint), usually either Nintendo section, PS section, XB section, or Handheld section, Home console section.

Maybe where you live they're at different ends, and it could depend on whether it's a game shop, a toy store or a general store.

Seems odd. 3DS starts turning a profit on hardware as of July, 4 months later = cut price further. Seems like a hard sell to make to the shareholders. Especially if the competition is... nowhere.

Of course, if the idea is to remove the competition from the market then I can understand it a little better. Short term losses for long term profits. Still, with them launching the Wii-U at a minor loss (along with all the associated R&D + marketing) then I just don't particularly understand. It's the wrong time. I see no reason to make this move at this moment in time.

I guess we'll find out soon enough!

I don`t think a price drop would help them in the long run. If the games aren`t there - and they aren`t there - then a price cut effect would not last.

To me there are two things 3DS needs: games and a redesign that makes it look completely different from how it looks.
If people aren`t aware DS and 3DS will really look like a enhanced version of DS.
Nintendo should have done this since the very beginning.

The games are there. For the new user there's lots of evergreens already (mostly Mario though - but 3 big ones)

Price is mostly everything. Why do you think Japan responded so well to the price cut killing the DS into oblivion? Because they maintained the DSi price the same as the 3DS and the DSi XL the same as the 3DS XL. I don't buy this "consumers can't see one is better than the other theory", a lot of people just go to the cheaper one - if the cheapest one is the 3DS - hooray! At least close this price gap, imo. A 99 system against 169 will make a lot of people choose the former one - especially on holidays.

NIntendo of america and europe clearly wants to sell more DSs, while nintendo of Japan don't want to see its face anymore.