not surprising when nintendo treats NA as third rate customers. plus a newer one with a ugly nipple analog stick is on the horizon after everone else gets it.

People need to realize a shit load of people bought the DS multiple times. I remember my Dad buying my 3 sisters a DS and over it's lifespan bought at least 5 replacements.

They all (plus my mother) have ipads now. How the times change. My cousins house is the same. They bought multiple DS' over it';s life for their 2 kids that played it. And my younger cousin is at the age where every kid used to be addicted to the DS and now all he wants is temple run and other shit but addicting games on their ipad.

A new 3DS will boost sales for a little while and that's it. The thing is Nintendo to stay future proof had to invent the iphone instead of apple. If they had any foresight they would have seen that as the way to go. But i'm being wise after the fact.

Anyway the point is Nintendo will have their work cut out getting their nose back into the mobile market. the dedicated gaming ship has sailed.

It's a worthwhile topic because really its Nintendo's core business. 

People make such a fuss about the Wii U on this board, but really I don't think Nintendo internally gives that much of a crap if the Wii U is selling 300k a quarter versus 450k (whoopity doo). Whereas 3DS sales are barely discussed on this board. 

The 3DS I gauruntee it is the thing that's keeping Iwata awake at night, not the Wii U. 

They can deal with low console sales, they have been really for the better part of 15-16 years now, since about the middle point of the N64 generation when people started getting fed up with a lack of software. Nintendo has been dealing with poor console sales with the exception of a 4-year boom period with the Wii which has long since passed away.

But handhelds? That has been thier bread & butter, if handheld yearly shipments start to sink to the 10 million range or even lower, Nintendo is in some trouble, yes the GBC/GBA saved Nintendo's bacon during the late 1990s and 2000s, but they were selling far better than the 3DS is now on a yearly basis. 

The other worrying thing I see when looking at 3DS sales is virtually no hardware boost at for Smash Bros ... makes me think Nintendo has basically maxed out the appeal of their franchise IP with the 45 million or so who already own a 3DS. 3DS which once seemed like a lock for 100 million, now probably is in a fight to get to 70 mill. 

So rather than talking 3DS shitty sales we should be talking about what Nintendo need to do to turn things around for the company.

Much more intresting then pointing out the obvious over and over

It'll pickup when more games are released. Pokemon ORAS should do a bit when chartz are updated,

I'm not sure if there's a lot that can be done. 

The problem is when given a choice (which they weren't in the past), people are just fine with $1/free games on the go. 

No one is dying to play high quality video games on the go, it's like expecting a steak dinner when you're at a McDonalds, no one expects or even wants that. They are fine with a $2 burger made by a 16-year-old and some french fries.  

Smartphone games are cheap/free, extremely accessible (no buttons) for casuals and kids, and get the job as far as occupying people's time. 

Nintendo may have to accept that $40 games for starters is just not a workable price point for the mass audience, but I think that will be extremely difficult for them to let go. Iwata has railed against declining software prices for years now and Nintendo does not like to drop their software prices at all, but consumers are tuning them out in the process. There are other issues beyond that too. 

Smash Bros. caused almost no bump in the US whatsoever ... which is kinda disturbing. That's Nintendo's third or fourth biggest IP. 

Not sure if Pokemon will either since I would imagine by this point most Pokemon owners probably moved in on the 3DS last year at the latest. 

People saying the new3DS isn't the reason for this quick taper will be proven to be sorely mistaken.

Likening the new3DS to the 2DS is just ludicrous, as that was a downgrade rather than an upgrade, so to the people who do that; shame on you.

I've personally not yet bought into the 3DS, but the new3DS strikes me as bringing just the right amount of fixes and upgrades for me to get on board. And all the people who never upgraded past their launch model are naturally not going to get a 3DSXL at this point either.

The 3DS is, after all, a device for the nerdier crowd, with a considerably higher average age of the owners than any Nintendo handheld before it, so I will assume almost everybody to be acutely aware of the two new models coming up.

3DS sales were fading even before Nintendo announced the New 3DS, in fact they've kinda gotten a tad better since the New 3DS announcement so that whole arguement goes out the window really quick. 

New 3DS is more for double dippers IMO, the average parent/kid buying a 3DS this late in its lifecycle doesn't know or doesn't care about an analog nub. 

The "nerd audience" already have a 3DS by and large, I mean Nintendo has thrown virtually everything they can at it (Pokemon, Mario Land, Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario Golf, Paper Mario, Mario & Luigi, Luigi's Mansion 2, Animal Crossing, Smash Brothers, Monster Hunter, Tomodachi, Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, Bravely Default, Shin Megami Tensei, Zelda: Link Between Worlds, Zelda: Oot 3D).

If none of that could convince you to buy one yet, I doubt a second analog nipple or some face plates will do the trick.

No it didn't.  It has shipped only 2.63 million as of Sept. 30th.  That is more than eleven and a half months, and it is still quite a way from 3 million sell through.

Where are you people getting this from?

No, no they didn't.