It’s no secret that the Nintendo 3DS has been slow to catch on with buyers, with it just hitting 1 million units sold in Japan after nearly four months and sales for it slowing down in everywhere else. Nintendo president of America Reggie Fils-Aime thinks the bad times are over because the company’s not only identified the two major issues that kept buyers from snapping the new glasses-free handhelds up, but also solved the problem.
Fils-Aime says that 1) there was no strong first-party game to fuel buyers (i.e. Mario, Zelda or Metroid) and 2) the 3DS’s online functions weren’t ready at the time of release leading consumers to think the machine was half-ready. With the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and the new firmware update that launched during E3 that includes the eShop and Virtual Console with classic GameBoy titles, Fils-Aime believes the 3DS should regain the uptick in momentum that it experienced during its launch week.
Surprisingly, Fils-Aime made no mention that the harsh 3D effects might be turning consumers off. What do you think? Were those two factors what held you back from buying a 3DS?
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