Nintendo 3DS Price and Launch Date Roundup

The handheld console that captured the hearts and minds of hardcore gamers last E3 is finally coming to North America and Europe. The Nintendo 3DS, the next iteration of the device that won’t stop selling, is hitting stores on March 27 and will run a whopping $249.99. For the starting price, you get quite a few extra goodies which are: a 2GB SD card, a charging cradle and six Augmented Reality cards. If you’re unclear on what an Augmented Reality (shortened to AR) card is, it’s a little expansion that plugs into your 3DS and overlays images on pictures captured through your 3DS’s camera, sort of like that Star Wars iPhone game we posted about a while back.

Besides a bunch of additional dongles, the 3DS also comes packaged with quite a bit of software out of the box. The aforementioned camera is used quite a bit with these features, like the AR games and Face Raiders, which consists of taking pictures of your friend’s faces and then shooting at them. Also included is the Mii Maker which uses the 3DS’s camera to construct your Mii, and the StreetPass Mii Plaza where you can meet other Miis (I’m going to be calling this the Miit Market). Also included is the ability to transfer purchased DSiWare games from 3DS to 3DS or from a DSi to a 3DS. This being Nintendo, there is a certain limit to what can be transfered, but that hasn’t been announced yet. There are additional services that will be implemented in the 3DS in the coming months like the Internet browser and the ability to watch 3D movies.

As we’ve said many times, the thing that moves consoles are games and the 3DS has no shortage of those, with an expected 30 titles to be available between its launch date and the next E3. Sadly, Ocarina of Time, Kid Icarus and Metal Gear Solid are not specified in that list, but hit the jump to find out what the games are set to coincide with the release date:

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked (Atlus)
Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition (Capcom)
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (Capcom)
Madden NFL Football (EA Sports)
The Sims 3 (Electronic Arts)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D (Konami)
LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (LucasArts)
Ridge Racer 3D (Namco Bandai)
Dual Pen Sports (Namco Bandai)
Super Monkey Ball 3D (Sega)
Thor: God of Thunder (Sega)
Crush 3D (Sega)
Bust-a-Move Universe (Square Enix)
Samurai Warriors Chronicles (Tecmo Koei)
Dead or Alive Dimensions (Tecmo Koei)
Asphalt 3D (Ubisoft)
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Shadow Wars (Ubisoft)
Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D (Ubisoft)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3D (Ubisoft)
Rayman 3D (Ubisoft)
Rabbids Travel in Time (Ubisoft)

That’s all that has been confirmed for now, but I know we’re all waiting on baited breath for the Ocarina of Time, Star Fox and MGS dates.

So, that’s Nintendo’s newest competition crusher, laid bare for you examination. I don’t think I’ll be picking this up day one, what with all the other games coming out around the same time (Dragon Age 2, Pokemon: Black and Portal 2 are all within striking distance). What about you guys though? Excited for the 3DS? Is this a must buy, or are you holding out for something?

Source: Wired