More good news for those excited about the 3DS. It seems that while the 3DS will not be pre-loaded with the eShop or Internet Browser, they can be acquired on the very first day (unless some unforeseen issues occur with Nintendo's servers, of course). Why did they do this? We don't know for sure, but a likely reason is that they wanted to start production of the 3DS but they simply didn't have the eShop and/or Internet Browser ready yet. Given that, this was the best decision possible to meet the launch dates with a fair supply of 3DSs, but I'm sure there will be quite a group of people that get a 3DS and just assume it doesn't have an internet browser or it's own "app store". Which they will mention to their friends and family which will mention it to their friends and family, etc. If the Japanese commercials are an example, they won't highlight the browser or eShop in early commercials and I think the falsehood could end up pushing people to the "no buy" side of the fence.
Maybe I'm being paranoid, but it seems to me that people really dig multi-purpose devices, and they generally learn about those purposes through commercials and by word of mouth, and very easily those parts could be overlooked by both methods.
UPDATE - So a Nintendo of America representative didn't reconfirm it, saying:
"Games and services offered by Nintendo can vary by region. Nintendo of America will release additional information about Nintendo eShop, including timing, content and pricing, at a later date." - Charlie Scibetta
But instead simply reminded the person that asked that services can vary by region. If you're not aware, the 3DS is coming out a few days earlier in Europe than it is in the U.S. so it stands to reason that if the eShop is available day one for them, it wouldn't be a big deal getting it up for launch day or a few days after for the U.S. launch.
Got anything to say about this story? Let me know in the comments.
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Again, something that makes me wonder why they would release the system without a fully functioning online eShop channel...or even internet browser.
ReplyDeleteI expect it will be confirmed for release day though, and I really hope it is...because I like portable WiFi internet enabled devices, and I think my iPod Touch's battery is giving out...and an internet browser would be nice to have on the 3DS.
Yeah, like I said it seems the reason might be that they didn't have the software ready (or maybe still don't) when they started producing 3DSes for the consumer.
ReplyDeleteI doesn't seem like the DS is dying that quickly, so I'm left thinking they're just really worried about having another 3D screened product hit the market before their 3DS and are rushing things where they can, to some extent.
@WesFX:
ReplyDeleteWell, they've been working on the 3DS for quite a while...so not having the software ready seems like extremely poor management of resources/time.
They had working 3DS units at E3 this past year, and from all appearances, those units are the exact same units that will be shipping soon...
On a hardware level, yes, they are likely the same. But there's no way to know when they had the idea for the software in the first place. Anything we saw at E3 and didn't have the chance to mess with could have been a mock-up.
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