New Nintendo 3DS and New 3DS XL launch in Australia and New Zealand in 2014

This is crazy! Can’t believe Tom Enoki wrangled this deal. It makes sense, we’re a small market so supply constraints won’t be an issue (which I’m assuming is why it’s not launching worldwide)… but what’s to stop Europeans ordering like crazy from Aus!?

Probably the pricetag

any idea when Xenonlade will be out?

while I am just as stunned as anyone, more so of the local exclusive Nintendo Direct, us getting the machine early is just as incredible.

Of course, people in other regions will cry foul, that they somehow deserve this before us, but it is about time Nintendo Australia and by extension Nintendo fans here got treated special.

Awesome news and that Nintendo Direct was pretty good too.

Aaaaand, pre-ordered. Thank You!

Yeah, think I’ll pick one up early. C stick and triggers for smash will be great. The exclusives will come. Anyone else jumping in?

aussie aussie aussie. oi oi oi!

I’ve been wanting a 3DSXL since they first came out in ’12, but couldn’t justify forking out after I’d payed $350 for a launch 3DS only a year prior, thus I certainly will pick up the NEW XL—whether at launch, or around Christmas/ New Year. My biggest problem with the new system is the name. If it were not for the better specs of the NEW 3DS, i’d have no problems, but the fact is, exclusives will be released on the new handheld which will not be compatible with the old. The problem therefore lies in the marketing of this new portable console: how does the common everyday not-so-tech-savy parent, or consumer, differentiate between the existing 3DS consoles, and the new 3DS consoles? Referring to the new one as simply ‘new’, does not help when a parent asks a non-gamer shop assistant what the difference between the two systems is, and whether the 3DS that does not have the ‘new’ labelling is compatible with all 3DS console games. Marketing efforts are also likely to be ignored by ‘everyday’ consumers who will just think the new 3DS ad refers to a product that has been around for 4+ years.

Nintendo have a golden opportunity to reinvent themselves with the new ‘new’ 3DS, and it all comes down to the name. At the very least they should have given it a ‘2.0’ label (i.e. 3DS 2.0/ 3DS XL 2.0), as the ‘2.0’ means something in western cultures—’new’ does not. Of course Nintendo in Japan, and other non-English speaking markets will have no problem effectively differentiating the product as the english word ‘new’ is likely not part of their vocabularies.For Australia it is too late; for the U.K. and North America there remains yet hope.

At the end of the day however, I do acknowledge that, as a lifelong Nintendo fan, I am incredibly thankful for their continued effort in providing us fans with such high quality hardware and software; and by no means am I criticising Nintendo’s effort at releasing new hardware—especially given its early release in Australia—I just hope that, for Nintendo’s sake, things do start to pick up!

Wow, that new 3d viewing feels so real that I can actually feel Nintendo taking the money straight from my pocket.
Seriously though, what a load. Let’s put a camera control button, improve the 3d and make the ds customisable so people use another 200 dollars to replace something that already works and is a few years old.

answered my own question about Xenoblade just by looking at the home page. So it seems like the new machine will be out here in November but there won’t be any real advantage to it until some time in 2015 when the exclusive start to seep out…?

Wow thats a turn up.

Nintendo doing something that makes marketing sense.

I usually wait for a price drop, but with the Aussie dollar tanking at 90c and the great desire to play super stable 3D with C stick – I think I’ll buy now.

…Becuase $800+ each year for a new iPhone because either the software update makes your one year old phone too slow and buggy, or the home button no longer works properly, is a much better deal than spending $250 every 4 years on a decent upgrade to the 3DS (if you consider the fact that the XL, released in 2012, only made the screen size larger, and the 2DS released in ’13 took away the 3D—no fundamental hardware/ software revisions here). I know which company I’d rather trust with my money.

mine!

I’ll get this day one just for the c-stick controls in smash brothers 🙂

Though I am glad that Xenoblade is coming here too. Now all my money is going away 🙁

I got an email from Eb games recently and it said that if you trade in a 3DS XL you can get the new XL for $149 and if you trade in your normal 3DS you can get the new version for $144. Has anyone been able to do a system switch when trading in consoles in store?

A used 3DS XL is worth a lot more on eBay than just the $100 trade-in from that EB deal. Plus you don’t have to hope for some in store transfer thing. I’ll be selling mine within days of the new one launching for at least $150.

@ Dr Luigi: I was allowed to do a system transfer when I upgraded from a 3DS -> XL. I purchased the XL outright, then took it home did the transfer. When I returned the next day with my 3DS, EB gave me a refund of the trade in value difference. In this case it would be $100 refund.