Nintendo Reveals Finalised DS Launch Line-up, Price, Everything...
Satoru Iwata underlines innovation – it’s like connectivity, just different!
At a swanky press conference held in the underbelly of gay Paris this afternoon, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata outlined full launch details for the company’s looming ‘third-pillar’ games console, the Nintendo DS.
The machine will be available across Europe from March 11 and will be priced at €149. The UK price is a recommended retail ask of £99.
The unit has already seen frantic sales in excess of 3 million units, following launches late last year in both the US and Japan.
“Europe is an extremely important market for Nintendo, and we are pleased we can offer such a short period of time between the US and European launch,” was the word today from Iwata-san. “We believe that the Nintendo DS will change the way people play video games and our mission remains to expand the game play experience. Nintendo DS caters for the needs of all gamers whether for more dedicated gamers who want the real challenge they expect, or the more casual gamers who want quick, pick up and play fun.”
The complete day one launch line up reads:
Super Mario 64 DS (Nintendo)
WarioWare Touched! (Nintendo)
Pokémon Dash (Nintendo)
Polarium (Nintendo)
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR (EA)
The URBZ: Sims in the City (EA)
Spider-Man 2 (Activision)
Project Rub (SEGA)
Mr. DRILLER: Drill Spirits (Namco)
Rayman DS (Ubisoft)
Asphalt Urban GT (Gameloft/Ubisoft)
Sprung: The Dating Game (Gameloft/Ubisoft)
Zoo Keeper (Ignition)
Ping Pals (THQ)
Robots (Vivendi)
One of the highlights of the event was the first proper showing of Mario Kart DS. This illusive title was displayed in all its eight-player wireless glory.
Nintendo also underlined a multi-tiered software pricing strategy, with games being available from between £19 and £29, a refreshing change from the firm’s rigid portable price policy.
So that’s us done. We’re off to a party now, to watch everyone’s favourite borderline boilers Girls Aloud sing songs about boys, the power of women, and perhaps love.
With any luck, we’ll get our cameras up their skirts and take a few snaps before they get Big Shezza to kick us out.
The machine will be available across Europe from March 11 and will be priced at €149. The UK price is a recommended retail ask of £99.
The unit has already seen frantic sales in excess of 3 million units, following launches late last year in both the US and Japan.
“Europe is an extremely important market for Nintendo, and we are pleased we can offer such a short period of time between the US and European launch,” was the word today from Iwata-san. “We believe that the Nintendo DS will change the way people play video games and our mission remains to expand the game play experience. Nintendo DS caters for the needs of all gamers whether for more dedicated gamers who want the real challenge they expect, or the more casual gamers who want quick, pick up and play fun.”
The complete day one launch line up reads:
Super Mario 64 DS (Nintendo)
WarioWare Touched! (Nintendo)
Pokémon Dash (Nintendo)
Polarium (Nintendo)
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR (EA)
The URBZ: Sims in the City (EA)
Spider-Man 2 (Activision)
Project Rub (SEGA)
Mr. DRILLER: Drill Spirits (Namco)
Rayman DS (Ubisoft)
Asphalt Urban GT (Gameloft/Ubisoft)
Sprung: The Dating Game (Gameloft/Ubisoft)
Zoo Keeper (Ignition)
Ping Pals (THQ)
Robots (Vivendi)
One of the highlights of the event was the first proper showing of Mario Kart DS. This illusive title was displayed in all its eight-player wireless glory.
Nintendo also underlined a multi-tiered software pricing strategy, with games being available from between £19 and £29, a refreshing change from the firm’s rigid portable price policy.
So that’s us done. We’re off to a party now, to watch everyone’s favourite borderline boilers Girls Aloud sing songs about boys, the power of women, and perhaps love.
With any luck, we’ll get our cameras up their skirts and take a few snaps before they get Big Shezza to kick us out.
Read More Like This
Comments
Showing the 20 most recent comments. Read all 28.
fluffstardx 27 Jan 2005 23:36
9/28
Hey, it's still better than the £ to $ conversion we expected...
NiktheGreek 28 Jan 2005 00:08
10/28
True, and it's better than the $ to € conversion the poor mainland European nations got, but it's still not as good as it should be.
more comments below our sponsor's message
tyrion 28 Jan 2005 08:56
11/28
NiktheGreek wrote:
The Japanese DS price is 15,000 yen ($146 or so), which takes into account a sales tax of around 5%. Before that, it's 14,286 yen. So, assuming that the pre-tax yen figure is the true worth of the DS before any tax involvement, I multiplied it by 1.175 (so as to add 17.5%) and converted the product from yen into pounds.
What did I tell you? This guy uses facts and figures like the rest of us use the letter 'e'! :-)
Your new task, should you choose to accept it, is to do the above calculations from Japanese (or US in the case of XBox) prices to hypothetical UK prices on other console launch prices and give each one a 'rip-off Britain' rating based on the percentage hike we Brits have had to fork out.
With those figures, we can tell which companies are ripping us off the most. Anybody care to run a book? The choices are Sega, Nintendo, Sony & Microsoft. The conditions are launch prices only.
Ditto 28 Jan 2005 09:06
12/28
Nik - I think you've missed out import duty - this would raise the price quite a lot. As far as I know Nintendo manufactures the DS outside of Europe and imports them in - they must be subject to some import tax.
I think £99 and the game prices is a very, very good deal, especially if the good games are released at low prices. However, Nintendo still needs some killer games for the EU launch, otherwise the DS will flop.
I just find it really amusing that Nintendo still thinks it's OK to release kit in Europe months late with no marketing and always suffers relativly poor sales.
I think £99 and the game prices is a very, very good deal, especially if the good games are released at low prices. However, Nintendo still needs some killer games for the EU launch, otherwise the DS will flop.
I just find it really amusing that Nintendo still thinks it's OK to release kit in Europe months late with no marketing and always suffers relativly poor sales.
kid_77 28 Jan 2005 09:16
13/28
Well I wouldn't have been totally shocked if they retailed it at £130; I think £100 is Ok.
But wait until we get the PSP @ RRP £180!
Let's hope they don't. At almost double the price it would be a big enough difference to persuade hand-held consumers to choose DS over PSP.
Sony now have to release it for at least £150.
But wait until we get the PSP @ RRP £180!
Let's hope they don't. At almost double the price it would be a big enough difference to persuade hand-held consumers to choose DS over PSP.
Sony now have to release it for at least £150.
Deeptone 28 Jan 2005 09:31
14/28
Don't you mean 'at most £150.00'?
To sell it anymore would be kind of retail suicide. I think sony have been holding back, and seeing what ninty are doing. I would gues now a PSP price point at about 120 - 130 quid. 150 is a maximum.
I know they say they are aiming at different markets, but what they both want is the unit in peeps pockets. So sony will make a loss on the unit (haven't they said that?) and make the profit on the software sales and licensing, etc. Much like their home console! That's my guess thou.
As far as i'm concerned that's a damn fine price and if Sony do a similar cheap price, Easter will be a very happy time (if that's when the PSP is released!)
To sell it anymore would be kind of retail suicide. I think sony have been holding back, and seeing what ninty are doing. I would gues now a PSP price point at about 120 - 130 quid. 150 is a maximum.
I know they say they are aiming at different markets, but what they both want is the unit in peeps pockets. So sony will make a loss on the unit (haven't they said that?) and make the profit on the software sales and licensing, etc. Much like their home console! That's my guess thou.
As far as i'm concerned that's a damn fine price and if Sony do a similar cheap price, Easter will be a very happy time (if that's when the PSP is released!)
Arse McAdams 28 Jan 2005 09:51
15/28
Adam M wrote:
I think £99 and the game prices is a very, very good deal, especially if the good games are released at low prices.
That isn't gonna happen. The 20 quid band will be for the odd puzzle game, etc. Pretty much everything else - and certainly all Ninty 1st party stuff - will be top price.
Hardware-wise though, you can't complain at £99, and it's gonna look much more attractive than PSP, which, whether £180 or £150, is really taking the piss if it's gonna hit the US at £199.
Joji 28 Jan 2005 12:25
16/28
Nintendo have reasonably priced the DS as I knew they would, since 99 quid is also roughly what previous hand helds from the cost at launch. This is around my estimate made last year.
As for the game prices I'd say that 19-29 pounds will give some developers a bit more leverage than all the GB generations (and yes I know that's a retail price above). This will allow them to experiment with simple puzzle games or more complex and expensive games (hope so anyway). Along with that we might actually see DS games drop in price, to perhaps a kind of players choice line of games. GBA and previous version have never had this sort of thing and it will be needed if SOny produce a similar PSP budget range down the line a year or two.
Don't forget that if you are not happy with the DS launch games (I do agree that it should be better than it is, with stronger titles like Metroid, Advance Wars at from day one), you can opt for buying imports with ease online. Yes, u.k/europe do get things last but the bonus of that is more games at launch and afterwards.
Expect the uk/euro DS ad blitz to start in February if it's on sale in March. I'm sure if this was Sony, they would have started ads during christmas to build things up.
Cheer up people, don't worry, be happy.
As for the game prices I'd say that 19-29 pounds will give some developers a bit more leverage than all the GB generations (and yes I know that's a retail price above). This will allow them to experiment with simple puzzle games or more complex and expensive games (hope so anyway). Along with that we might actually see DS games drop in price, to perhaps a kind of players choice line of games. GBA and previous version have never had this sort of thing and it will be needed if SOny produce a similar PSP budget range down the line a year or two.
Don't forget that if you are not happy with the DS launch games (I do agree that it should be better than it is, with stronger titles like Metroid, Advance Wars at from day one), you can opt for buying imports with ease online. Yes, u.k/europe do get things last but the bonus of that is more games at launch and afterwards.
Expect the uk/euro DS ad blitz to start in February if it's on sale in March. I'm sure if this was Sony, they would have started ads during christmas to build things up.
Cheer up people, don't worry, be happy.
Ditto 28 Jan 2005 13:08
17/28
Joji wrote:
Along with that we might actually see DS games drop in price, to perhaps a kind of players choice line of games. GBA and previous version have never had this sort of thing and it will be needed if SOny produce a similar PSP budget range down the line a year or two.
Actually they did produce a GBA Player's Choice range at same time they produced a Super NES range (1998, I think). They didn't produce them for very long, as as far as I know the only notable title was Zelda: Link's Awakening.
Don't forget that if you are not happy with the DS launch games (I do agree that it should be better than it is, with stronger titles like Metroid, Advance Wars at from day one), you can opt for buying imports with ease online. Yes, u.k/europe do get things last but the bonus of that is more games at launch and afterwards.
The problem is that at the moment the only game I personally would class as good that will be available will be Touched!. Will games such as Yoshi be available in the US ready for the UK launch?
kid_77 28 Jan 2005 13:23
18/28
Deeptone wrote:
Don't you mean 'at most £150.00'?
Doh! Thanks for the correction, Deeptone.
NiktheGreek 28 Jan 2005 14:11
19/28
Adam M wrote:
Nik - I think you've missed out import duty - this would raise the price quite a lot. As far as I know Nintendo manufactures the DS outside of Europe and imports them in - they must be subject to some import tax.
Ah yes, so I have. I'm trying to find information on it, but it's pretty scarce. However, here's an interesting bit of info I found which seems to suggest it's not much at all: "Sony hopes that the inclusion of programming tools will convince Customs & Excise that the PlayStation 2 is a computer rather than a video games console, which will enable it to avoid paying two per cent import duty on the devices." Click here for the source.
Wow, wasn't that a long time ago? Anyhow, a mere two percent would account for less than £2 of the DS price. Even if you add a full £2 to my previous figure of £86.70, that still makes an £89.99 launch reasonable taking into account a similar profit margin to the Japanese system and the taxes.
The only reason Sony was worried about the 2%, I'd gather, is that paying £6 per system on the early £300 launch lot gets costly. For example, the UK's allocation of 165,000 units for launch cost Sony almost £1,000,000 in taxes on it's own.
I think £99 and the game prices is a very, very good deal, especially if the good games are released at low prices. However, Nintendo still needs some killer games for the EU launch, otherwise the DS will flop.
Don't get me wrong, it's a better deal than we've gotten in the past, but it's still not as good as it could be. Agreed on the software issue though - my interest is currently limited to Project Rub and Super Mario 64 DS of the currently available titles. Oh, and maybe Chokkan Hitofude (One Line Puzzle).
I just find it really amusing that Nintendo still thinks it's OK to release kit in Europe months late with no marketing and always suffers relativly poor sales.
Indeed. Doing some number crunching a while ago, it was quite evident that Nintendo is experiencing the worst battering here. Why the company consistently mistreats such a large market is beyond me.
tyrion wrote:
Your new task, should you choose to accept it, is to do the above calculations from Japanese (or US in the case of XBox) prices to hypothetical UK prices on other console launch prices and give each one a 'rip-off Britain' rating based on the percentage hike we Brits have had to fork out.
With those figures, we can tell which companies are ripping us off the most. Anybody care to run a book? The choices are Sega, Nintendo, Sony & Microsoft. The conditions are launch prices only.
With those figures, we can tell which companies are ripping us off the most. Anybody care to run a book? The choices are Sega, Nintendo, Sony & Microsoft. The conditions are launch prices only.
Interesting idea, I'll see what I can do and with sufficient results, make a new topic out of it.
Arse McAdams 28 Jan 2005 14:13
20/28
Arse McAdams wrote:
£199.
D'oh!!
I meant dollars...
Arse McAdams 28 Jan 2005 15:01
21/28
NEWS JUST IN!!!
Well, something my mate's just told me anyway:
Members of Nintendo VIP Club are being offered pre-release hardware now - for £130 you get the DS, Mario 64, Metroid Demo, a Wario Ware Demo and a T-Shirt.
Now that's not too shabby...
Well, something my mate's just told me anyway:
Members of Nintendo VIP Club are being offered pre-release hardware now - for £130 you get the DS, Mario 64, Metroid Demo, a Wario Ware Demo and a T-Shirt.
Now that's not too shabby...
NiktheGreek 28 Jan 2005 15:35
22/28
Arse McAdams wrote:
NEWS JUST IN!!!
Well, something my mate's just told me anyway:
Members of Nintendo VIP Club are being offered pre-release hardware now - for £130 you get the DS, Mario 64, Metroid Demo, a Wario Ware Demo and a T-Shirt.
Now that's not too shabby...
Well, something my mate's just told me anyway:
Members of Nintendo VIP Club are being offered pre-release hardware now - for £130 you get the DS, Mario 64, Metroid Demo, a Wario Ware Demo and a T-Shirt.
Now that's not too shabby...
They take 1000 star points, too. So, the benefit you get is a T-Shirt and an extra demo over somebody that buys a DS and Super Mario 64 DS at retail. Given the "within 28 days of your order being processed", I'd say you won't gain all that much over the retail date either.
Ditto 28 Jan 2005 17:21
23/28
Yeah, I looked at it too and decided to wait until launch.
grubbymitts 28 Jan 2005 19:49
24/28
You're all forgetting the lesson we learnt from Nintendo's European gamecube release. If I recall rightly, the system was supposed to retail at £149.99, undercutting the PS2 by £50 and the XBox (at the time) by about £70 (I'm not positive about these prices - the old memory don't work as well these days). Then Nintendo actually released it at £129.99, scupering the other two and facing a price fixing allegation.
So, what I'm saying, is just because it says £99 release - it may be a bit lower. I reckon the GBA SP will take a price drop too.
Only time will tell.
So, what I'm saying, is just because it says £99 release - it may be a bit lower. I reckon the GBA SP will take a price drop too.
Only time will tell.
NiktheGreek 28 Jan 2005 23:25
25/28
grubbymitts wrote:
You're all forgetting the lesson we learnt from Nintendo's European gamecube release. If I recall rightly, the system was supposed to retail at £149.99, undercutting the PS2 by £50 and the XBox (at the time) by about £70 (I'm not positive about these prices - the old memory don't work as well these days). Then Nintendo actually released it at £129.99, scupering the other two and facing a price fixing allegation.
So, what I'm saying, is just because it says £99 release - it may be a bit lower. I reckon the GBA SP will take a price drop too.
Only time will tell.
So, what I'm saying, is just because it says £99 release - it may be a bit lower. I reckon the GBA SP will take a price drop too.
Only time will tell.
The Gamecube was originally supposed to retail at £170, but the Xbox wasn't doing so well after a couple of months and Microsoft slashed it's £300 price tag down to £200. Facing a substantially smaller advantage than they'd planned for, Nintendo dropped the price to £130.
In the absence of similar heated competition, I'm guessing that Nintendo is going to sit tight until launch. The only thing I could see affecting this £99 RRP is Sony announcing a very competitive PSP launch price and date.
Ditto 29 Jan 2005 10:40
26/28
I agree. I don't think the DS will take a price drop.
I'm hoping the SP will though. I'd really like one of those, but not at £70 odd.
I'm hoping the SP will though. I'd really like one of those, but not at £70 odd.
kid_77 29 Jan 2005 12:55
27/28
Adam M wrote:
I agree. I don't think the DS will take a price drop.
I'm hoping the SP will though. I'd really like one of those, but not at £70 odd.
I'm hoping the SP will though. I'd really like one of those, but not at £70 odd.
Argos are selling the black ones for £55. I have the original GBA, but this is tempting!
Ditto 31 Jan 2005 09:42
28/28
Yeah, I've got an original.
I'm hoping to pick up an SP when the DS has come out for £40.
I'm hoping to pick up an SP when the DS has come out for £40.