Nintendo 3DS launch date and price confirmed, rejoice and be merry fellow gamers

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The headlines? It'll launch in Japan on Feb 26th for 25, 000 yen, with a March date for the US and UK likely

Kris Kringle, you fat son of a bitch. We begged you for a Nintendo 3DS this Christmas. But our pleas have obviously fallen on deaf ears, because the mega exciting handheld won’t be releaseduntil February 26th 2011. And that’s the Japanese launch date. Peeps in the US and Europe will most likely have to wait until next March. Still, at least there’s some fairly good news on the price of the machine.

Nintendo revealed a veritable shitload of 3DS details at a conference in Japan last night. Here are the main points to mull over…

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  • It will launch on February 26th next year in Japan, with an expected March release date for Europe and the US.
  • The price for all this 3D goodness, you ask? It%26rsquo;ll retail for 25, 000 yen, which is roughly $300/%26pound;190. Which, to be honest, is slightly cheaper than we were expecting.
  • The system will launch in Aqua Blue and Cosmic (man) Black. We might have added the %26lsquo;man%26rsquo; bit. Sorry, we were channelling The Truth from San Andreas. Seeing as we%26rsquo;ve already held a red unit, more colours will no doubt be released further down the line.
  • You%26rsquo;ll get a 2GB SD card in the box, which will come loaded with reality games, no doubt showcasing the 3D witchcraft the pocket-sized machine is capable of. It also comes with a docking bay to house the handheld.
  • Just like one of them new fangled phones of the %26lsquo;i%26rsquo; variety, you%26rsquo;ll be able to multitask with the 3DS. This mean you%26rsquo;ll be able to pause the game and switch between other programs and applications, including a notebook and, we%26rsquo;d assume, the console%26rsquo;s camera functions.
  • Do you like the Wii%26rsquo;s Miis? Anyone? Hello? Regardless if you care about the insipid avatars or not, the 3DS will have them. You%26rsquo;ll even be able to take a photo of yourself in the Mii Studio and copy the image to create your own potato-headed virtual person. The little dudes and dudettes can then by uploaded to websites and shared via the SD card.
  • Nintendo%26rsquo;s machine will perpetually be in Wi-Fi mode, meaning even when it%26rsquo;s in sleep mode, it can download Miis from other handhelds through hotspots or from something that sounds vaguely wrestling-related, with the system%26rsquo;s enhanced Tag mode. Street Fighter IV will be one of the first titles to use this feature, and the beat %26lsquo;em up will allow you to receive fight requests from other gamers. Nintendo also mentioned a Wi-Fi service called Wifine, although this may only be available in Japan.

All exciting stuff, then. It just leaves the small matter of what games will be available come launch day, which we've listed in this article righthere. Now, can anyone spare some change, guv? We've got 3DS' to be saving up for.


Above: Seriously, we're skint

Sep 29, 2010

David Meikleham
David Meikleham
Google AMP Stories Editor

David has worked for Future under many guises, including for GamesRadar+ and the Official Xbox Magazine. He is currently the Google Stories Editor for GamesRadar and PC Gamer, which sees him making daily video Stories content for both websites. David also regularly writes features, guides, and reviews for both brands too.