Nintendo took the world by storm today with a pair of announcements. First, they are dropping the price of the Wii U Deluxe model from $350 to $300. This news also means that the Wii U Basic model will be discontinued. Personally, I had not expected a price drop for the Wii U until next year. But it does make good business sense that it is happening now with several high profile game releases coming this fall. The Price cut will go in effect on September 20th.
The second major news story to break, and the one that is far more interesting, is the announcement of the 2DS. This new console is basically a 3DS without the 3d screen or the hinge. It is completely compatible with all 3DS and DS games, it just won’t display the 3D effect. It will also come in at the far cheaper price of $130. This model will be released on October 12th.
I actually welcome the change. While the 3d feature of the 3DS was cool and had some potentially great applications, it was far under utilized by developers and many 3DS owners would turn it off anyway. While Nintendo has not announced any plans to discontinue the 3DS, it could be a potential move at some point.
I look forward to both of these moves this year and it may spur me to actually buy both a Wii U and the 2DS at some sooner point than I otherwise would have. I hope that these moves help Nintendo move more units and regain some of the lost support from 3rd party developers.
