I like how no one is talking about the Nintendo 3DS Price drop

[Alpha Six]

in what way exactly?

By creating a peripheral that is required to play videogames on a console, they are dividing the fanbase in a way that never happened to any of their other portables to date.

The fact that there are already games that are going to support this device (not just Monster Hunter) means that Nintendo has realized, and made it public, that their console was flawed on release. The 3DS has only been out for a few months and they are already going to have to develop a new model with this second analog stick + 2 extra buttons built into the device, as well as put out a total recall on the 3DSs already shipped and replace them with a new model, or give this second analog away for free to everyone who has already bought a 3DS, as well as include it in every 3DS shipping.

This isn't the same thing as an update to software, such as DLC or a game patch; this is hardware that you use to play games that has already shipped to market. You can easily fix an incomplete game with patches and updates (whether or not they cost money). You can't fix an incomplete console with patches. When you buy a console, that is it-- you have the console. You can't expect, or even rumor DLC for consoles. Making people needing to buy something to play video games on the console that they bought to play video games is not justifiable.

As for whether or not it is an optional device, that is going to rely on the developers, and not Nintendo; which raises another issue. This complicates things for developers as well because now they have to take twice as long to finish a game by setting up both the peripheral control and the non-peripheral control, while still making the game experience exactly the same. Developers are also forced to make a choice with how they support the device; do they want to make a game that doesn't use it and alienate the people who bought the peripheral, or do they want to make a game that does use it and alienate the people who didn't buy it? Hence; the 3DS fanbase divides.


Either way, Nintendo is going to lose money on this deal for any action that they take regarding this situation because of the crucial mistake that they made-- and if they don't fix it correctly, they could also lose a big portion of their fanbase and see a giant drop in their profits, which could result in not only more budget cuts, but outright firing of Nintendo staffers.