Finally, the speculation can be called to an end, as on Wednesday, at their event in Amsterdam (at which we were in attendance), Nintendo made it official - the 3DS will be launching on the 25th of March in the UK, which, at the time of writing, is a mere ten weeks away.
A whole two days before the American launch, people of the UK and Europe will be playing games in jumping-out-of-the-screen 3D, without the need for glasses, a full 48 hours before their American cousins. However, other than committing to a solid date, Nintendo weren't quite so forthcoming with the other info - especially when it comes to the price.
Aqua Blue - one of the colours available on the 25th of March.
Shortly after announcing the date, Mr. Shibata, the President of Nintendo of Europe, offered the following, which can only be considered as dodging the issue: "As always, retailer price of our hardware is decided by the retailers. Our trade price has been delivered to customers, so please refer to their prices." Of course, this left the audience in the dark about the price, and free to enjoy the games for the rest of the evening without worries about finances. In the meantime, retailers around the world were breaking the news to you at home.
Only a few hours after Nintendo had announced the US price as being $249.99, retailers such as Play.com, and Amazon, had pegged the console at somewhere between £219.99 and £229.99. If you take the US price, convert it into pounds, and take into account the 20% VAT rate we're all paying now, it comes to £187.76 at the time of writing, making the £219.99 offered by Play.com still some £32 over what our friends on the other side of the Atlantic are paying. Even if we are getting it first, we'd probably still prefer the extra £32...
Launching in a choice of Cosmos Black, or the more-appealing-in-the-flesh Aqua Blue, the 3DS will be rolling out alongside a selection of 25 "launch window" games (or 30, as Nintendo seemingly can't make their mind up!). Unfortunately, Nintendo failed to specify which games will be available on day one, instead mentioning only that the "launch window" covered the period up until June. Obviously, the day one games still have yet to be decided.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - probably won't be a launch title, but you never know...
So, we now know when it's launching, how much it'll cost, and what games are going to be available in the "launch window". The only thing left is, is the console any good? Of course, a console is only as strong as its games - and that's why we made the most of our time in Amsterdam, by playing spending as much time with the hardware as possible, playing as many 3DS games as possible. We got hands-on with some 21 games, applications and other doo-dahs in total, and you'll be able to read all about them on the site over the coming days. Keep your ears to the ground - and your eyes on the website!
