Why I’m not buying a Nintendo 3DS

When the Game Boy Advance came out, I was there. Day one. New console, imported from Japan. MINE. Gamecube? Queued up at silly-o’clock in the morning outside Game. GBA SP? Day one. DS? Imported from Japan. DS Lite? Day one pre-order. Wii? Freezing December queue.

I’ve never bothered with any other consoles on release – only Nintendo ones since 2000. So why not the same with the 3DS? Here’s 5 reasons why:

5. £££

£229 is a lot of money.  Yes, it’s comparable to how much I paid for my original DS and GBA, when you consider import taxes and postage and inflation and stuff. But £229? Yeah, even though a few places are doing it for nearer £200, even a little less, that’s still a lot.

4. ££££££

The games are £30-40. Lets just ignore the fact that I have the £18 Rule in place for a moment and look at how much I currently pay for hand held games. Oh, that’s right – 59p. Admittedly, most of them don’t have the depth of a DS-sort-of-game, and certainly none are in 3D or made by Nintendo, but that’s a big price hike.

3. £££££££££

The aforementioned £18 Rule. Even if I did get a 3DS, it’ll be many months before the games drop to under £18. I’d have a 3DS and no games, and that’s like no 3DS at all!

2. 3DS Lite

There’s bound to be a 3DS Lite at some point, right? Right. Which will be better, right? Right. Well, there you go then.

1. Games? What games?

When the GBA came out, the only new game (as opposed to a remake) I fancied at launch was Pinobee: Quest of Heart. Which was OK, but nothing amazing. When the DS Lite came out, I had Feel the Magic: XX XY and Spiderman 2. Woo. Maybe wait a while this time round?