Despite a bad opening for Nintendo’s innovative 3D portable DS – imaginatively titled the 3DS – the gaming gadget has finally reached a milestone five-million sales in its home of Japan. Meaning the portable has actually done better than its no 3D predecessor and in just less than a year since it was released on public sale on February 26th 2011.
Health concerns including headaches and dizziness, inadequate control features and lack of inspiring starting games titles caused the Nintendo 3DS handheld to suffer in the first few months of release when it finally dropped on the UK, Europe and US gaming market in March. Prices were cut by almost a half of the original asking price in a number of reputable retail outlets. Nintendo are said to have lost more than they earned from the pocket console during this period and this not mentioning the hastily made expansion slide, which delivered the extra thumbstick which was bizarrely missing from the final product.
With all this in mind, we forget that the Japanese love buying their own. So Nintendo has actually remained pretty consistent, hitting good figures with the 3DS becoming the company’s fastest selling console ever. Yes, even faster than the original Wii. Perhaps this can explain the sudden cold turkey that became of the PS Vita. After just two months of existence in native Japan the consoles sales figures have dropped by around 95% – maybe because most portable fans have been quietly picking up a Nintendo 3DS.
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