Nintendo’s new handheld system still faces fierce competition from its own other handheld system.
Nintendo admitted in a press release that the DS is still outselling the 3DS at a rate of two-to-one, but instead of treating it as a failure for the 3DS, you can probably guess how they spun it.
“The fact is that while the 3DS is a compelling system, its cost and the lack of killer games for it mean that uptake is bound to be on the slow side — compared to the DS, which has a library of megahits stretching back years,” Nintendo justified.
So far, the 3DS has garnered praise for its 3D camera application and the Street Fighter IV launch game, but inconceivably, there still isn’t a game that features company icon Mario, or Pokemon, or virtually any of Nintendo’s most popular franchises.
The company did recently release The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a 3D remake of the classic Nintendo 64 title for the glasses-free 3D device. But it’s not a new title, and its release saw little to no fanfare.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata admitted earlier this month that the line-up of 3DS launch games was weak, and said he won’t make the same mistake for future console launches.
Nevertheless, the 3DS has nowhere to go but up. Nintendo recently launched a Netflix streaming app for the device, making the service of thousands of movies and TV show episodes accessible on-the-go to a whole new audience. And there are many more 3DS advancements to come.
