Get your game face on, because Black Friday is almost here. And to celebrate, Nintendo is bringing new hardware to the market the re-ignite sales of its increasingly sluggish-selling DS system.
It comes as sales of the handheld device are finally starting to taper off, no longer soaring far above other game systems in the monthly sales charts. Any move to release a product on Black Friday is an obvious way to hope for huge holiday sales. If successful, Nintendo can encite new purchases of the system without slashing the price.
We have already seen the new DSi colors leaked in Black Friday ads for Sears and Best Buy.
It’ll cap off a year full of color changes for Nintendo consoles. After more than three years of having no differentiation in Wii systems, Nintendo launched black and red versions of the console earlier this year. It has also continued to paint up new DS systems with fresh game bundles to make the even-older device appear as relevant as possible.
This holiday season will be make-or-break for all the major video game companies, as maturity issues arise for everyone. The Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, and PSP are all more than four years old, an age that previously would have been approaching the end of a console life cycle.
The PS3 and Xbox 360 are pushing their product offerings with new motion-controlling accessories while Nintendo scrambles to play technological catch-up.
The DSi is the only one currently at risk of dying to a successor, as Nintendo plans to release the 3DS early next year.
