Okay Geek Farm
Reggie: "The 3DS' two main problems have been solved"
Ricardo Trejo
It’s hard to argue that the 3DS is an impressive machine, the only issue comes down to proving it. With a lack of first-party titles, or even overwhelming third-party support, and a lackluster eShop catalog, the 3DS isn’t anywhere the handheld machine longtime fans were clamouring for. Reggie now says those concerns have been resolved.
Speaking with Kotaku, Nintendo of America President, Reggie Fils-Aime outlined how consumers were initially wow’d by the hardware and built-in software at launch, but the interest has waned without a top name Nintendo property to lead the pack. He happens to feel that has changed within the past couple of weeks, now that the 3D re-release of Ocarina of Time has finally hit stores and the eShop is open for business:
“So now we jump to where we are […] We’re going to be launching Ocarina. We’re going to follow with a steady drumbeat of Star Fox and Kid Icarus and two Mario titles and the Luigi title.”
It should be noted that we’ve known about all of these titles for about a year now, and even ‘til today we’re completely unaware of any of their release dates. Not having solid launch timeframes will hurt purchases by wouldbe owners who are looking for something concrete coming down the road very soon. Though, we have been told that Luigi’s Mansion 2 is slated for 2012.
When talking about eShop and the missing online features on the 3DS, Reggie added, “I think we’ve got that issue not only identified but addressed.” The 3DS undoubtedly launched too early, the message attached to the web browser icon when owners accessed it was a clear indication of that. But with the eShop off the ground the Regginator feels confident:
“We’ve just done the first network update. We’ve got the eShop up and running. We’ve got the 3D movie service still on track for the summer. We’ve got Netflix still on track for the summer. So I think we’re well underway to having that addressed as well. My expectation, Stephen, is that with the adjustments we’ve made, we’re going to be back with strong momentum on the 3DS.”
