The internet has been abuzz of lately, after the latest Nintendo Direct and unveiling of an affordable alternative to the ever so popular Nintendo 3DS. Announcing the new Nintendo 2DS, which looks like a giant slice of cheese, aimed at the younger demographic. Housed in a plastic, the all-new unibody design doesn’t sport a hinge, a inherent characteristic of the Nintendo DS series.
Priced at $129.99 dollars, it plays all 3DS games in 2D, it is backwards compatible with over 2000 older titles on previous generations of Nintendo DS and features all of the Nintendo e-shop goodies. The internet is downright hating on the Nintendo 2DS, even with fanboys who profess their undying love for Nintendo pointing out that the Nintendo 2DS may lead to Nintendo’s downfall.
With that being said, I wholeheartedly disagree and here’s why: the Nintendo 2DS is aimed at children. Visually, its no Picasso. But the removed hinges makes it safer for children, especially when Nintendo received a lot of negative feedback for the weak hinges in the Nintendo DS line. Housed in unibody plastic, its relatively light and safe for children to handle. Most importantly, its priced at such an attractive price for parents to pick one up for their kids. With so much to offer, I don’t see what Nintendo has done wrong. On a marketing and business stand point, it may actually help boost hardware sales and popularise the Nintendo Brand Name once more among the younger community. Plus, the original gameboy was considered sleek and sexy at the time when we were kids who didn’t know any better. Now, it’s an inefficient brick with little to no functionality. Again, Nintendo 2DS is targeted to kids and looks like the bare minimum (sound familiar?).
Nintendo has also announced a price drop on the Wii U to 299.99 USD on the Deluxe set after the release of the not so anticipated Wind Waker HD bundle. What do you guys think?
