Numerous reports coming out of Japan claim the Nintendo 3DS has sold out in that country.

According to the reports, 400,000 Nintendo 3DS units were sold since the device’s launch on Saturday. A sell-out was expected. Most retail outlets in Japan had their preorders sold out prior to the launch of the portable-gaming device and were already taking orders for the next shipment.

The Nintendo 3DS will be one of the more interesting launches this year, thanks to its unique feature-set. The platform, which went on sale in Japan for 25,000 yen (about $300), allows gamers to play 3D titles without the need for special glasses. It comes with two screens and boasts an accelerometer and gyroscope to give developers a few more options for their video games.

In Japan, 400,000 units sold is just the beginning for Nintendo. The company said last year that it expects to sell 1.5 million 3DS units in Japan alone by the end of March. The European launch is set for March 25. The U.S. launch is scheduled for March 27 with a $249 price tag for the device.

With the Japanese, European, and U.S. launches combined, Nintendo expects to sell 4 million 3DS units by the end of March.

The company confirmed recently that on U.S. launch day, the 3DS will be flanked by 18 games. Nintendo plans to have 30 titles available by early June.

Nintendo did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for confirmation of the 3DS sell-out.

by Don Reisinger

see the original story here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20037185-17.html?tag=mncol;1n

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Nintendo 3DS starts selling in Japan

Nintendo started selling the 3DS handheld game system this weekend in Japan, and fans lined up in chilly weather to get their hands on the new handheld which can be viewed in stereoscopic 3D without special glasses.

The system won’t arrive in North America until March 27 and in Europe on March 25. Nintendo typically targets its initial launches of new game systems for the Japanese market first and then it builds larger supplies to launch worldwide. The system is a critical one for Nintendo, which wants to continue to dominate handheld gaming despite the strong sales of Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad — which have become spectacular game platforms. New game systems typically sell out in their first sales spurt, so we’ll be watching to see how the launch goes for Nintendo.

GameSpot said crowds lined up at one store at the Yodobashi Camera store in Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district. But some of the people were there to get a new toy based on the Kamen Rider television show. It so happened the new toy was being released on the same day as Nintendo’s new dual-screen portable device. The 3DS is available in cosmo black or aqua blue colors, and there were eight Japanese 3dS games available at the launch. Outside the store, a number of new 3DS owners tired out the system’s Street Pass social functionality outside the store.

The 3DS costs 25,000 yen, or $300, in Japan. In the U.S., it will cost $250, with games costing $40 each. That might be a reflection of how competitive the U.S. market has become with the Apple and Android devices on the market. Nintendo has said it expects to sell 4 million DS units by the end of March, including 1.5 million in Japan. Given past history and the interest in the device, that should be easy for Nintendo to do. The DS has sold more than 145 million units in its lifetime since 2004. Sony will have its own new handheld game system, the NGP, coming this fall.

Bloomberg reported about 2,000 people lined up at a store in Akihabara, after e-commerce retailers sold out their pre-orders. Reuters said customers lined up at a camera store in Yurakucho, Tokyo. And the Wall Street Journal reported hundreds of people outside a store in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

PC magazine reported that the 3DS system got hacked soon after the sales started. Hackers “jailbroke” the device to support flash memory cards that can play older Nintendo games.

See this original story here: http://venturebeat.com/2011/02/26/nintendo-3ds-starts-selling-in-japan-and-get-shacked-right-away/

As Nintendo Co. readies to launch its 3DS hand-held game player Saturday in Japan, software developers are still wrestling with how to best utilize the device’s three-dimensional graphics.

“The next step may be to forget about the way we’ve been designing games and think of a completely new approach only possible with 3-D games,” said Yosuke Hayashi, who produced the coming 3DS fighting game “Dead or Alive Dimensions” for Tecmo Koei Games Co. “If making games is like cooking, we haven’t figured out if 3-D is a spice, or maybe a main ingredient.”

The uncertainty about how best to apply 3-D isn’t unique. Major technological shifts come with a certain amount of apprehension from content creators as they test the boundaries of what works and what doesn’t. For example, early TV shows were essentially radio programs shot in front of a video camera.

The videogame industry’s move to 3-D comes as sales of traditional console games are declining and losing ground to easy-to-play casual games played online through social networks or on ever-smarter smartphones.

Videogames started using virtual 3-D graphics in the early 1990s, allowing games to move not only side-to-side but also front-to-back. Game characters and virtual environments became more realistic with improvements in processing capability, but the 3-D graphics weren’t fully showcased on the conventional 2-D displays.

With 3-D displays, the user can now see sparks flying out from the screen during a sword fight or watch a plane navigate through clouds with a real sense of depth. Strictly in terms of graphics, transforming a 2-D game into 3-D has been relatively easy for developers, since the graphics have been made with 3-D design software for some time.

Sony said there are currently 14 3-D titles on the PS3 including car racing game “Gran Turismo 5,” which has shipped more than six million units since late November 2010. For Sony’s 3-D titles, a user can choose whether to play the game in 2-D or 3-D.

Sony wouldn’t disclose what percentage of its PS3 owners are using the 3-D feature. In general, the adoption of 3-D televisions, a prerequisite to play 3-D PlayStation games, has been slower than the television industry had expected. In a chicken-or-egg problem, many manufacturers cite the lack of content for the slow uptake of 3-D TVs.

Nintendo said Saturday’s 3DS debut in Japan will feature eight 3-D games on sale, including one developed in-house. By the time the hand-held launches in the U.S. on March 27, Nintendo said, there will be a total of 18 games available. Nintendo’s 3DS games cost about $40, a slight premium to most 2-D titles.

One launch title will be Nintendo’s own “nintendogs + cats,” a sequel to its popular dog-rearing game. By incorporating 3-D into the game, a playful puppy or kitten, as the title suggests, can appear as though it is jumping out of the screen and onto its owner’s lap.

“This will make it easier to convey what is fun about the games. It really ramps up the intensity of the graphics,” said Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Enterbrain, a Japanese publisher of videogame magazines.

Another area of focus for developers is how to create games in a safe way and prevent causing eyestrain or other signs of discomfort that some people experience after looking at 3-D content.

Scientists said applying 3-D in extreme ways—such as content that pops or fades from the screen in a pronounced fashion—can heighten safety risks.

Developers said they are already working within safety restrictions such as avoiding sudden changes in 3-D viewing angles.

The game system makers are also doing their best to make sure developers don’t overdo it on the 3-D. A Sony spokesman said the PlayStation 3 features a software mechanism that adjusts the 3-D effects to appropriate levels based on the television’s screen size. For its part, the 3DS has a sliding bar that allows a user to control 3-D levels.

See the original story here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703408604576163850793544480.html?KEYWORDS=nintendo