In this week’s episode of GT.TV over at Gametrailers, Geoff Keighley managed to corner Nintendo of America COO Reggie Fils-Aime and ask him about the Nintendo 3DS. Reggie revealed that 3DS games will generally be priced “between $35 and $45″ as is comparable with the DS, and that he believes the top three “must-have” 3DS games will be Pilotwings Resort, nintendogs + cats and Steel Diver. When asked whether we will see major Nintendo characters in AR Games, Reggie responded by saying they’re “not ruling it out.”
Keighley later asked Reggie if Steel Diver should be priced as a full game when iPhone games are $1 or $2 each. This was the following exchange:
Fils-Aime: We believe Steel Diver is absolutely a full-fledged game. It will absolutely support that price. I actually think one of the biggest risks today in our gaming industry are these inexpensive games that are candidly disposable from a consumer standpoint–
Keighley: You’re calling Angry Birds disposable?
Fils-Aime: Angry Birds is a great piece of experience, but that is one compared to thousands of other pieces of content that, for one or two dollars, I think actually create a mentality for the consumer that, you know, a piece of gaming content should only be two dollars.
Keighley: So they’re underpricing.
Fils-Aime: I, I actually…
Keighley: (laughs) They’re leaving money on the table.
Fils-Aime: I actually think they’re overpriced at one or two dollars, but that’s a whole different story.
Check out the full interview, and the rest of the episode, here.
Nintendo are caught between a rock & a hard place. They are fast getting a bad rep for having piles of shovelware games at a high price. The same price as superiour consoles that play the games at higher resolution, with more features and online play. Then at the other end Apple & Android phones are eating them alive with $1 games! Stealing away the casual gamer market… Bad luck Ninty better get your game together! Fast!
Honestly, I don't see Nintendo really hurting from any of the competition as of yet. They're still making cash. Now, that's not to say they should ignore these threats, but still, I think it's a bit far off from what you're painting for them at the moment.