UK shops begin taking 3DS pre-orders

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 12 January, 2011

Speculate on release date and price.

UK shops are now taking pre-orders for Nintendo's 3DS console, and have listed unconfirmed release dates and pricing for the handheld.

TheHut, WHSmith, Best Buy UK and Woolworths all peg the 3DS for release on 18th March if you pre-order or 25th March otherwise for an eye-watering £299.93. They each list the 3DS in blue, black and red.

ASDA has the 3DS down for 18th March, but fails to offer a price.

Nintendo is yet to price or date the 3DS for Europe, although we know it'll be released on these shores in March. The company is expected to make a raft of 3DS-related announcements at an Amsterdam event next week.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (68) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • dr_zoidthrob #1 1 year ago

    £300?? Really?

  • Mkwone #2 1 year ago

    I suppose they've get to set a fairly high price for any preorder price promise they might have. I'm sure they don't want to be caught short.

  • BabyJesus #3 1 year ago

    189.99 I reckon.

  • misterg1970 #4 1 year ago

    I got a few Amazon vouchers for Christmas and was thinking of putting them towards a 3DS but I didn't this many!! Surely it won't be more than 200 and even that would be steep.

  • Senate #5 1 year ago

    Well I'm pleased to see the red one will be available at launch but that can't possibly be the price.

  • wizlon #6 1 year ago

    I understand the need to offer above the price to stop any shortfalls but this has got to hurt their stores as common consumers think they are about to get ripped off. I'm waiting for official announcements on price and release before putting in a preorder. For the record I'm putting it as costing £199.99.

  • StolenGlory #7 1 year ago

    Three hundred fucking quid?

    I don't see it and if that is just a placeholder price then what a way to put off folks from pre-ordering the thing in the first place.

    £199.99 sounds accurate to me.

  • SHPanda #8 1 year ago

    If it's £300 with no Zelda on launch Nintendo are barking up the wrong tree.

  • AliRay #9 1 year ago

    I'm pretty sure Nintendo wouldn't release it at such a high price. I really want a 3DS so £199 would be much better!

    Also: wouldn't this make it the most pricey console on the market?!

  • randompanda #10 1 year ago

    There's always going to be a difference in what they want you to pay, and what you want to pay.

    Be patient.

  • kngbn79 #11 1 year ago

    that has to be a placeholder price, nintendo would be stupid to price it any higher than £200 at launch. having said that as long as it comes in at £200 or under i will be preordering 1 but just hope the launch line up has better games than the jap 1

  • yegon #12 1 year ago

    I'd be gobsmacked if it was more than £199.99. At £300, there'd be a massive discount within 6 months due to lack of interest I reckon.

  • The_Bloody_Kettle #13 1 year ago

    Considering Ninty's audience at the moment, £300 is way too high, they just won't sell enough.
    I reckon they could get away with £200, but even then that may damage sales.
    Nintendo do like actually making a profit on hardware though.. so it will be expensive.
    £179.99?

  • LaughingGravy #14 1 year ago

    Can't be right.That would work out at about 350 Euro!

  • LazyDan #15 1 year ago

    Jeeeesus... I've been betting on (and saving for) a £259.99 release with probably a game thrown in (though I think the pack in AR games may qualify for this now.)

    I'm hoping this is just retailers doing a worst case scenario until the price becomes official at the Euro conference.

  • slippysloppy #16 1 year ago

    £100 more than a PS3 with a huge library of hi-def games, built in blu-ray player, internet, TV on demand, a 160gb drive and a whole host of other features. More than twice the price of Kinect and nearly £150 more than a keenly priced 4gb 360 with all its great features. Not on your nelly.

    Why do these stores offer pre-orders so early if they can only guess at the price. They must be covering themselves after some pre-mature Kinect pre-orders.

  • chris_ace #17 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 11:55:13 13-12-2011

  • SHPanda #18 1 year ago

    SlippySloppy - PS3s are £249.99 or £284.99 depending on HDD size... There's not £100 difference.

  • CallousB #19 1 year ago

    If we get it for under £200 we should count ourselves as very lucky.

    UK prices are usually based on the conversion from euro's....and the likely price in Europe wil be 250 euros.

    A few years ago 250 euros would have converted to £170- £180 , now 250 euros is around £210 (+ £5 for the VAT hike).

    Anything under £215 and Nintendo are being kind to the UK market.

    Edited by CallousB at 12/01/11 @ 10:36

  • WinterSnowblind #20 1 year ago

    I can't see Nintendo abandoning the 'cheap system' approach that worked so well for the DS and Wii. Anything under £200 and I'll likely get one at launch. For £300 (or even just £250) I won't even consider a purchase until next year.

  • des #21 1 year ago

    If it's £300,bye Nintendo

  • Toothball #22 1 year ago

    It does look like a placeholder price. I could probably pay £200 without flinching, although it'll start to hurt if it goes much higher.

  • richyroo #23 1 year ago

    Im less concerned about the console price as I can wait for it to come down in price. I am however concerned that the games may cost as much as what I pay for my PS3 and 360 games. That would seriously put me off.

  • Moonprince #24 1 year ago

    Anything over 200 and no sale

  • Caimbeul #25 1 year ago

    Above £ 169 is an instant fail and I will not pay that much on principle. We all know Nintendo do not make a loss on hardware...

  • Toothball #26 1 year ago

    @slippysloppy

    Prices for portable technology are always higher than home technology as it's always been more expensive to use smaller components. For example, an iPhone 4 costs from around £500 if you buy one without a mobile contract to subsidise the cost. It's never really worth comparing to two as they are designed to do different things. If they were to make a device with the capabilities of a PS3 and the portability of a 3DS, it'd cost way more than £300 to say the least.

  • dr_swin #27 1 year ago

    Or perhaps they are just trying it on to see what the level of pre-order demand would be like at this price point before deciding on the actual price?? (has no idea at all how these things work)

  • MaoZedong #28 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 09:40:08 17-12-2011

  • slippysloppy #29 1 year ago

    @SHPanda You're quoting retail prices, the prices I quoted are available if you shop around online.

    @Toothball Gaming tech is often cheaper as the company makes a loss on the initial hardware and regains it in software sales. All the gaming giants have done this, with notable exceptions being the Wii which used old tech and has always been sold for a profit and Kinect. I agree the comparison is a little out but not for the reasons you suggest but because the release price of the PS3 was much higher than it is now. That said £300 is very high for not only a handheld but for Nintendo's handheld market which also appeals to much younger gamers.

  • CallousB #30 1 year ago

    @Caimbeul

    The 3DS was always going to cost more than £169.

    The DSi XL has an rrp of £159....so the 3DS was obviously going to cost a fair chunk more than that.

  • Golgo #31 1 year ago

    300 notes, is that? Felch that. I'll wait for the 3DSlite in 18 months with the inevitable extended battery life, better screen and online functionality and - hopefully by that time - decent library of software.

  • tomjoadsghost #32 1 year ago

    Thats 3 times the launch price of the original DS.

    Its all about dem damn dirty threes.

  • Toothball #33 1 year ago

    @slippysloppy

    The other issue with comparing the two is that they're designed to do different things. For example, having a library of HD games is great, but not when you're on the bus. £300 is definitely a big ask though, and I would like to imagine that it'll come down from that soon enough.

  • Lee_Morris #34 1 year ago

    I was expecting between £200 and £250. I think the shops may be being a bit over cautious.

    It's better for them to over estimate the price now for pre order rather than on launch day people who pre ordered it with a rrp of at say £150.

    Let's just wait until next week when all will be revealed.

  • mfnick #35 1 year ago

    Game Gears have it for pre-order for just shy of £200

  • spielorg #36 1 year ago

    Technically shouldn't the article read TheHut group prices the 3DS at £300 approx? I mean WHSmith entertainment, Woolworths entertainment. Bestbuy UK, ASDA and of course the hut, zavvi and lovefilm store are all sourced by The hut group.

    If other groups price the same then we can estimate it to be closer I guess.

  • youhavenomail #37 1 year ago

    Well, I'd still get one at £300, and if anyone thinks 'Nintendo's new market' won't follow suit, they didn't see all those eBay auctions around the time of Wii's launch.

  • Orikk #38 1 year ago

    Hopefully the shops are erring on the side of caution and bumping up the price a bit.

    Anything over £200 and that's me out I'm afraid.

    I'm sure Nintendo must realise that selling a handheld for £300 is a bit daft, even if it is pseudo 3D. Around £225-£250 is my bet.

  • Agent_Llama #39 1 year ago

    For a while I've reckoned between £229.99 and £249.99. That price is enough to put me off, but three hundred quid is ridiculous. I'm trying to hold out anyway because you can bet Nintendo will announce a slimmer, more battery-efficient model a few months after release.

  • MonkeyMagik #40 1 year ago

    and dont forget the price of the games, somewhere between £35 - £40 a pop because of incresed dev costs. Certainly a big investment.

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #41 1 year ago

    The direct conversion from Yen is about £200, so a £300 price is way off and just designed to cover the retailers. With my cynical hat on I'd suggest that the retailers are perhaps planning on only doing bundles at launch to bump up their profits and hence why the £300 threshold has been set.

    £250 is the absolute max it'll cost, with £200-£230 being what I expect.

  • apoc_reg #42 1 year ago

    THREE HUNDRED!

    No thanks nintendo, keep your 3D!

  • kobashi #43 1 year ago

    There is no way it is gonna be £300 people!

  • AndyboyH #44 1 year ago

    shopto.net is listing a load of Ubi 3DS games for release Friday, March 11th. No sign of the hardware listings though...

  • photoboy #45 1 year ago

    Anyone recommend a good import shop for the UK? There's no way I'm buying something region locked to PAL territories as Nintendo Europe have been 6 months or more behind the rest of the world since the NES.

  • Kafeen #46 1 year ago

    £180 would be nice but unlikely.
    £200 is more likely
    At a push I might go to £220

    But £300? Not a chance!

    I think this is just guess work from those stores. Overshooting the mark so they can get pre-orders in then drop the price to the announced price.

  • peteb #47 1 year ago

    the 18th March? Really? A hangover after St. Patricks day will not work well with headache inducing 3D :-P

  • cherryuk #48 1 year ago

    hey 18th March is my birthday - JOY! However £300 is excessive

  • TonyHarrison #49 1 year ago

    It's quite interesting to see how many people don't understand that this is just a price set by a retailer who doesn't have a clue what the actual price will be, and is thus covering themselves from not having to offer too low a price thanks to taking pre-orders at however many pounds less than the actual revealed price.

    Especially considering this happens all the time. I've pre-ordered games for £40 months in advance, and then come release day stores sell it for £25 in some kind of special deal, and you get that £25 price...

  • cheekyjay #50 1 year ago

    I preordered two at Game on the weekend. When I enquired about price the totally uninformed store manager said it would definitely be less than the current cost of the Wii, probably about £100. I couldn't believe what I was hearing but asked her to give me that in writing. What are the chances that she won't honour her estimate come launch day when the handheld launches for a likely price of around £250..?

  • dllord #51 1 year ago

    I preordered mine from GS last week but nintendo can suck my balls if they think im paying £300!!!!!!!!

  • SHPanda #52 1 year ago

    SlippySloppy - Where can you get a 160gb for £199? I've never seen that price, but even if it's true it's a bit of a daft comparison to say you can find a PS3 for this price and the 3DS has this RRP, because you will be able to shop around and get a lower price for the 3DS as well.

  • MoGamer2006 #53 1 year ago

    FFS, how many morons on this site? Of course the 3DS won't be £300 - as others have said, it's just arse-covering for their price promises.

    /Dreads 3DS releasing for £300 and this being raked up

  • MoGamer2006 #54 1 year ago

    Oh, and Game and HMV are taking pre-orders too.

  • SlackMaster #55 1 year ago

    Didn't they say it'd be priced similar to the DSi when that was first released?

  • StolenGlory #56 1 year ago

    "Oh, and Game and HMV are taking pre-orders too."

    Are they actually taking pre-orders with deposits (the only way they can assure customers that they will get one) or just registering interest? Because if it is the latter, they've been doing it for months.

  • yegon #57 1 year ago

    ^^^I put a tenner deposit down at GAME on Monday.

  • CallousB #58 1 year ago

    If the 3DS is $250 in the US..it'll be be 250 euros in Europe...and the UK price will have to be in line with that.

    250 euros at the current exchange rate = £208 ..£213 taking into account our VAT increase.

    We'll get it for £199 (if we're damn lucky) or £229.

  • waggy79 #59 1 year ago

    Just for the fact the wii launched at 180 means i think it would be foolish to price it higher than that so I'm going for 179.99.

  • killyourtv #60 1 year ago

    £299!

    Did they do it for the lulz?

  • BPD007 #61 1 year ago

    300 pounds?! that's gonna pound you in the you know where! LOL So stupid

  • Nanakai #62 1 year ago

    Nobody in their right mind would pay £300 for a 3DS lol, not when you compare it to other portable products. I doubt the real pricing is going to be that high. £200 max is acceptable imo, nothing more than that

  • Nanakai #63 1 year ago

    Looks like a lot of us think £200 is acceptable, and £180 or less (like the Wii) is the sweet spot. 1 week now, and we'll see if Nintendo are in tune with their customers, or if they're completely clueless

  • seabassuk #64 1 year ago

    Sounds like a bargain :D

  • Incarta #65 1 year ago

    I'd pay £189 with a good launch title. Otherwise...

  • themanfromdelmonte #66 1 year ago

    I think everyone wanting one for less than £200 is in for a shock. If the rumours of a $300 US price are true, that'll translate to 300 euros (they never seem to take exchange rates into account with this conversion), which is what the UK price will be based on, this translates to £250.

    The comparisons with previous release prices aren't really relevant as the £,$ and euro have weakened significantly since the Credit Crunch and the Yen has strengthened.

  • CallousB #67 1 year ago

    @waggy79

    I'm sure Nintendo would love to launch it at £179 like Wii....but sadly they have to keep parity with the european price.

    If Nintendo ignore the exchange rate and give us a £179 price...then all that will happen is the rest of europe would import 3DS's from the UK as opposed to buying direct from Nintendo...as there will be more profit in selling a UK machine than one from their own region .



  • bdaggers #68 1 year ago

    £300 ? They can fuck right off.