Vingt-et-un à la banque

Tuesday, 21 September 2004 — 1:52am | Video games

The 21st of September: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi finally come to DVD. Much commentary to follow, assuming the availability of a lot of time I don’t actually have.

The 21st of November: The Nintendo DS retails for US$149.

Nintendo really nailed it this time. They are pushing it out before the American Thanksgiving holiday as promised, which is also good timing on account of potentially serving as a solution to post-Hugill Cup withdrawal. The launch price is in the lower range of the estimates that industry analysts have been tossing around since May – most retailers taking preorders actually highballed it at $199, which is somewhat more prohibitive if you convert the figure to loonies. The PictoChat graphical instant messenger is embedded, the unit includes an alarm clock feature, and there are ports for both stereo headphones and a microphone; read the specs. The price is also lower than it looks, given that the word is that Metroid Prime Hunters will come bundled in the initial package.

Isn’t it nice when a company promises its customers what they want?

Three major unknowns remain: the launch title roster, the standard price per game, and Nintendo’s marketing prowess (which has traditionally been somewhat lacking in the North American market and in Canada in particular).

Toss in a new trailer for The Incredibles and you have yourself a good day.

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