Robot Claw

On August 12, Nintendo is dropping the price of the 3DS from $250 to $170. This is because sales of the system have plummeted (only 700,000 units sold worldwide in the last quarter) and developers have started cancelling existing games or bypassing the system entirely.

I don’t have a 3DS. This is remarkable, since I am more or less a textbook ‘early adopter’. I spend more on games than any person I have ever met, but have so far passed on the 3DS for several reasons:

1) A stunning lack of good games
2) A reluctance to embrace a system with an average game price of $40
3) Irritation at the frankly terrible online support of the 3DS (no messaging, no achievements, no PSN or XBox-live-like system)
4) Virtually zero interest in the main gimmick of the device: the glasses-free 3D
5) The very poor battery life

You’ll note price is not one of the above reasons. Will an $80 drop convince me to buy it? Let’s see.

The above problems with the system are important and need to be fixed as soon as possible. They would be bad enough were Nintendo to not have any competition. Ignoring the old DS itself (which still outsells the 3DS), Nintendo is being absolutely steamrolled by this:

I’ve been saying this for a while, but the iPad/iPhone is changing the way we look at entertainment in so many ways. Why pay $170 for a dedicated gaming system where games are $40 each? When you can buy an iPad (admittedly more expensive), enjoy games for $2, $1 or even free and then use the device for oodles of other things as well?

Customers realize this, and that’s why the iPad has outsold the 3DS 55-to-1. This is why developers are moving to the iPad in droves (Electronic Arts recently said iPad is their fastest growing market and that traditional consoles account for only 40% of their revenue) and this is why the average quality of games on the iPad increases every day. Why spend millions to develop a console game when you can make an iPhone game for under $100 grand and make just as much profit?

I will eventually buy a 3DS. Maybe soon, maybe when Animal Crossing is released. There will be good games on it, of that I am sure. But I truly think the system will be a limited success, if at all. I think Sony’s upcoming Vita will follow the same fate (or perhaps exist more or less as a Monster Hunter enabler, if only in Japan). I think the days of dedicated handhelds may be behind us, to be replaced with iPads and iPhones and whatever future smartphones will be released.

I’ll keep my thoughts about the affect this change will have on the games themselves to a future post.

It is a source of some frustration to me that in these days where everything seems to be available online and video formats are more or less a thing of the past, that the 1978 Japanese TV show ‘Saiyuki’ (known as ‘Monkey’ to Australians) has never been made available in the USA.

Monkey was based on the classic chinese tale Journey To The West, published more than 400 years ago in China. It told the story of a Buddhist monk who sets off for India to receive some sacred Buddhist scripture. Accompanying him on his journey is the powerful and brave Monkey King and Pigsy, a once-heavenly general reborn as a pig-man. Hijinks and adventures follow, and you can take my word that the novel is a good read even today.

Back in 1978 the Japanese made a TV show about the legend called Saiyuki, and it went on to become a big hit not only in Japan but also in Australia, the UK and other European countries as well due to a wonderful BBC translation. Here is a compilation of scenes from the show:

It was played non-stop during my youth and in fact up until me leaving Australia. I saw every episode countless times and loved them all. Sadly no NTSC version has ever been made available, and although someone (the BBC?) still holds the rights to the English language version, they’ve never put it on iTunes or any other download service available to Americans.

I’ve been thinking about the series a lot recently because I recently finished the excellent PS3 game Enslaved, which is also based on the same tale (a futuristic take this time). In fact Journey To The West has been inspiration for quite a few movies, manga, anime, TV shows and video games over the years, not the least of which is the famous manga series Dragonball.

Here’s Monkey himself  in various guises, including the well-known Goku:

Here’s the good monk Tripitaka, who was so famously played by a woman in the original series that all later incarnations seemed to become female!

And here’s Pigsy (known as Oolong in Dragonball):

Those Enslaved graphics look almost too good to be true don’t they? Well they are not, and it’s easily one of the most beautiful and well-animated games I have ever played.

Monkey, Dragonball and Enslaved: 33 years separate these three very different – but all great – versions of a 400+ year old story. I’m sure there will be many more versions told in the future.