The Game Blender #6 - Cheaper 3DS, Free Red Dead DLC, RE4 Soon in HD

Welcome back to the party!  Another week, another development of news, a few game releases, a little success, a little bit of money, and sold out to EA for a gabillion dollars… journalistically speaking. On with the show!

Nintendo Gets Cheap (Source: CNN)

The 3DS was praised as the machine that could bring 3D gaming from fad to function. Five months later, between a lack of software and a sluggish economy, the system has floundered in obscurity. Now Nintendo hopes to garner some positive public opinion after what has been months of disappointment.  

Beginning August 12th Nintendo will cut the price of the handheld from $249.99 to $169.99. A substantial price drop considering the original price point was reasonable to begin with. A sweaty Reggie Fils-Aime stated "For anyone who was on the fence about buying a Nintendo 3DS, this is a huge motivation to buy now," as he hid the empty shelf behind him where the 3DS games were supposed to be. "We are giving shoppers every incentive to pick up a Nintendo 3DS, from an amazing new price to a rapid-fire succession of great games." 

So what about the suckers—I mean dedicated gamers to who purchased the 3DS at full price? Well Nintendo is rewarding them with 20 free downloadable games from the Nintendo eShop - 10 NES games and 10 GBA games - before they are available to the general public. It’s a nice gesture to those who dished out an extra $80.00.

Hot on the heels of this price drop, Nintendo had to cut their forecasted earnings by a whopping 80%! Leaving investors and gamers to wonder what’s next for the company that stood atop the video game market only a few short months ago.

Nintendo stands at a crossroads.  They’ve milked the casual gaming market dry with the Wii.  They’ve left Nintendo fan boys out in the cold with their lack of hardcore titles and fan favorites.  The Wii U sits squarely in the concept phase with a good year before it sees the light of day.  But even when it does release who’s going to be in line to grab it?  Nintendo isn’t going out of business tomorrow, but they face a dire situation with no savior on the horizon to speak of.  It’ll be interesting to see how they respond to all this.  Of course, everybody had Nintendo pegged as "out of touch" after the GameCube and look how that turned out. 

Oh and speaking of ‘a rapid-fire succession of great games’...

Snake?... Snake?!...... SSSSNNNAAAKKKEEEE!!!!!  (Source:  Konami)

Sorry 3DS owners, no snake eating for you (Wow, was that as dirty to read as it was to write?). Yes, in yet another setback for the handheld system, Konami has announced that their remake of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater will be delayed. Although, they assured gamers that plans to release their HD version of the game is still on track and should arrive in November… on the 360 and PS3… systems that actually PUT content out for their systems.

I suppose you can’t blame Nintendo here. I mean, its Konami’s IP. They need to release it when they feel it’s ready, but when the re-release of a game that came out on a competitor’s previous console is one of your biggest offerings, you’ve got problems.

Much Obliged (Source: Rockstar Games)

Rockstar’s Wild West romp took the industry by storm last fall. They won a slew of Game of the Year awards and made a boatload of money. Now Rockstar wants to give back to all the cowpokes out there who made the game such a success.

Myths and Mavericks is a bonus DLC for Red Dead Redemption that will be released early August. It’ll include new multiplayer characters (like fan favorite Landon Ricketts) and new multiplayer levels for Deathmatch, Grab the Bag, and Gang Matches, among other modes.

The best part about this though is it’s all free. Yep, Rockstar just wants to say thank you to its supporters for making Red Dead so successful. Now that oughta make the most dastardly outlaw shed a tear!

(Continued on the Next Page...)