Coming March 27 to an America near you, it’ll cost $250. So…

I just got off the phone with the big Blake on the showroom floor and he had glowing impressions of Steel Diver. “The visuals are fantastic”, he says. “It’s a lot of fun and easily the game of the show.”

When discussing Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Blake says the updated visuals are “Charming” and every Zelda fan should look forward to playing it again in 3D.

Kid Icarus “seems so-so.” Blake claims the controls feel sloppy and it really feels like an old game that doesn’t translate well to a new generation of gamers and will only be fun to a select few.

When discussing the mood at the press event, Blake states there is a “ho hum” attitude to the price point. Most people expected a $250 price tag, but were secretly hoping for something around $199.

When talking about the launch games, Blake says it doesn’t feel like there is a game that takes full advantage of how the 3DS should work a’ la Wii Sports. Games like Nintendogs + Cats are nice games, but with no Mario, Metroid, or new Zelda, it just doesn’t have that flagship title yet.

Make sure to come back and get first hand impressions and pictures from Blake as he gets back to his hotel and has time to digest it all.

Infendo had a chance to talk with two market analysts that both predict the 3DS to be hugely popular, but fall short of total sales of the original DS by 20-30%. Michael Pachter and Jesse Divnich both believe the 3DS will not pass the DS in total sales during it’s life cycle and believe it has a lot to do with 3D not being that popular among the masses.

So what think ye? I know I’m no analyst, but I do have a magic 8 ball that says “ask again later”. I interpret that as it’s too early to tell.

Nintendo 3DS presser

“Nothing between you and the experience”

Reggie Fils-Aime
opening of a vast new world in 3d entertainment
some of the game names may be familiar, but the experience is a game changer
many believe the modern era of video games
n64, DS, Wii brought us where we are today

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I haven’t played any of the games yet, nor have I seen the stereoscopic 3D screen in action, but to me the “killer app” that will get this device into a lot of hands—young and old—is a 3D screen (sans glasses) coupled with the ability to take and make 3D content (via the cameras).

Oh, and the games, of course, but that’s related to the above: The games have the potential to become entirely new beasts once developers figure out how to perfectly couple the augmented reality-friendly hardware features mentioned above with their software. It will be gimmicky at first, always is (Ubisoft loves making the easy launch day bucks!), but it will get perfected over time, especially if the intense anticipation over this portable continues into 2012.

Oh, and I was totally wrong about the $189 price point, huh? Shoot. I can live with that. I can also live with the fact that the pessimistic $300 price did not come to be either. $250 is certainly expensive, sure, but the PSP arrived at that price and actually outsold the DS for a time before ultimately settling into a permanent 2nd place position.

But unlike the PSP (or PSP 2), developers and the public actually seem hungry for the 3DS. As such we won’t really see the waning effect that plagued the $250 PSP after its launch.

Speaking of the PSP 2, if it doesn’t have a stereoscopic 3D screen and a $250 price point, no one’s going to give a hoot if it’s “as powerful as the PS3.”

Powerful overpriced portables. That’s so 2005, right?

Last prediction: 3D console gaming won’t take off until glasses-free TVs are as ubiquitous as HDTVs are today. So, yeah, not for a long long while–if ever!

Check out the full scoop about the 3DS in Nintendo’s press release. It’s got the answers to your burning questions, such as:

- Can you download DSiWare games on 3DS? How about transfer of previous DSiWare purchases?
-What accessories will be included in the system?
- What colors will be available at launch?
- What do the StreetPass and SpotPass features entail?
- What’s the deal with the augmented reality (AR) cards that come with the 3DS?

You can read all about these delectable details and more inside.

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In addition to the launch price and date, Reggie says they will have 30 games available by E3 this year. Also, a virtual console that will allow you to play Gameboy and Gameboy Color games. Comes bundled with the charging cradle and AR cards just like Japan. Should have lots to do on this system when it launches.

UPDATE: Europe has a launch date of March 25th, but no price was announced. Stay tuned as we try to find out more for our friends across the pond.

UPDATE 2: Joystiq is reporting a European price of £229.99

Friend codes are system specific, not software specific. One code for every game. Jeez, that only took 5 years to figure out.

Reggie says they will be launching the 3DS in Aqua Blue and Cosmo Black. I think I’ll take the blue one.

Blake is on the floor and will be providing all your 3DS impressions and thoughts. Stay tuned.