I find it funny how Americans were being like "OMG it's gonna cost 300 dollars", and then when they find out it's $249.99, you're still like "Waaaaaaaah it's too expensive".
Well, have I mentioned that when put in order of cheapest to most expensive, the US price is the cheapest? Since exchange rates are changing all the time, here are the launch prices when converted to US Dollars, at the time of posting this post:
US = $249.99
Japan = $303.33
UK = between $320.38 and $374.06 (i.e. £196.99 - £229.99)
Australia = $354.50
According to the current exchange rate, the US launch price, in British pounds, is only £3.72 more expensive than the British launch price of the DSi.
The DSi launched at £149.99, and the 3DS Launch price at this moment in time converts to just £153.71 -- and you say that's too expensive... those of you who are. Another thing many people complain about is the battery life, despite the fact it has the highest charge of any of the batteries in the DS systems?
Nintendo DS = 3,060 coulombs (850 milliampere-hours) -- 6 to 10 hours
Nintendo DS Lite = 3,600 coulombs (1000 milliampere-hours) -- 5 hours (absolute minimum on brightest settings) to 19 hours (absolute maximum on dimmest settings)
Nintendo DSi = 3.024 coulombs (840 milliampere-hours) -- 3 hours (minimum on brightest settings) - 14 hours (maximum on dimmest settings)
Nintendo DSi XL = 3,780 coulombs (1,050 milliampere-hours) -- 4 hours (minimum on brightest settings) - 17 hours (maximum on dimmest settings)
Nintendo 3DS = 4,680 coulombs (1,300 milliampere-hours) -- 3-5 hours .... note, that this may be a rough estimate of the battery life on the brightest settings, and 3D on full. Having the brightest on the lowest setting, with 3D turned off, and while playing a DS game will possibly make the battery last longer.
Oh yeah, another thing. The camera is 0.3 megapixels. Let me explain what pixels are. They are those little "elements" that make up the "pictures". Pixel is short for picture element. There is NO relationship with the number of megapixels and quality. I hate how people are like "omg 0.3 megapixels is crap". It's not crap, it's just small.
To be more precise, it's this small:
The above picture is 640 x 480, the exact same as the number of image sensors on the 3DS (and DSi/XL) cameras, and therefore, this is the exact size of any pictures you can take.
Note that this picture may look quite sharp, but the DSi pictures look really grainy. Well, there's proof that megapixels is not a measure of quality but simply size.
To further prove my point here's a 1.9 megapixel camera (that is 6.25 times as many pixels) -- it might be big, but the quality sucks, right?
It's the lens itself, not the number of image sensors in the lens that determines quality. Just remember that, for those who simply assume that a 5 megapixel camera is better than a 0.3 megapixel camera, using the megapixel count as the sole reasoning behind your assumption.
Oh and one last thing... opinion =/= fact. The launch games are NOT bad ... only in your opinion. SOME people might like Nintendogs + Cats, Ridge Racer, SSFIV3D, Steel Diver.... etc. Just because it doesn't have Super Mario, OOT 3D, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Mario Kart 3DS, Paper Mario 3DS, Starfox 64 3DS, eShop (and all that goes with it)....
