Wal-Mart isn’t waiting around for August 12. Despite Nintendo’s official date for the Nintendo 3DS price drop being this Friday, one of America’s largest retailers is jumping the gun, slashing in-store prices of the portable to $169.99 now.

Curiously, Wal-Mart has yet to do this for its online store, and has apparently made no official announcement to this effect. Still, we’ve heard from several IGN readers that they’ve been able to pick up a system from their local shop. Apparently not all stores have implemented the new price.

This has a number of implications, the most obvious being that consumers buying the system today are still technically eligible for Nintendo’s “ambassador program”. By signing online before August 12, these fans, who already bought a 3DS at discount, will be able to receive the 20 free NES and GBA titles that are being distributed throughout the rest of the year.

There are potential implications for Nintendo as well. Hardware agreements can require the publisher to compensate retailers for price cuts to maintain sales margins. (Nintendo president Satoru Iwata just acknowledged this point in his latest investor Q&A.) Will Nintendo have to pay Wal-Mart for the discount in addition to giving away free games?

We’ve reached out to Nintendo for comment on the situation, particularly to find out if it sanctioned Wal-Mart’s premature price drop. Technically retailers In the meantime, let us know if you have any luck getting a cheap 3DS!

Nintendo has decided to drop the price of the Nintendo 3DS by an astounding $80 because of lukewarm response from fans. Just read this article:

Great Price, Great Games

An exciting message for people who own a Nintendo 3DS and those who want to:

Nintendo of America today announced plans to drop the suggested retail price of its portable Nintendo 3DS™ system to $169.99 in the United States. The new price takes effect Aug. 12 and makes an outstanding value even better.

Building on the popularity of The Legend of Zelda™: Ocarina of Time™ 3D, which launched June 19, the upcoming game calendar for Nintendo 3DS is a Who’s Who of iconic video game franchises. Star Fox 64™ 3D arrives on Sept. 9, followed by Super Mario™ 3D Land in November, Mario Kart™ 7 in December and Kid Icarus™: Uprising during the holiday season.

And don’t forget that Nintendo 3DS has a bunch of fun features, including Nintendo Video™, the Nintendo eShop and access to Netflix, that make it a must-have video game system.

But what about the 830,000 of you who already own a Nintendo 3DS? You’re some of Nintendo’s most loyal customers, and we’re rewarding you for getting in on the action early with not one, not 10, but 20 free downloadable games from the Nintendo eShop! Here’s how it works:

The 20 free games are available to anyone who owns a Nintendo 3DS system and uses a wireless broadband Internet signal to connect to the Nintendo eShop at least once before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11. These users will automatically be registered in the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program. The program contains two elements:

1. Starting Sept. 1, Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors will be able to download 10 NES™ Virtual Console™ games at no charge and before they are available in the Nintendo eShop to the general public. These games, including Super Mario Bros.™, Donkey Kong Jr.™, Balloon Fight™, Ice Climber™ and The Legend of Zelda™, are slated to become paid downloadable games, but Ambassadors get them early for free. Once the paid versions of the games are posted to the Nintendo eShop later in the year, the updated versions will be available to Ambassadors for download at no cost.

2. By the end of 2011, Nintendo will provide Ambassadors with 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games. These include games like Yoshi’s Island™: Super Mario™ Advance 3, Mario Kart™: Super Circuit, Metroid™ Fusion, WarioWare™, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong™. These games will be available exclusively to Ambassadors, and Nintendo currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future.

More details about this program will be announced in the future.

It’s a great time to own a Nintendo 3DS!

–Your Friends at Nintendo of America

Source: Nintendo

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Even though the price will be dropping on August 12th, there is incentive to purchase a 3DS now, (It is being sold at discount at Amazon) so you can get in on the Ambassador program’s 20 free select NES/GBA games. Be sure to act swiftly though, as you have until 11.59 PM EST on August 11th to register with the program.

So the 3DS is out and we’ve seen flash carts already being run.  Already, four major flash carts are working on the 3DS after flashing an update to them. One of the carts from the CycloDS team works directly off the bat, not requiring an update. For this reason alone, the Nintendo 3DS is a beaming prospect in the eyes of homebrewers worldwide. Bringing the joys of homebrew and DS rom support to the 3DS has some people worried about Nintendo catching on to their actions, however. With the 3DS, Nintendo has incorporated a system in which to view the game history log, usage level i.e. which games you’re playing and how often. The problem? Nintendo might not appreciate people using homebrew or running game backups on their 3DS console. Rumors are running amok regarding the potential for Nintendo to use a software update or a wireless method in which to brick the systems of users who abuse their anti-piracy/ anti-third-party tools terms of use agreement.

Over at GBATemp, a member of their magazine staff, Rydian, has put together a list of things for people to consider when wondering about whether Nintendo would actually want to do such a thing. I’ve put a source link at the bottom of this article that you should jump to for the full version of his considerations. His list has six main reasons with which to help people better understand how Nintendo would view bricking consoles.

1. It is illegal in the US/ UK.
2. Other systems also warn against third-party modifications
3. The 3DS is [has been out] in Japan since Februrary and no such brickings have occurred.
4. Third-party modifications do not include just flash carts, and cannot be detected perfectly.
5. Nintendo does not profit in any way by killing your system.
6. Updates will not be done without your consent.

Rydian goes on to say, regarding point number one, that since US/ UK law recognizes the differences between goods and services, Nintendo cannot legally destroy your game system. They could, however, revoke your usage of their online services because they are exactly that, services. The good in which you purchased, the 3DS, cannot operate without the proper software updates, so if Nintendo maliciously bricked a system, it would be against the law. He also talks about how Nintendo has used “scare tactics” and “fear-mongering” in the past, recalling a recent Wii game, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, which flat-out tells you that if you have unauthorized third-party devices, an update may render your machine inoperable. No doubt some Wii consoles have mods, could possibly be detected, and haven’t been destroyed by Nintendo, clearly.

All-in-all, it doesn’t seem likely that Nintendo would be that hardcore in their pursuit against anti-piracy activities, but these are some good things to consider before you freak out and assume your 3DS is heading to paperweight status.

[Source]: GBATemp – Rydian’s thoughts on Nintendo bricking your 3DS

Nintendo hasn’t had the 3DS in America that long and expectations for its sales were high, but who would have though they would not only surpass all other DS sales, but also shatter other records as being the most sold Nintendo handheld in history? Very interesting seeing as how the 3DS is also their most costly.

“Nintendo worked hard to get as much product as possible to retailers on day one to meet demand, and we will continue with these efforts moving forward.”

Whether or not you’re excited about this handheld, it is very impressive. You’ve got to agree with that.

Discussion: Here
Source: Here

Just how ambitious is Nintendo planning to be with their latest hand-held masterpiece? Very, to say the least. Before the console has been launched, Iwata recently said, “When we launch Nintendo 3DS, it will probably be the first 3D device to be sold in a significant volume in the mass market. An increasing number of people will see business opportunities by looking at Nintendo 3DS from that perspective. Nintendo does not have any intention to exclude such possibilities if they come to us with their proposals.”

Iwata seems to be on the right track with this one. It’s easy to understand that many companies may see potential in the vast market share that Nintendo usually has over the hand-held market. Besides market share, take into perspective exactly what the Nintendo 3DS will mean to the gaming industry as a whole. This will more than likely be the first mainstream 3D device in most markets around the world to actually have a solid niche in the market, particularly because it doesn’t require 3D viewing glasses/ goggles. The 3DS will have a unique opportunity for the film industry to capitalize on which could potentially lead to an increase in 3D films or variants specifically for viewing on the 3DS.

Iwata is saying this in light of being questioned about streaming movies and television shows to the 3DS. Nintendo is ambitious, that’s for sure, and it looks like they’re going to try and capitalize on the hand-held market in a way that they’ve never done before.

[Source: Game Adrenaline]

Vice president of Epic Games stated, during an online interview, that Epic will not be working on a 3DS version of the unreal engine because it’s “below our min-spec.” Even though Epic has ported it over to both the iPhone and Android, the VP considers the new device less capable than the iPhone 3GS since that can run Epic Citadel fine.

Discussion: Here
Source: Here

So, the 3DS will be coming soon, and one of the cool features of the 3DS will be taking 3D photos and making a Mii out of the you or your friends.
Check out a video in the source, but in the above image, you can easily see how well it appearantly will work.
I’m just glad that the 3DS will include Mii’s, but this is an added bonus.

Discussion: Here
Source: Here