Nintendo first announced its rather drastic plan to cut the price of its Nintendo 3DS portable console by $80 a number of days ago. The price reduction from $249.99 to $169.99 was supposed to start on Friday, August 12. But according to Joystiq two major retailers in the US have jumped the gun and have already started selling the 3DS for the cheaper price. Wal Mart was the first retailer to offer the 3DS at the lower price. Target followed suit soon afterward.
The early price reduction by Wal Mart and Target means that those people who pick up the 3DS before Friday at those stores will also be able to get 20 free downloadable games. Those games were supposed to be the compensation for those 3DS owners who bought the console early at the higher price. The 20 free games are supposed to be unavailable once Friday rolls around.
As we have previously reported, Nintendo decided to take a drastic and early price cut on the 3DS console after it failed to meet its early sales expectations. The console, which allows gamers to play titles with 3DS effects with no glasses needed, only sold about 800,000 units worldwide since its launch in February in Japan and in the US in March. The poor sales numbers caused Nintendo to cut its profit forecasts and sent its stock price tumbling as a result. Nintendo"s president Satoru Iwata has pledged to take a 50 percent cut in his salary because of the poor financial numbers.