Nintendo is bringing a new color to the 3DS lineup. In addition to black and blue, the company will be offering the console to US gamers in a previously Japan-only Flame Red. Nintendo has timed the availability of the new version to coincide with its launch of its Star Fox 64 3D game on September 9.
The company hopes that the new color will help to begin to bolster sales during the upcoming holiday season. Although the company has sold an estimated 830,000 consoles worldwide since its launch in March, sales have been disappointing. Last week, the company announced that it would be dropping the price 32 percent from $249 to $169 on August 12. To assuage those customer who have already bought consoles, and are irate that the company would reduce the price so quickly after it first became available, Nintendo has offered 20 free game downloads.
Nintendo is following the same marketing game plan in the US as it did in Japan, where it began offering the new color in July, also synced to the launch of the Japanese version of Star Fox 3D.
At E3 we here at ToT found Star Fox 64 3D to be a game worth buying a 3DS for and that was before the price drop.
