Nintendo 3DS Price Dropping to $169.99

Oh goodness! Just a few scant months after the release of the Nintendo 3DS, it seems that poor sales have led Nintendo to try and “kick-start” the system’s life with a pretty hefty price cut, coming on August 12th, dropping the system’s suggested retail price from $249.99 (which was a bit optimistic, let’s be honest) all the way down to $169.99. And if you already own the system? Well Nintendo have some good news for you too, or at least some news to soften the blow of the extra $80 you might now feel like you dropped.

Basically! Nintendo has acknowledged that since the system launched on March 27th, 900,000 people have picked one up, and Nintendo is calling these customers–or, indeed, any customer who makes the tough decision to pick up a system before August 12th at full price–“Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors” and is rewarding them with 20 free downloadable games from the Nintendo eShop.

These 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:

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. These’ll be available later as paid downloadable games, (probably at about $5 each) but Ambassadors will get them early and free… Read More [via futureshop]