Nintendo 3DS American release date is March 27, 2011. Price is $250. Europe gets it on March 25th

3DS release date is March 27, 2010
The 3DS will be released in America on March 27th, 2011 announced Nintendo today. Europe will get it two days earlier on March 25th! With the price “set by retailers”.

To quote Reggie:

“In all, we expect to have more than a million Americans experience 3DS first-hand through our programs this summer.” “Now, let’s get down to the key news: when and how much?”

Although focus groups showed that people thought the system would cost anywhere from $300 to upwards of $400, Reggie stated that Nintendo would “not go there” and announced the official American price point to be $250! (official MSRP is $249.99 in the USA). It will be available in two colors, blue and black (That’s “Aqua Blue” and “Cosmos Black”, respectively). Additional prices are £229.99 in the UK and €249.99 in the rest of Europe. The system is now available for pre-order via Amazon, GameStop and other retailers.

The $250 dollar price point makes the system more expensive than the original Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and Game Gear systems, the same price as the Virtual Boy was at its launch, but cheaper than the PSP, N-Gage, Atari Lynx and TurboExpress systems. It is the same price as the recent PSP Go was at launch but much cheaper than the DSi ($170).

“Nintendo 3DS is 3D games plus 3D video plus 3D photography. No special glasses or skills required to enjoy it. And above all, Nintendo 3DS is distinct. It’s a breakthrough. There’s nothing else like it. It is … a category of one.” – Reggie.

There will be over 30 launch window games available between March 27th and the E3 2011 tradeshow in June.

Here is the full list of launch window games available on or shortly after launch day:

1. Animal Crossing 3D (Nintendo)
2. Asphalt 3D (Ubisoft)
3. Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D (Ubisoft)
4. Dead or Alive 3DS: Dimensions (Tecmo Koei)
5. Driver: Renegade (Ubisoft)
6. Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars (Ubisoft)
7. Kid Icarus: Uprising (Nintendo)
8. Lego Star Wars 3: Clone Wars (LucasArts)
9. Mario Kart (Nintendo)
10. Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater (Konami)
11. Nintendos+Cats (Nintendo)
12. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo)
13. PES 2011 3D – Pro Evolution Soccer (Konami)
14. Paper Mario 3D (Nintendo)
15. Pilotwings Resort
16. Rabbids 3D: Travel in Time (Ubisoft)
17. Resident Evil: Revelations (Capcom)
18. Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (Capcom)
19. Ridge Racer 3D (Namco Bandai)
20. Samurai Warriors: Chronicles (Tecmo Koei)
21. Splinter Cell 3D (Ubisoft)
22. Starfox 64 3D (Nintendo)
23. Steel Diver (Nintendo)
24. Super Monkey Ball 3D (Sega)
25. Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition (Capcom)
26. The Sims 3 (Electronic Arts)
27. Frogger 3D (Konami)
28. Unnamed Contra 3DS title. (Konami)
29. Bust-a-Move Universe (Square Enix)
30. Crush 3D (Sega)
31. Dual Pen Sport (Namco Bandai)
32. Madden NFL Football (EA Sports)
33. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked (Atlus)
34. Thor: God of Thunder (Sega)

This marks Nintendo’s most diverse launch line-up of all time: “Truly something for everyone from sports to action, shooter, fighter, racing or RPG.”

3DS launch lineup games revealed from Ubisoft

Pre-installed on the system is Face Raiders, a game that allows you to put your 3D face (taken with the camera) into a 3D shooting game of sorts. Advanced Internet browser and “E-Shop” Apps pre-installed as well. It will be easier than ever to access downloadable software titles on 3DS with the new “E-Shop” App including the ability to purchase Game Boy and Game Boy Color retro classic titles similar to how the Wii Virtual Console works.

Additionally, Nintendo announced a ton of new Wi-Fi Hotspot partnerships with companies throughout Europe and America, and all-new ways to get exclusive video content in 3D on the 3DS. Europeans will be happy to know that they will be able to get sports clips, news, etc. streams through EuroSport 3D and news videos through Sky3D using the SpotPass feature of the 3DS and wireless wi-fi hotspots (or at home naturally if you have a wireless router).

3DS Super Mario Land E-Shop Game Boy Virtual Console screenshot

Even bigger than that, is a new partnership with Wallace & Gromit creator company Aardman, which will be making exclusive one-minute long short films featuring their fan-favorite Shaun the Sheep character. These shorts will be available via SpotPass at Wi-Fi Hotspots or wi-fi at home. This partnership follows on the heels of Aardman having created over 12 short films to promote the FlipStudio built-in software on DSi. Shaun the Sheep is a major worldwide brand available in over 150 countries worldwide from USA to China. And the Shaun the Sheep online game has been played by over 70 million players. He even has over 900,000 Facebook fans, so Nintendo counts this as quite a big get. It’ll be very fun to see Shaun the Sheep’s unique brand of physical comedy to a new dimension with 3DS.

Here’s the Nintendo 3DS promo trailer: