Nintendo 3DS Sighted in the Philippines

Posted on April 18th, 2011. Written by Rico.

Interested in the Nintendo 3DS, a portable gaming gadget that promises 3D visuals without dorky glasses? We recently saw units for sale at Toy Kingdom in SM Megamall (update: and in other retailers as well)

Toy Kingdom, Megamall

The price? ₱15,999.75. Or ₱16,000 minus 25 centavos for just the 3DS itself.

Frequent Toy Kingdom shoppers know there are bargains to be had. But the toy retailer always offers high-end imported goods—including gaming consoles—at their respective “official” SRPs.

So I’m betting there are lower prices to be had elsewhere, especially in gray market meccas like Greenhills. If you’ve seen a cheaper or more value-oriented 3DS package (say the unit itself bundled with some extras), feel free to share by leaving a comment below.

DataBlitz

Based on reader feedback (thanks Patricia!), we checked out DataBlitz, a local retailer of legitimate copies of video games. The 3DS retails for ₱13,500 for credit card shoppers, and ₱13,000 for cash buyers. No installment plan is available, but persuasive hagglers can bring the price down to ₱12,900.

The Nintendo 3DS features the same flip-up, two-display form factor as its predecessors, the Nintendo DS, DS Lite, DSi, and the DSi XL. But there are major differences under the hood. Aside from the aforementioned glasses-less 3D display (which only works with games that take full advantage of the feature), the 3DS also has more memory, three cameras, and even an internal gyroscope and accelerometer for motion-based games. Controversy surrounds the 3DS due to its low battery life, relative to earlier DS models.