For Nintendo's sake, I hope it skyrockets sales so that they feel that this was worth it. I actually feel really bad for them, because I think the 3DS is a wonderful feature-rich system, and actually don't think that the original $250 price point was too bad, even though I was happy to get it cheaper. It is my firm belief that the system would have sold a lot more units at its launch if they had more popular titles released with it or at least around the same time.
I know that the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Super Street Fighter IV were out around the time of launch (and that was great), but those were games that people had already played in one form or another (albeit in non-3D glory) and I'm not sure that it was a big enough incentive to make buyers run out and purchase the system. I have to admit, even though we are Nintendo fanatics and the 3D features and tools of the 3DS boasts are impressive, I didn't feel the need to run out and get the 3DS right at launch, as I didn't feel there were enough new popular games to warrant an immediate, must-have purchase. If Super Mario Land 3D, Mario Kart 7, and Kid Icarus Uprising had been released around the 3DS launch, we would have immediately been all over it, and others probably would have as well. We're still salivating for Animal Crossing 3DS, Paper Mario 3DS and Luigi's Mansion 2 to be released, and hope a Kirby title for the 3DS is on its way.
I hope that when the Wii U is released (rumored to be in mid-November), there are a great array of (popular) titles to choose from (at least one spectacular Mario title, please!) that will entice buyers to buy! buy! buy! immediately at whatever price point they set so they don't have to take a loss on all of their hard work, and come up with what seems like desperate marketing tactics.
Good luck, Nintendo!
