3DS Sales Boom in Japan After Price Cut; Streamlined Wii to Launch in UK Before Christmas

Last month, Nintendo reported poor first-quarter financial results and blamed it on the fact that its new portable, the 3DS, did not sell as well as it hoped due to a lacking launch lineup. In fact, only 710,000 units were sold between April and June 2011, and in July, the total number sold came to 4.32 million. This was disappointing for Nintendo, who was hoping to sell that amount within the first few weeks of the 3DS’ release in March 2011.

Along with the first-quarter financial results came the announcement that Nintendo was slashing the price of the 3DS from $249.99 to $169.99 starting August 12. Through this effort as well as the launch of a 3DS Ambassador Program, which allowed pre-price cut 3DS owners to receive free games via the Nintendo eShop, Nintendo was hoping to boost 3DS sales.

Now, it looks as if the price slash worked — especially in Japan. According to Enterbrain, a video game magazine publishing house, Nintendo sold 215,000 3DS systems between August 8 and 14 in Japan. Reports noted that video game stores in Japan reduced the price of the 3DS a few days sooner than the set August 12 date.

For a one-week time period, this number is pretty significant considering Japan only sold 109,000 3DS systems in all of May. Now, Japan has sold a total of 1.5 million units since the 3DS’ launch.

In other Nintendo-related news, a new streamlined Wii console will launch in the United Kingdom sometime before Christmas. According to the Official Nintendo Magazine, it will be a streamlined white Wii that is designed to sit horizontally rather than vertically. In addition, it will no longer play GameCube games and will not be compatible with GameCube controllers.

The new streamlined Wii will be part of a bundle consisting of the games “Wii Party” and “Wii Sport,” and will include a Wii Remote Plus controller and Nunchuk.