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Nintendo slashes 3DS price by 40% as firm posts $324 million net loss in Q1 2011

Revenues fall by more than half yoy

Nintendo slashes 3DS price by 40% as firm posts $324 million net loss in Q1 2011
A glance at Nintendo's latest quarterly results would suggest it's business as usual at the Kyoto based giant.

Though the company has posted a net loss of ¥25.5 billion ($324 million) in Q1 2011, that's roughly equivalent to the ¥25.2 billion loss Nintendo suffered in the same quarter in 2010.

The difference is, Nintendo put last year's slump down to a strong yen.

This year, it's admitted the reasons behind its slow quarter rest solely with its business: both Wii and DS reaching the end of their respective lives and, more crucially, 3DS is so far failing to take off with consumers.

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It's a catalogue of slumps that led to revenues falling by more than a half year on year, coming in at ¥93.9 billion ($1.2 billion).

That's down from ¥188.7 billion amassed in Q1 2010.

As a result, Nintendo is slashing the price of 3DS worldwide by 40 percent as well as bolstering its line up of titles in 2011 – announcing Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land - claiming both moves will trigger some "momentum" for the handheld at the tills.

The company expects the price-cut in particular will bring sales up to the level it previously expected, meaning the firm's sales target of 16 million units by March 2012 remains in place.

DS's sales estimates for the same period, however, have been halved, from 18 million units to 9 million.

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.