By now, many consumers may have considered the fact that there might be a way to purchase a Nintendo 3DS at the new low price of $169.99 (starting August 12 in the U.S.) AND snag 20 free games currently being offered to early adopters, aka Ambassadors, of the 3D handheld console. In case this is news to you, please allow me to explain. If a consumer were to purchase the Nintendo 3DS at a local retail store before August 12, they would be eligible for 20 free games from Nintendo (10 free downloads from the NES era and 10 from the GameBoy Advance era). Now that the consumer has received their 20 free games, they could, in theory, take their receipt back to the retail store and possibly receive a price-match/price-drop guarantee that would refund them the difference of the price as long as the product was purchased within a certain date range (usually within 14-30 days).

However, do not go racing toward your favorite local retail store just yet, as there are several possible issues with this "loophole" that have been floating around the web. The first rumor going around is that Nintendo is sending out a new batch of 3DS consoles with brand new SKUs on the box. This would be an obvious "tell" that you purchased an "older" version of the 3DS before the price-drop. If this were the case, a store could red-flag these "older" 3DS consoles, making them ineligible for the $80 refund. Though, if this rumor were true, it would leave a significant number of unsold "original" 3DS packages lying around that would need to be dealt with. That reason alone casts a lot of doubt on this first rumor. Still, parts of the rumor may be true, but probably will not scare many deal-hackers away.

The Recent Apps list is now expandable, meaning that it is now possible to scroll through your most recently used apps. Touching one of the vertically-displayed thumbnails will take a user back to that app, making multitasking much easier than before.

So if rumor number one above is not true, perhaps this second rumor will scare some folks away from trying to swindle 20 free games while still saving 80 bucks. According to many internet gaming forums, rumor number two is simply that many retail stores (such as Best Buy) are one step ahead of you and are NOT price-matching 3DS consoles purchased before August 12. Even if this rumor is not completely true, it is important to note that stores may go on a case-by-case basis for certain price-matching or price-refunding scenarios. With that being said, this could very well be one that they might try to stick it to you, especially since it was well-known in advance that this price-drop was coming on August 12.

Okay now these rumors have been addressed, it is up to you to figure out whether or not it is worth risking the $80 difference in an attempt to gain 20 free games on top of the major price discount. To end on a positive note, some consumers are reporting that the 3DS has already been dropped down to $169.99 at certain stores. If you happen to run across such a great deal then please ignore the majority of what you have read here and enjoy your good fortune! Maybe even come back here and post the location in the comments section below.

Comments (1)