Cheating The System - 3DS Ambassador Program

Give ‘em an inch and they’ll take an arm; it’s the codex of zombies and capitalists alike. When Nintendo announced its measures of altruism by severely lowering the 3DS price and offering a Mea Culpa of 20 games to early adopters, it didn’t expect people to take advantage. Well, perhaps it did and it didn’t care; but marketing sharks abusing the price drop versus a free game date deadline on August 12 was an obvious expectation. Such is my faith in humanity anyway. And thus worldwide, stores like Target and WalMart dropped the price a few days short and the people flocked to abuse the system. Now which of the 2 parties is the worst? The corporations not respecting the deadline or the people who knowingly partake in this betrayal? That is something you can debate in the comment section!

Proof of my tiredness is revealed in the picture quality and ten ton eye baggage.

And thus here I stand now, with a brand new Nintendo 3DS by my side, all shiny and blue, which I bought at €150, give or take, with shipping. You see, the well-reported outlets weren’t the only ones chucking three dimensional cigar boxes. Additionally, I can easily look down on every opportunist whom betrayed Nintendo’s trust, since my purchase had a slight legit twist. A site, which each day offers one item at a slight discount was faced with a dilemma. With the new price announcement and a warehouse full of originally priced handhelds, it was about to get into a right old mess. Offering a 3DS at 150 bucks doesn’t seem like a huge discount when the real price is a few smackers more. That’s why they keelhauled all the 3DS they could a week early; thus inflating a discount that is non-existent.

It’s in that small window that I struck; hoping shipping would arrive on this very day. Mission accomplished it seems. Remember all those post office complaints I made? How odd that this service does not use the national post. Eat me, crappy government service.

You have to give the people proof of purchase these days, so behold my 3DS receipt.

Again, shame on everyone who took advantage of sleazy corporate stores. I found a much nobler workaround; you people sicken me. You’re not beating the system, you’re merely shortchanging your game provider. I love Nintendo to bits, so much that I actually don’t own a 3DS game yet. Any and every suggestion, except Ocarina of Time, is welcome as well in the comment section.

But now that everything is out of the package and loaded up, what about that Ambassador Program which yields us early adopters free games? Just like the overall navigation without consulting the manual (I’m very tired), it’s a bit of an enigma how this will unfold. Nintendo likes being cryptic and you see where that put its market value. One notification in your Home panel saying: “Hey, you’re getting free games. No worries bro, I got this!” – It would’ve been nice. No such thing though.

Shiny and blue, it's all mine now.

The big N issued a press release to the lucky few that to be up for some virtual goodies, one must perform a system update or visit the eShop before tomorrow. Great, after some fiddling  I did that, but then what? Gratification isn’t as instant or self-evident as it could be. In a shroud of mystery, not one word is uttered after visiting either option. No notification that your handheld has been enrolled, not a special message on the screen, nothing happens. Are we getting that free stuff now then or do I have to download them from the store or what?

Hold the phone, my light is flashing, meaning the 3DS has encountered things to bother you with. I can’t wait until I get a bunch of passerby messages from all sorts of people. Ah, it seems that for new owners it takes the process a while to download a bunch of crap and swing it into your notifications. Scratch my prior cynicism; it’s just slow and confusing. Now, we were talking freebies I believe.

Catch more horrible 3DS photos in the screenshot gallery.

It’s actually going to be a while before the mystery is answered, as games will be loaded upcoming September 1 and it’s only then that the goodies are promised.  That’s a long and arduous wait in this modern day and age. It’s not the best approach, but let’s hope it goes off without a hitch. Again, some clarity doesn’t hurt Nintendo. If you would just learn that, perhaps people wouldn’t be confused about your machine and buy it. Ignorance creates fear, don’t you know, and you’re supposed to be the family oriented platform.

Oh well; be you an honest early fanatic or a sleazy opportunist; add me to the ranks from now on. I have no idea how the friend codes work, if at all, so if you’d like to set up a Mii play date, drop us a knowledge line. Don’t worry; I kept him clean, because a screen told me so. You want the ultimate proof of my love for Nintendo? I can’t even see 3D and I bought a machine marketed on a dimension that is unknown to me. I’m an endorsement deal shy of being a PR person for these people.

But seriously, how do you feel about this price cut scam?

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Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@Daavpuke)