EU 3DS price cut by "around a third"

The price of the 3DS will be cut by "around a third" in Europe, Nintendo has told Eurogamer.

This will be done from 12th August.

"Nintendo of Europe will be reducing the European trade price of Nintendo 3DS to retailers by around a third from 12th August 2011, as part of a global trade price reduction initiative," Nintendo told Eurogamer.

"The ultimate price to consumers is, of course, determined by retailers, however we look forward to consumers benefiting from much lower retail prices very soon."

Additionally, Nintendo Europe plans to offer an exclusive Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Programme to consumers who have purchased the Nintendo 3DS at the original launch price.

The programme will enable these Nintendo 3DS owners to download ten NES games and ten Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games for free.

To register for this programme, Nintendo 3DS owners need to connect to the Nintendo eShop before the 12th of August.

The free software will then be made available at a later stage.

More details on the programme will be announced on the Nintendo of Europe website shortly.

In North America, Nintendo has already firmed up details of the Ambassador programme. US Ambassadors get their ten NES Virtual Console games starting from 1st September, before they're made available for the general public to buy.

The NES list includes Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and The Legend of Zelda. It's the first we've heard of several of these becoming available.

Nintendo will dole out the 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games by the end of the year. The GBA games will be true exclusives - Nintendo "currently has no plans" to make the games available to the general public in the future.

Some of the GBA's finest are included: Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong.