Nintendo Okie

The first formerly-retail game for the 3DS hits the eShop this week with Order Up! coming to the service for a mere $9.99.  That’s one of the more expensive titles to hit the downloadable store to date.  However it pales in comparison to what it appears that Unchained Blades will be when it hits the eShop later this year.

XSEED Games sent out a press release today saying the game would be available on the PSP on June 26th.  If you’re interested in picking it up it’s going to set you back $29.99.  Now that’s to be expected considering the game is a full retail sized title.  New Super Mario Bros. 2 is coming to the system in August and will be at least that much, if not slightly higher.  It’s a normal price for a game of that size.  I would expect if Unchained Blades were to hit retail it would have launched at $40, which seems to be the average price for 3DS games at retail.  If that is the case you’re seeing a discount of $10 or 25% compared to retail.  Is this enough incentive to purchase your games through the eShop rather than at retail?  With this one you’re not going to have a choice as the game isn’t coming to stores so we can’t really compare it to anything.

The press release didn’t mention a release date other than later in 2012.   I’ll keep you up to date as I find out more information.  If I were a betting man it would be after Nintendo launches the digital retail store with New Super Mario Bros. 2.