Retailers: 3DS games priced at $40-50 in US; £33-40 in UK; €50-60 in Europe

Nintendo has refuted our attempts to wrangle 3DS game pricing info so far, but retailer listings may be shedding some light on the subject. We hope you weren't hoping for a standard price point, because it looks like there's some wiggle room. A review of GameStop and Amazon listings reveals 3DS prices of either $39.99 or $49.99 in the US. Meanwhile, Eurogamer reports that UK retailer Game has confirmed the standard software price will be £39.99 in the region, though other UK retailers have prices listed as low as £32.99. Finally, we perused Amazon France and spotted prices of €49.95 and €59.95.

The disparate prices between titles matches up with pricing in Japan, though it is a bit more standardized. We'll keep poking Nintendo for official details.

Source: Eurogamer, GameStop, Amazon France - PilotWings Resort, Amazon France - Nintendogs & Cats, Amazon US - 3DS

Europe's new PEGI game ratings delayed

The Video Standards Council's new and improved and legally enforceable video games rating system was formerly set to launch this April across Europe, but as you could probably tell by our headline (and the strategic use of the word "formerly" earlier in this sentence), it's going to miss that window. UK Minister for Culture Ed Vaizey has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that the new ratings will now be formally approved by July of this year and are expected to roll out after that decision.

"There's been some technical delays to iron out a few kinks," Vaizey explained, "nothing fundamental, nothing serious." An anonymous source clarified the hang-up to GI.biz, claiming, "What goes on the front of the box is fine. It's what goes on the back of the box that's still being discussed." The back of the box?
Source: GamesIndustry

UK retailers list 3DS for March 18, £249

Listings for the Nintendo 3DS have popped up on UK retailers, including The Hut, Best Buy, Woolworths and WHSmith, offering "pre-order deposits" with a March 18 date. According to these sites, the handheld will be available in blue, black and red. As MCV points out, however, all these sites pull their listings from The Hut's database, so they're essentially all from the same source. (Duplicate 3DS listings on all the sites, featuring a March 25 release date, have been removed since we first looked at these retailer sites.)

Earlier this morning, the sites had listed a placeholder price of £299 (about $466) for the 3DS, but as of publishing, the RRP has changed to £249 ($388). For comparison, the DSi XL is priced at £159.99, roughly $250 by today's currency exchange rate. In the US, the XL's MSRP is $169.99, suggesting that, if Nintendo uses the same strategy of using roughly the same numerical price in pounds and dollars, the 3DS price could be set around the $250 mark, when it's expected to be announced by Nintendo next week. That is, if the UK price here is accurate.

MCV notes that it has been "lead to believe" that the once listed March 25 release date is going to be the real one, and that the 3DS price will be somewhere between £200–230 ($312–359). We hope that turns out to be closer to the truth, for our UK readers' sake. Nintendo will hold a European 3DS event in Amsterdam next Wednesday, at which point we should find out.

Black Ops led 2010 UK game sales, Just Dance top of the pops on Wii

Although it comes as little surprise, Call of Duty: Black Ops was the best-selling game in the UK last year. The UK Interactive Entertainment Association's 2010 bestsellers list features the usual suspects, with Black Ops, FIFA 11 and Just Dance occupying the top three spots, respectively, across all platform sales.

Breaking it down by format, Blops landed in the top sales spot for Xbox 360 and PS3 games, while Just Dance and its sequel filled the first and third positions among Wii releases, naturally. Professor Layton And The Lost Future took the golden picarat for DS and FIFA 11 charged to the top of the charts on PSP.

Although one could speculate as to why Black Ops wasn't at the front line of PC sales in the UK, it's just as fitting that Football Manager 2011 and 2010 occupied the forward spots in the region. Check out the complete breakdown by format after the jump.

UK Bestsellers of 2010 (via UKIE)

All Formats

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops
2. FIFA 11
3. Just Dance
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Wii Fit Plus
6. Just Dance 2
7. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
8. Wii Sports Resort
9. Halo: Reach
10. Battlefield: Bad Company

Wii

1. Just Dance
2. Wii Fit Plus
3. Just Dance 2
4. Wii Sports Resort
5. New Super Mario Bros Wii

PS3

1. Call Of Duty: Black Ops
2. FIFA 11
3. Gran Turismo 5
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Assassins Creed: Brotherhood

Xbox 360

1. Call Of Duty: Black Ops
2. FIFA 11
3. Halo: Reach
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

DS

1. Professor Layton And The Lost Future
2. New Super Mario Bros
3. Art Academy
4. Pokemon Soulsilver
5. Mario Kart DS

PSP

1. FIFA 11
2. LittleBigPlanet
3. Gran Turismo
4. Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
5. FIFA 10

PC

1. Football Manager 2011
2. Football Manager 2010
3. The Sims 3
4. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
5. Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty