In a surprising move, Nintendo announced today that they are cutting the price of the 3DS by as much as 40% in all regions around the globe.

Starting August 12, the suggested retail price of the 3DS will drop from US$ 249.99 to US$ 169.99 in the United States, ¥25,000 to ¥15,000 in Japan and from AU$ 349.95 to AU$ 249.95 in Australia. Europe will also receive a price cut on the same date, but Nintendo declined to offer a fixed price as of the moment.

"For anyone who was on the fence about buying a Nintendo 3DS, this is a huge motivation to buy now," said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "We are giving shoppers every incentive to pick up a Nintendo 3DS, from an amazing new price to a rapid-fire succession of great games."

To top it all off, all current 3DS owners will be getting 20 free downloadable games from the Nintendo eShop. According to Nintendo, "these free games are available to anyone who owns a Nintendo 3DS system and uses a wireless broadband Internet signal to connect to the Nintendo eShop at least once before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11. These users will automatically be registered in the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program." The program contains two elements:

• "Starting Sept. 1, Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors will be able to download 10 NES Virtual Console games at no charge and before they are available in the Nintendo eShop to the general public. These games, including  Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and  The Legend of Zelda, are slated to become paid downloadable games, but Ambassadors get them early for free. Once the paid versions of the games are posted to the Nintendo eShop later in the year, the updated versions will be available to Ambassadors for download at no cost.
• "By the end of 2011, Nintendo will provide Ambassadors with 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games. These include games like  Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong. These games will be available exclusively to Ambassadors, and Nintendo currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future.

The 3DS hasn't quite delivered as Nintendo expected, as Miyamoto recently admitted, it could have been better.

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