Nintendo is having a conference regarding the state and future of the 3DS tonight at 9:00 PM CST.

While no one is entirely sure what will be discussed at this event, it’s more than likely to feature the Monster Hunter Tri-G and additional enormous circle pad attachment for the 3DS.  Other more vague rumours regarding this conference include:

• Mach Rider Unchained, a dark sequel to the old Mach Rider game for the NES for 3DS
• A new Baten Kaitos game for 3DS with the title of Baten Kaitos: Silence of a Mechanized Son
• A new 3DS-lite or 3DSXL-style model with the second cicle pad built-in
• A new portable system to altogether replace the 3DS
• A new Yoshi side-scroller developed by Good-Feel for the 3DS;
• A new game from the WarioWare team;
• A new Etrian Odyssey for the 3DS;
• A new Hatsune Miku for the 3DS, including all songs from Project DIVA 1 and 2;
• A remake of Suda51’s The Silver Case for the 3DS;
• A new Ace Attorney game, featuring a Miles Edgeworth scenario, for the 3DS;
• The new game from Alchemist, supposedly a “moe mistery” game for the 3DS;
• The debut of 3DS game demos on the eShop, starting with Super Mario 3D Land.

We’ll find out the truth soon enough.  This conference, which should primarily be in Japanese, will be available streaming live on Ustream.tv.  After the conference, we will update you on what game-changing (or not) information comes out of this conference.

As of Aug. 12th, people who have been fence-sitting regarding Nintendo’s latest handheld will have a whole lot less of a reason to continue their indecision.  Nintendo is knocking a whole $80 off of the price of the 3DS, also in time to give the PSVita a proper run for its money, to make it $169.99.  In addition to being cheaper, Nintendo made a few other surprising announcements regarding the 3DS:

• For us poor early adopters (or as Nintendo calls us, “Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors”), recompense is coming very quickly to the tune of 20 free Virtual Console games for our expensive 3DS’.  These VC games will be NES and GBA games, neither of which have been released on the 3DS VC to date.  On Sept. 1, we’ll be able to download 10 free NES VC games including: Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climbers and The Legend of Zelda.  By the end of the year, we’ll get 10 free GBA VC titles that are not planned to be released for non-Ambassador types including: Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong.  
• Nintendo also announced some final names and release dates for its bigger titles that are coming out this fall/winter: “Star Fox 64 3D arrives on Sept. 9, followed by Super Mario 3D Land in November, Mario Kart 7 in December and Kid Icarus: Uprising during the holiday season.”

Is that enough to get you to buy a 3DS?  If you buy it now, you’ll get 20 free VC games, including GBA games that you won’t be able to get otherwise, or if you want until Aug. 12th you’ll save yourself the price of two 3DS games and be that much more ready for Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 when they hit later this year.  We’ll keep you posted should any other details regarding this unprecedented move from Nintendo arise.