How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the 3DS
So Nintendo announced a new handheld today. The world recoiled with shock!
Not really. Nintendo is always releasing a new handheld. Honestly though, they’re really good at making handhelds, so it’s okay.
If you’ve been paying attention to any of the gaming news blogs today, you know that Nintendo announced via their Japanese web site that there’s a new handheld on the way, tentatively titled the Nintendo 3DS. The console is going to use its two screens to create a 3D effect without the use of glasses. It’s going to be an all new line of handhelds, similar to how the Game Boy Advance was the successor to the original Game Boy.
If you remember a while back, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was quoted in Asahi Shinbum that their next handheld would feature rumble and motion sensing technology, which Nintendo vehemently denied afterwards. Both of those features are to be included on the 3DS.
Now, when Nintendo first announced the DS way back when, I thought it was a horrible idea. I thought the two screens would be a gimmick at best, but once the system launched I quickly ate my words. I’ve bought the Phat, the Lite, and last week, the DSi. It’s a fantastic system, and between cargo pockets or a messenger bag, it goes everywhere with me.
That’s why I’m looking at the 3DS with a lot of optimism. Nintendo is not the kind of company to half-ass a new piece of hardware. If they’re going to replace the DS, they’re replacing it because they’ve got something amazing.
Kotaku posted a short video today of Japanese DSiWare titled 3D Hidden Picture, a game that uses the Dsi’s cameras to track movement and shift the perspective of the image accordingly. It’s very impressive, and the thought of an entire system built around something like that is very impressive. Imagine the environment not being a box like in the video and playing something like Zelda, where you can rotate your system to take in the scenery. Or even something like a stealth game, where you need to rotate the system to peek around corners. Holy crap, imagine linking the system to a stealth game on Wii, and using the 3DS as some kind of gadget to let you look around corners and hack into security cameras. THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS.
People are already yelling “GIMMICK GIMMICK” and saying it’s going to fail, but let me remind you that people are stupid and I’m always right. Nintendo has come out with some ideas that have been pretty bonkers and outside the box these past few years, and they’ve all worked. Ignore the people who say things like “My Wii has an inch of dust on it” because those people are apparently too cool for school and forgot how to have fun. They’re too worried about what Johnny Internet is going to think if they’re not hardcore.
We don’t know much about the 3DS now, and we won’t until E3. Until then, I’m pleased with what I know so far, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it’s all implemented. I’d suggest everyone put down their torches and pitchforks until then.
12 Comments
Nintendo usually does well with new technologies and ideas, but lets not forget their last dive into 3D. Innovations are cool, but I prefer them to be kept in the games. It’s not that I don’t trust Nintendo, it’s more that if it doesn’t turn out right, we are stuck with no (useful) Nintendo handheld for years and years.
Nintendo handhelds are always awesome. I’m expecting great things from this 3DS! But I wonder… Will I be able to play my DS and GBA games on it? Backwards compatibility is a big deal for me. That’s why I didn’t get a DSi.
Hex, the Virtual Boy was a RARE miss from Nintendo. Oddly enough, that’s the only video game system my dad ever wanted for himself.
Yonathin, it’ll play DS and DSi games, but not GBA games unfortunately.
Eh, I’m fine with that amount of BC. I’ll just have to keep my DS Lite.I’ll have no other way of playing my GBA games otherwise.
As much as I hate to refer you to GameStop, you might be able to find one of the nice backlit GBA SPs there for under $30.
Actually, my local GameStop is really nice. I don’t understand the horror stories about them. But after reading your blog, I know that GameStop horrors do exist. I’ve just never witnessed them personally.
There’s naturally some bad apples in the bunch, Yonathin, it’s all a matter of how close to home that happens to hit. I remember back when I would have loved to work at Gamestop/EB Games, then I heard all the horror stories of not just working there, but the system they run, and so /I/ ran, as far away as possible.
Anyway, I don’t really intend to get the Nintendo 3DS, simply for the fact that I have no problems with my current DS Lite. Unless something mind-blowing comes out on the 3DS, I don’t see myself picking one up. I feel like they only JUST came out with the DSi, and now they want me to pick up this new one?
No thanks. It’s not a lack of interest, it’s a lack of wanting to shell out the money.
Man, I feel stupid. It said right up top that the 3DS would be backwards compatible.
I want some classic GBA games in 3d.
I will NEVER give up my DSlite.
My god. Imagine if the 3DS had Gamecube graphics. Gamecube graphics on a handheld? That’d be amazing. Imagine Pokemon on the 3DS. I personally don’t care about the “3D”, if it has Gamecube graphics, motion controls, and an analog, that’s enough for me to buy it the day it comes out.
I’m only buying it if the the 3D is in all red, and the graphics are wire frame. VB was, like badass… wait, no, it was like bad-ACID.
If the 3D is even close to decent this will be full of win, but likely too expensive for me to justify.
Well said
(I’ll still wait a decade to buy it)