At $250 the 3DS hits store shelves at a price well above its DS predecessors. For that matter, so does
Nintendo's own
Wii. I could basically buy either of them and a game for the price of a
3DS. Games for the 3DS, at least those available at launch, cost $40.
The retrofitted DS look
No, I saw what looked like my trusty DS after someone had been playing around with it at an electronics shop. From the outside the 3DS looks innocuous enough. Roughly similar to the DS in size and shape, angular edges make the 3DS appear more like an earlier model than the latest and greatest. The lower section returns to the classic DS look, but with two nice additions. The new analog thumbstick works well, with a firm action, but looks like a prototype part in plain gray plastic. There's also a row of buttons across the bottom of the screen that introduces a handy "home" function for easily suspending games on the go. Hand the 3DS to a bystander and the into-the-screen 3D effect makes a strong first impression with either the included games or the 3D camera functionality.
The way the 3DS screen splits an image into 3D reminds me of lenticular baseball trading cards. Start playing a game that uses the motion sensors for control and it becomes all but impossible to maintain a good experience. Short of some sort of goofy brace, I can't see how one would keep the 3DS in the right spot in front of their face while spinning around shooting things. So long as I kept it in the right spot, though, watching the screen didn't seem to cause particularly great eye strain. The slider to adjust the strength of the 3D effect proved indispensible to my enjoyment of playing the games. Friend codes get friendly
Nintendo takes some welcome steps for connecting with friends and works in clever encouragements for being social with the 3DS. Yet, at the same time, glaring omissions remind me that Nintendo remains blissfully ignorant of modern connected social interaction.
For starters, with the 3DS Nintendo finally institutes a single friend code that works universally across the system. It baffles me that on the friend cards I see my friends' Mii faces, but to get them on my machine I have to separately import their Mii. Oh, and to share that QR code I have to take the SD card out of the 3DS to be read on another device. There's no way to upload it directly from the 3DS.
There is a much better chance I'll have my 3DS handy if I do bump into a friend now. Besides adding their Mii to my Plaza, passed Miis can be used for two mini-games. Find Mii, on the other hand, uses visiting Miis as the heroes in a simplistic role-playing game where they fight monsters to rescue your Mii which is being held captive in a castle.
For some inexplicable reason, Miis can only take part in the games for a short period after having been shared. So while the whole point of Street Pass is to be able to passively have shared experiences on the 3DS, if I'm not quick to play the games right when the swap happens, I lose the opportunity to play.
Using the motion sensor as a pedometer, the 3DS tracks how many steps I take each day. The coins are also used to purchase additional modes in the included AR Games. Who needs games beyond the ones the come in the box?
Besides collecting Miis and earning coins, some of the most fun I've had with the 3DS so far has come with the two included games. Both use a combination of the camera, the 3D screen, and motion sensing to play augmented reality games. By holding the 3DS up and using the screen like a window to the world, I see what the cameras sees, with virtual elements of the game layered into the scene.
AR Games uses a target card to spawn a fantasy world on just about any flat surface. Its shooting gallery and marbles crossed with mini-golf games are great pick up and play fun and a terrific way to wow people with the system. The card has to stay in the camera's line of sight at all times. To really play the game a well-lit, unobstructed table is needed.
Face Raiders is a little more player-friendly. Pictures of friends faces, taken with the built-in camera, become the targets in this virtual shooting arcade. Even basic features I took for granted suffer this issue, like support for all my DS games. Yes, the 3DS runs them but the new size of the top screen means I either run them stretched to fill it, which makes everything blurry, or remember to hold down start and select while opening the game to run it at original resolution, which now looks extra small in the larger screen.
If you’ve got an empty pocket just begging for a new gadget, the odds are good that the Nintendo 3DS, which launched March 27, has caught your eye. Nintendo’s latest iteration in the DS (or dual screen) line of portable gaming systems marks the first mainstream use of glasses-free stereoscopic 3D visuals. The 3DS is definitely an impressive piece of gaming hardware, but at $250 it’s also pricey.
While the iPhone has more than proven its mettle as an on-the-go gaming device, the 3DS offers something completely new with its 3D-capable screen. The effect works beautifully, adding an amazing layer of depth to the games. Admittedly, the screen is a little finicky. The 3.53 inch, 3D wide-screen display’s resolution, at 800x240, offers crisp and bright visuals, while the bottom screen is a 3-inch 320x240 touchscreen. The 3DS’s online access is done only through standard 802.11 Wi-Fi. None of the internal hardware specs really hold a candle to the iPhone-- the main processor in the 3DS runs at 200MHz for instance-- but that doesn’t prevent the system from providing any less of a solid gaming experience.
Unlike the iPhone, the 3DS is first and foremost a gaming machine, although it will be able to do other things, such as browse the web and support Netflix. The graphics are on par with the Wii and high-end iPhone games. Even over the expansive open landscapes of the flight game, Pilot Wings Resort, the frame rate is incredibly smooth.
Downloadable games and apps
Unlike Apple’s devices, the 3DS has an SD card slot for saving photos, downloadable games, and applications. When the 3DS store goes live in May, it’s a safe bet that it will be largely identical to the current DSi store, and include almost all of the current software selection in addition to 3DS-specific titles. Nintendo has promised a method for transferring games from the DSi to the 3DS, but this functionality isn’t available at launch.
Online play
The 3DS also continues Nintendo’s stubborn use of friend codes, a “child-safe” method for supporting a friends list for online play. Price
The 3DS is a cartridge-based machine and the average game costs $40-- a far cry from the price of most iPhone games. Nintendo’s online offerings range from two to ten (or more) dollars. Admittedly, Nintendo’s pricing structure is perfectly in line with Sony’s and Microsoft’s, but seems exorbitant compared to Apple’s store.
Extras
The 3DS does come equipped with some fun applications. The included Face Raiders game is a surprisingly amusing augmented reality (AR) game that takes pictures of faces, and incorporates the image into a first person shooter. You actually hold up the 3DS while physically moving around to find and shoot hovering faces.
Lay out the included cards, let the 3DS focus on them, and an AR game or familiar Nintendo character will pop out of the card, overlaid in 3D against the real world. There’s also the StreetPass feature, where nearby 3DS systems can link and exchange data like Mii figures and player information when not in active use
Controls
Where the 3DS has a significant leg up on the iPhone is the control layout. While touchscreens have been adapted to virtually every type of game, it’s still far from ideal when it comes to action games. Compare playing the 3DS’s fantastic Super Street Fighter IV 3D with the iPhone’s Street Fighter IV, and the appeal of a dedicated gaming system is instantly apparent.
The 3DS’s addition of a nubby analog stick is also a great improvement over the previous DS line. Additionally, the 3DS has taken a nudge from the iPhone and includes accelerometer and gyroscopic controls, allowing for tilt-based gameplay. Super Monkey Ball 3D, for instance, uses this option to play identically to its iPhone counterpart. Ironically, the 3DS version of Super Monkey Ball doesn’t have nearly as many game modes as previous console or iPhone versions.
Games
The launch lineup for the 3DS is disappointing overall. This isn’t uncommon with new systems, but many of the games feel thrown out, lacking features, game modes, and depth. The Bottom Line
While initial sales have been brisk, Nintendo will need to focus heavily on creating some AAA titles for the 3DS if they want it to have any long-term appeal. As of now, the 3DS is a great piece of hardware in search of some truly great software. If you’re perfectly happy with Tiny Wings, Angry Birds, and the hundreds of other great offerings on the iPhone, the 3DS is hardly a Must Have.
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