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Nintendo 3DS Early Impressions

Posted by Soulskill on from the new-ways-to-freak-out-your-cat dept.

Now that E3 attendees have had a chance to try out the new revision of Nintendo's portable console, critiques of the 3D effect and updated layout are starting to filter in. Opinion thus far has been mostly positive. Wired writes, "The graphics, which are much more advanced than you’d expect from Nintendo, left me pretty much in disbelief. They're on a level with Sony’s PSP, probably even a little better than that. But the eye-popping 3-D effect makes everything that much richer." According to the Guardian's Games blog, it works "beautifully." They add, "You can perceive 3D only if the console is directly in front of you, but this is fine for handheld gaming. I actually found it pretty adaptable in terms of viewing from different vertical positions. It was much more sensitive if the handheld was turned slightly to the left or right, but really, it coped perfectly with the slight shifts and jerks you'd get on a morning commute." During Shigeru Miyamoto's annual dev roundtable, he explained how Nintendo felt that particular types of games, such as shooters, benefit more from the 3D effect than others, and how Nintendo hopes to update as many older games as they can to incorporate 3D gameplay in addition to 3D graphics.

7 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Why the 3DS is relevant here by notrandomly · · Score: 0, Redundant
    My comment might seem slightly off-topic, and I notice I wasn't very clear about why the 3DS is relevant.

    Here's one post where Malstrom describes Nintendo as beating the crap out of Sony, which is sort of amusing, but this post explains how Nintendo is directly targeting Sony with the 3DS. According to Malstrom, Nintendo is basically doing whatever it can to destroy Sony. Completely.

    1. Re:Why the 3DS is relevant here by notrandomly · · Score: -1, Redundant
      If you read the post, the 3DS is just one part of Nintendo's alleged desire to destroy Sony. Maybe Malstrom is exaggerating, but it certainly makes things interesting :)

      I don't see how it supports Sony's push either. This is on a handheld, without glasses. And without emphasis on fancy graphics. The emphasis is on the experience. Sony is pushing it on TVs with strange glasses, and keep emphasizing the graphics and how wonderful the technology is.

    2. Re:Why the 3DS is relevant here by notrandomly · · Score: -1, Redundant

      By the way, Malstrom wrote this in September 2006, before the Wii was released. It talks about Apple destroying Sony in the portable music market, and Nintendo using Apple as a "role model" to destroy Sony in the gaming market. Again, this is from 2006, and before the Wii was released. Malstrom predicted, already at that point, that Nintendo would dominate this generation. He also predicted that they would destroy Sony.

  2. Re:Nintendo is destroying Sony? by notrandomly · · Score: 0, Redundant

    You don't know the concept "hardcore gaming"? Hardcore gamers want excellent graphics, a huge and intricate story, etc. And they bash "casual games" (games that are accessible to people who aren't already gamers) and "casual gamers". Notice how New Super Mario Bros. Wii was dismissed by the hardcore? "Oh no, 2D Mario, how casual and crappy! Shame on you Nintendo!" And yet it sells like crazy.

  3. Re:Nintendo is destroying Sony? by notrandomly · · Score: 1, Redundant

    So why didn't Sony pick up the gauntlet and let it end up ugly for Apple when Apple disrupted Sony's Walkman business? Note that this article was written before the Wii was launched.

  4. Re:Nintendo may be king of sinking ship? by notrandomly · · Score: -1, Redundant
    You know, I can't help linking to this guy Malstrom's blog. I must come across as some kind of fanboy drone, but then again, so do the Apple fans who think Apple is going to destroy Nintendo.

    Malstrom is the guy who predicted the Wii's dominance even before it was launched, and explained exactly how and why.

  5. Re:Nintendo is destroying Sony? by notrandomly · · Score: -1, Redundant
    Funny you should mention Apple, because I just found an article written by Malstrom in September 2006, where he talks about how Nintendo looked at how Apple disrupted Sony's portable music business, and decided to do the same thing for the gaming business. As you may notice, the article was written before the Wii was launched, and basically predicts Nintendo's dominance (and Sony's demise in the gaming industry, which has not yet happened of course).

    Check out the archive for more from Malstrom. Again, much of this was written before the sales numbers were in. Malstrom was basically spot-on with most of the things he wrote back then.