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Nintendo 3DS To Be Released In February/March
angry tapir writes "Nintendo's 3DS, the first portable game device with 3D graphic technology, will go on sale in Japan on Feb. 26 next year. The 3DS will cost ¥25,000 (US$298), Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's president, told a packed news conference in Chiba, Japan. It will launch in Europe, Australia and the US in March."
Nintendo also detailed a number of games that will launch at or near the same time, and they said the online shop would get some improvements
Nintendo is a Japanese company so they release 3DS first in Japan.
How many people will drop the estimated 300$ that is being possible?
The Virtual Boy was portable.
Also a friend of mine had a game that looked like a pair of binoculars far older than the Virtual Boy. It had a passive back light, meaning it was best played outside or under a lamp. It was from the late 70's or early 80's, it was akin to an LCD game though it was 3D.
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Who here wouldn't love to see this technology implemented on your next cell phone? With binocular sensors, you can now take (and display) 3D photos =) 3D Google Earth and Maps would be kinda cool too.
Life is not for the lazy.
I can see this going to $250 in the USA, but the price still seems high. Is this the first time that Nintendo has priced a portable higher than a console equivalent?
Of course, I suppose the term "equivalent" is a bit shakey. It's easy to draw a comparison between the DS and the N64, but not so much with the 3DS.
The Erotic Possibilities of the 3DS.
Three hundred dollars? I mean, yeah, I'm sure a good number of hardcore gamers will spring for it, but I can't imagine the masses are going to be too thrilled at that price point. Even if it ends up releasing at $249.99 in the States, that's still a big chunk of change for a handheld. That's the same price as the PSP was at launch, and... well, it wasn't exactly the resounding success that Nintendo is used to from its handheld systems. I'm sure they've done their market research and everything and decided that that was the correct price point, but it seems like a pretty ballsy move, especially for Nintendo.
Sorry for the off-topic question, but I haven't owned/used a DS and I am too lazy to search.
Does anyone know if these (current DS) are hackable? Can one make/install own games and stuff? If yes, is it hard?
Thanks,
anonymous lazy bum
Where are you?
All those who said that sterescopic 3d is inherently a bad thing, that it's not "real", that it's offensive to you somehow, are you going to say the same about this? Or is it great because it's nintendo?
Been waiting for this upgrade for ages. This Tennis game is _terrible_.
The price point in the US hasn't officially been announced. While it could end up being 300 dollars here in the states Nintendo hardware price points in Japan have been traditionally higher at launch time. Most recently the DSi XL launched in Japan for ~$220 while it launched in the US at $190. I'm thinking the price point should drop a similar 30-50 dollars when it finally does make it here a month later. Even if it doesn't I can still see myself buying one regardless.
Just waiting for Chris Hecker to say that this handheld is just three DSes duct-taped together.
Despite my innate skepticism towards Nintendo, I'm fairly interested in the 3DS. It feels like we saw a big jump forward in handheld technology a few years ago, with the original DS and the PSP, but that we've not seen anything since then except for a succession of "lites" and other assorted rehashes (including the dismal PSP Go). The 3DS looks as though it should be capable of pushing the technical limits of handheld gaming beyond the PSP, so yes, I'm interested. The likely price-tag doesn't put me off too much. I can afford it, but it does likely mean that it won't get the kind of instant 8-15 playground mass-adoption that the GBA and DS had. If anything, that could be a good thing for me personally, if it means that early games may be more likely to appeal to grown-ups.
However, I do have a few misgivings that make me nervous about the whole thing.
First of all... region locking. Does the 3DS have it? Traditionally, handhelds have been region free, but Nintendo (who have always been the most draconian and least ethical in this respect) have already introduced elements of region locking into the DSi. One of the major uses I have for handhelds is passing the time on trips to the US. If there is widespread region locking on the 3DS, then I'm not interested.
Second... how usable will it be when used in a genuinely portable capacity. When I'm in the comfort of my own home, I'm more likely to want to play games on my PC or a full-sized console than a handheld. So a handheld needs to be properly usable on the move. This has always, for me, been the PSP's biggest advantage over the DS. Using the PSP on a train (or a bumpy flight) is not a problem. Using the DS stylus under those circumstances tends to be a mess. Throw 3D technology into the mix and I can imagine things getting "interesting". I'll be looking carefully at the early reviews to try to get a sense of this.
And third... what will the games lineup be like? Things look fairly promising here; the range of titles unveiled so far does not look bad for a launch line-up. And the precedent from the DS gives reasonable cause for optimism, with decent coverage of most genres. However, there's always that nagging doubt that stems from the fact that the last 3 "full sized" Nintendo consoles have all, within a year or two of launch, become the near-exclusive preserve of Nintendo first party titles (which vary wildly in quality and don't tend to be frequent releases) and low-quality "family" party games, with the occasional decent game that slips through vanishing into a pit of obscurity (yes, Eternal Darkness and Dead Space: Extraction, I'm looking at you). I'd imagine that a degree of support from the big Japanese developers like Square-Enix would be guaranteed, particularly with so many of them apparently struggling to keep up with the development costs of the full sized consoles, but I'd like to know which Western developers are interested.
This is a disappointment. The only game I want is Metal Gear, and it won't be out at launch. So I won't be buying 3DS at launch. I'll probably get it when Metal Gear comes out. It would be nice if it had a couple of first rate RPGs instead of Zelda, which I would describe as action/adventure/puzzle.
Hope missing the lucrative Christmas window doesn't hurt them too much - mom and dad might be tempted to buy a Kinect or Move instead of waiting for 3DS...
And I thought the PSP was expensive. How do they keep their prices so low and still make a profit?
I'd like to know if it has proper hibernation support. When you closed the screen, the current DS went into what could be best described as "sleep". Whilst it was quick to come out of, the battery life was shorter than when the device was off and if the power went, you lost everything before your last save.
Implementing a version of hibernate would increase the wake up time of the device - but in return mean that the battery life remains unaffected when it's off and even if the battery died, you could still charge it back up and be able to resume where you left off.
Of course, some people will suggest just charging it as soon as you get back home - but it penalises the casual gamer or someone (like me) that gets home and completely forgets.
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Sure, I own every Nintendo system ever made in history with the exception of the two new DS systems but I do have the DS Phat and DS Lite. I don't ever play with them and it was a waste of money because the gimmick is what got me. Same thing happened with the wii. I got lucky and got mine really early and enjoyed playing all 10 or 11 games that I own... well, at least until a year and a half ago. Nintendo is amazing at releasing gimmicks and milking their franchises. I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up getting a 3DS but that will wait until there's a decent lineup of games. I put too much trust in the Wii to host a wide library of good games. I remember when I got my 360, I bought 6 games within the first week and many more afterwards because there are some great games and don't rely on gimmicks. Same with my PS3, I got 3 games initially and now I own 14 and have interest in buying 9 more games in the coming months. Besides that I'm anxious to see where 3D is heading...
:)
Oh and if anyone asks, which nobody will... I buy all my games new unless they are retro and don't sell them at the store anymore. I also keep my games instead of selling them to places like gamestop. Support the devs, buy new and rarely used
Oh baby oh baby oh baby oh baby oh baby!
I want one!
Have you tried it?
In response to the multitude of comments referring to 3D as a gimmick, maybe you should take a step back and realize that pretty much everything about a video game is a "gimmick." Nothing about a video game serves a useful purpose. 3D presentation? gimmick, 2D worked fine. HD graphics? Gimmick, plenty of game showed that SD could give us pretty games.
Everything about video games is a gimmick. I think what you're aiming for is "I'm not interested in this." That's fine, but not a basis for a value judgment.
I will be purchasing this entirely to play the new Professor Layton game...now that looks awesome! I love those games on the DS and the trailer released for the 3DS one makes the purchase of the system worth it just for that.
after that 3-4 decent games per year which will be drowned in hundreds of shovelware games per year.
Just be glad it's a closed platform, unlike the semi-open iOS and Android platforms that have thousands of shovelware games per year.
Support game devs, buy independent.
That'd be fine if Nintendo didn't do things like rejecting every game developed in a home office, such as Bob's Game. Which independent handheld gaming device do you recommend that U.S. residents buy instead of Nintendo products? I'd prefer one with a working directional pad because not all genres have been shown to work well with only touch input.
iOS isn't a "semi-open" platform.
Like Microsoft's XNA Creators Club, Apple's iPhone developer program is semi-open in that anyone can purchase a devkit for $1,027 plus tax (Mac mini + iPod touch + first year of developer certificate) and submit applications. Nintendo, on the other hand, officially requires a dedicated office and a previous published title on another platform.
If it's full of shovelware crap, blame the quality assurance process of the famous walled garden.
Yes, I blame Apple for not providing its App Store customers with an effective way to sort the wheat from the chaff. But with Nintendo, everything developed by a team working from home offices is presumed to be chaff.
Unless you keep your head DIRECTLY aligned with the center of the screen you lose the 3D effect. Really annoying for what already is at best a mediocre 3D effect.
I had the same concern. However, I played one and what I found was that because you are holding it, keeping it in the sweet spot is much easier than expected. It was way better than the large barrier screens I had seen elsewhere for simply that reason. As for the 'mediocre 3d effect', I was surprised to find that it was easier to play whatever the flying game because of the depth cues.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
In general all new technology is a gimmick until someone finds a way to use if effectively.
3D will be a gimmick unless someone comes with a good design that exploit its potential. Similary to how the Wii controllers can feel "gimmicky" for a lot of games, except the (very few) ones in which their capabilities are used properly
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
Every time Nintendo attempts to drive forward with a new implementation a whole big group of people dog-pile into the room trying to be the first to shout 'gimmick!' They shouldn't be taken seriously as they don't even engage their brains yet before posting their criticism. Here are a few non-verbatim quotes of I've seen before:
- "The DS's use of a stylus is a gimmick. They should do something non-gimmicky like building in an eye-tracker."
- "Nobody can use two screens at once."
- "Well, it looks like Nintendo invented the 'remote control!'. Sony had one years ago!" .....(This was written before the dippy found out about the motion controls.)
- "Can you say: Virtual Boy? Bet the Virtual Boy 2 will be as much of a failure as the original. It was difficult to use and gave people headaches." ......(This is actually in this thread.)
- "Nintendo is doomed. Their business prospects look dismal because Sony created the Move controller."
Sometimes I think Nintendo harvests energy from people shouting 'gimmick' and uses it to power their R&D division.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Re-releasing old gameboy games is pretty useless now. Not only has the entire gameboy catalog (at the very least, 99.9% of it) been released online, but you can download/rip and play them all with little fuss on an emulator with almost 100% accuracy to the original experience. Heck, even there were Gameboy emulators for the DS! Not only that, but they're only offering old GB games, no Gameboy Advance games? What a rip-off; not only will the games be tainted with DRM, but the product and effort to make it is so immensely small that GBA games could have been easily supported.
I'll stick to backing up my own games here. All of the emulators on the Wii/DS that are homebrew compared to Nintendo's official solutions have so many more features than Nintendo does: save states, no DRM, WAY better controller support, customizable controls, speed-up/slow-down modes, etc. If you really think you can compete with free here, you're hugely mistaken, Nintendo, unless you make a better effort. ...That all isn't to say that I'd never get a 3DS; it looks awesome! With that said, however, it's only worth that price if I can use a flashcart on it to run my own backups/homebrew ;)
"Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen
people don't remember it's a gimmick. Take the extreme amounts of blood in Mortal Kombat. That was *extremely* gimmicky when it came out. It's just people were too busy thinking 'Whoaaaa bloood' or 'Omg video games should be banned!'
Once you start despising the jerks, you become one.
I wouldn't be too surprised; it's at least a renewable energy source. ;)
In all seriousness, I think they might actually do something similar -- Nintendo has long focused on gaining and maintaining a lead in the industry by being disruptive, and seeing how many people are upset can be one way of gauging how disruptive you're being. This fellow has written quite a bit about Nintendo's disruptive strategies, and most of what I've read sounds spot-on.
I'd recommend Birdmen and the Casual Fallacy for starters. The article is long, but worth the read.
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
I was very interested in the 3DS when it was announced, but I'm not going to pay the early adopter tax on this one. Sure I might pick up a few interesting games if they look like they won't last long on store shelves (Konami's notorious for limiting Castlevania runs for example), but I won't pick up the system until it's in the $150 - $180 range. The cost of the screen will go down after the first year and that alone will drive the system price down. I'm not paying PS3/360 prices for this system, sorry Nintendo.
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