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Nintendo Downplays Reports of 3DS Flaws

Posted by Soulskill on from the must-be-holding-it-wrong dept.

RedEaredSlider writes "Shorty after the US launch of Nintendo's last portable console, 3DS owners have begun reporting issues with the device. In one case, dubbed the 'black screen of death,' users reported instances where their 3DS screens grew black shortly before their consoles became unresponsive. Other owners documented errors involving a screen instructing them to restart their systems. Nintendo has taken notice of the issues, and offered 3DS users a fix for the error. 'If anyone is experiencing any problems with their Nintendo 3DS console, we recommend that in the first instance they download and install the latest system update, now available online,' the company said in a statement." The 3DS's launch was reportedly more successful than the DSi's. iFixit did a nice teardown of the device a while back, and Nukezilla's Peter Silk put the screen under a microscope.

65 comments

  1. PEBDAC? by Buggz · · Score: 4, Funny

    users reported instances where their 3DS screens grew black shortly before their consoles became unresponsive

    That happens to me all the time. Then I charge the battery.

    1. Re:PEBDAC? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But Windows Phone 7 is proprietary software. Somehow, I get the feeling you aren't the real r. stallman.

    2. Re:PEBDAC? by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 1

      What's with the Microsoft shills recently? Seems that someone's been paying good money to a sucky PR agency.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    3. Re:PEBDAC? by Rennt · · Score: 1

      Tell me about it. I mean, we used to throw around the label "shill" a bit too easily - god knows we've all disagreed with our fellow posters at times. But this sockpuppet bullshit has gotten out of hand.

    4. Re:PEBDAC? by Ferzerp · · Score: 1

      You recognize that it is much more likely some rabid anti-ms obsessive making comments like this to try to make you hate ms.

      In fact, I would not be surprised if it were twitter, and you are falling for it.

    5. Re:PEBDAC? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      No, it is not a shill. It is a troll.

      A shill would not be so obvious. A shill would not use the name "r.stallman". A shill would not follow the same pattern so precisely that the fingerprints of the author can be spotted from a mile away. Sure, I don't know the name of the author, but you can be damn sure that all these different users are the work of one person.

      We should all just ignore the posts and let the moderators mod them down.

    6. Re:PEBDAC? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      users reported instances where their 3DS screens grew black shortly before their consoles became unresponsive

      That happens to me all the time. Then I charge the battery.

      If the screen is black how can users tell if the system is unresponsive?

    7. Re:PEBDAC? by tepples · · Score: 1

      If the screen is black how can users tell if the system is unresponsive?

      The same way that blind kid plays Pokemon: through audio.

    8. Re:PEBDAC? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      Of course he's the real Randal Stallman!

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    9. Re:PEBDAC? by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      With regards to the console side of things, it's not so much that everyone is suddenly pro-MS. It's that everyone is anti-Sony.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  2. Downplays? by damnbunni · · Score: 3, Informative

    Er, they released a firmware update to fix the software issue, and while they did say they haven't gotten all that many complaints about the hinges, they do appear to be fixing/replacing them for people with a bad hinge.

    'Downplays' may be putting it a bit too strongly.

    1. Re:Downplays? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't worry, they're just trying to increase page views. You should be use to that by now.

    2. Re:Downplays? by dunezone · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nintendo has probably the best customer service of all three major players in the console market. They were still repairing the NES up until about 5 years ago. I read a story where one guy called up their support but since he only lived 5 minutes from their corporate HQ he convinced them to have him come bring his dead Wii and they repaired it.

    3. Re:Downplays? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have to second this...

      Bad customer service clearly doesn't seem to be part of Nintendo's business model.
      Others try to safe money where they can.

    4. Re:Downplays? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? Because when my Wii's DVD drive mysteriously stopped working I paid shipping + 75 bucks to get them to repair it. When my 360 RRed shipping was paid both ways and it was fixed for free, and I was given a free month of Live Gold to make up for the 2 weeks that I missed.

      Nintendo's support is crap, imo. Sony's is worse, though.

    5. Re:Downplays? by brkello · · Score: 1

      Amusing. If a Microsoft handheld was doing this, all you guys would be tearing them apart and singing the praises of your DS. Instead of attacking Nintendo, you complain that "downplays" is too harsh a word. If this happened to Sony or MS, they would be fixing/replacing as well.

      --
      Support a great indie game: http://www.abaddon360.com
  3. My experiences with the 3DS thus far by RogueyWon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I picked up my 3DS at UK launch on Friday. So far, I've had a single black-screen (which happened on quitting a game), which isn't a major irritation. The hinges, however, are very, very loose - if the thing isn't in the "full open" position, it tends to either flop towards that or to flop closed. Other than that, it feels like a fairly nice piece of kit, rather than the "plastic toy" feel you got from the DS.

    The biggest problem for me has been headaches associated with even the mildest 3d settings. I've made a more detailed post about that (and other experiences with the machine more generally) in my journal, though it may be a bit on the tl;dr side.

    Obviously, turning the 3d off solves this problem, but that does leave you with a machine that is basically an expensive and slightly underpowered PSP with a touchscreen.

    1. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      except, its more powerful than the PSP

    2. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by RogueyWon · · Score: 1

      It is, but I suspect a lot of that power is going on the 3d and isn't actually available for games to use on straightforward visual quality. If you take the 3DS version of Ridge Racer and put it alongside the PSP version (which wasn't quite a launch title, but was still one of the earliest games on the system), then when both games are running in 2d, the PSP game looks notably better, with significantly more detail (plus the higher resolution).

      Now, it's entirely legitimate to counter that the 3DS looks better due to its 3d effect and for a lot of people this will be valid. Unfortunately, since the 3d causes me actual physical pain after a fairly short time, I don't see myself using it much going forward.

    3. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by Buggz · · Score: 1

      but I suspect a lot of that power is going on the 3d and isn't actually available for games to use on straightforward visual quality.

      Depends on how you look at it. The screen is 800 pixels wide, but for the 3D effect every other vertical line is directed at your respective eyes, making the resolution effectively 400 pixels wide. Other than the double horizontal width (which of course is quite far from negligible), the 3D effect doesn't need extra processing power. The hardware does the light redirecting, which is why you have a smooth slider for adjusting the 3D depth, or "intensity" if you prefer.

    4. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by metalgamer84 · · Score: 1

      So you spend alot of money on a device you wont use much at all now? Why didn't you play the 3DS at a store before you bought it?

    5. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by RogueyWon · · Score: 1

      I didn't say I wouldn't use the device - I said I wouldn't use the 3d. The thing is still going to get games that I want - unlike their full-sized machines, Nintendo handhelds tend to have very decent third party support and with Japanese developers scared to death of the HD consoles, the handhelds will still get a lot of the quirky and obscure stuff I like. There's just a part of me that wishes that they'd ditched the whole 3d thing and put out a more normal "DS2".

    6. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      in all shops here, i havent seen any 3DS demo stations set up, only older DSi demos. All 3DS hardware i've seen sofar was safely locked up in display cases

      Not that i want one of those things (i havent touched my fat-DS in years, my PSP sees active use), but i would have liked to see the 3D effect, if only for the novelty of it

    7. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is incorrect. Nintendo has made it clear that if developers want to utilize the full clock speed of it's processors for 2D, they're completely welcome to.

      Thus far nobody has, but it's just a matter of time.

    8. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by losthought · · Score: 2

      I picked up my 3DS Sunday morning. My particular kit is very sturdy--including the hinge. A friend who bought his at the same time has had a minor issue with his hinge, though; basically with the same complaint the parent describes. He picked up the the black unit while I got the cobalt. I wonder if anyone has found any correlation between the color of the systems and hinge problems?

      I have also experienced the black screen of death 3 times. One of those was after the firmware update. However, every single one of the crashes occurred within Ghost Recon: Shadow Warriors (a lot of fun, by the way) so I'm not sure that isn't just a problem with that particular bit of software. I also have Super Street Figher IV, which I have played extensively with no trouble.

      Issues--head-aches, etc--seems to vary largely by person. I've yet to get headaches while using it but have experienced some discomfort with certain settings and games. I found that when I keep 3D on the lower end of the slider that I am able to play continuously with no trouble. On the upper end of the slider, though, I do experience many of the problems others have reported.

    9. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The 3D isn't actually anything amazing or powerful. It's a parallax barrier and the LCD hardware simple shifts even and odd horizontal lines so they get focused on your left and right eyes separately, and then simply display an offset image to each eye, simulating exactly how your eyes perceive depth in the real world.

    10. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by metalgamer84 · · Score: 1

      Every game store I have been into recently has demo units to play on, as do the Target store's I've been in.

    11. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      So you spend alot of money on a device you wont use much at all now? Why didn't you play the 3DS at a store before you bought it?

      There's a lot more going on with that system than just the stereo display. In fact, I'd go as far as to say the 3d screen isn't the biggest whoop-de-doo about it, it's just the bit that makes it the most distinct from other systems.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    12. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by Cinder6 · · Score: 1

      I, sadly, had a similar headache experience. One of my students showed me his new 3DS yesterday, and I got to try it out for all of 5 seconds. The 3D effect looked pretty nice (not as strong as a TV with glasses, but I'm not sure what intensity he had it set to), but I got a headache even in that short a time, and then my eyes wouldn't focus properly for about 10 seconds. I experience a similar phenomenon with other 3D stuff (except for, oddly enough, the Virtual Boy), but never that quickly. I'll pick one up eventually (after a hardware revision or two, at least), but will likely never use the 3D.

      I know not everyone experiences this problem with 3D, but I also know I'm not alone. It's too bad that the major selling feature for the thing is one I can't use, but then again, I've had to live with the fact that game developers who insist on heavy stylus use seem unaware that 10% of the population is left-handed.

      And for the commenter who said you should have checked out a demo unit first--I've been in three stores trying to find one, and nobody has had a 3DS "station".

      --
      If you can't convince them, convict them.
    13. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by Buggz · · Score: 1

      Close, it's the vertical lines. Hence the 800 pixel width of the screen is divided in two: 400 pixels per eye.

    14. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      Hell, they had a demo unit in freaking Target when I went in there the other day.

      Though with the console bolted down it was a pain in the ass to put my head at the right angle to see the 3d clearly (and to *not* be able to see both images with both eyes and make my eyes want to cross). The effect was neat, though it seemed like it'd need careful tuning to keep from causing headaches. Kinda funny how there are people simply turning the 3D off. Well as long as they still enjoy it.

      I think the thing is too expensive even with 3D, no way i'd buy it if I thought I was just going to turn off the thing that made it so expensive. Then again, I haven't bought any of the more reasonably priced portables either. So my opinion is kinda irrelevant. :P

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    15. Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "which is why you have a smooth slider for adjusting the 3D depth,"
      False. The magnitude of the 3D-effect is adjusted by changing the distance between the two in-game view camera's. It's a software slider, albeit one that doesn't cost processing power.

  4. Black screen of death, etc... by dimethylxanthine · · Score: 1

    Ah, plenty of options for jailbreaking then... ^_^

    1. Re:Black screen of death, etc... by Goffee71 · · Score: 1

      Black screen of quick reset actually, still a pain but nothing like PC-death or Xbox-death

      --
      If he's the Walrus then can I be a penguin please?
    2. Re:Black screen of death, etc... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right but it's probably caused by some kind of newbish buffer overrun, was his point, so we might be able to exploit it to run arbitrary code on the hardware. Which is always fun.

  5. At least Nintendo managed to launch... by Goffee71 · · Score: 1

    Sony Ericsson is trying to launch the Xperia Play gaming-phone-combo-doohickey in the UK without (m)any devices (stuck in shipping or some such). Three of the biggest mobile chains already delayed - not a great start: http://psp2roundup.blogspot.com/2011/03/xperia-play-launch-round-up.html

    --
    If he's the Walrus then can I be a penguin please?
  6. Can't say I've had any problems yet. by JustAnotherIdiot · · Score: 1

    Granted, the first thing I did when I took it out of the box was update it, so perhaps that's why.

    --
    What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
  7. Am I doing it right? by Plastic+Pencil · · Score: 1

    I tried the 3DS at the store yesterday. I kept seeing 1.5 of everything no matter where I positioned my head. And my eyes began to hurt. For brief moment the screen did look deeper, but... so what?

    I also crashed my plane into a tree.

    1. Re:Am I doing it right? by Buggz · · Score: 1

      You're not supposed to position your head, keep your head "perfectly" in front of the 3DS (side movement will keep the directional light from hitting your respective eyes). You are however supposed to use the slider to adjust the 3D effect until you find the sweet spot.

    2. Re:Am I doing it right? by Plastic+Pencil · · Score: 1

      Interesting. Thanks!

  8. And rightfully so! by supersloshy · · Score: 1

    I've actually used the 3DS for multiple days in a row now and all of these problems haven't occurred to me. As long as you install the online firmware upgrade (which might later be included out-of-the-box) you don't get those errors, and many of the build quality errors with 3DSs are, as always, just vocal minorities. Is it really that hard, even for people that don't have Wi-Fi at their home, to download a simple firmware upgrade? There's libraries, restaurants and such all over the place with Wi-Fi that you could use. Nintendo didn't include this update with launch 3DSs because they figured out the flaw after they began manufacturing; would you have preferred that they didn't offer an update that fixed the problem?

    As far as battery life goes, who in the world needs to play a game for more than 3-5 hours at a time, especially on a portable device? The 3DS even encourages you to not play for too long by acting as a pedometer, with which you can spend coins you get every 100 steps on unlockable items in the games you buy. Yes, it's not the super-long battery life we're used to, but it's more than enough.

    I swear, what is it with all of the 3DS hate in the media? It's like they're trying to cause controversy over the 3DS for little reason besides ad views. The 3DS is a wonderful gaming machine and I've found absolutely no problems with it (though the d-pad squeaks a bit if you use it for something heavy like Street Fighter).

    --
    "Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen
    1. Re:And rightfully so! by Gravatron · · Score: 1

      A lot of the complaints are because the device really doesn't seem like the device Nintendo woudl have normally shipped if it could help it. The price is way higher than any previous handheld from them, the battery life lower, several features like a single analog stick and resistive touch are outdated. Power wise, the resolution is quite low, and the hardware is outclassed by pretty much all their competition. Nintendo seems to be betting that 3d makes up for all that, and people are rightly critical of them for it.

    2. Re:And rightfully so! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Power wise, the resolution and hardware outclasses the PSP, and like the PSP, it only has one analog stick. Are you comparing it to home consoles?

    3. Re:And rightfully so! by chispito · · Score: 1

      I want to buy one and love it, but I can't afford it and I'm pretty certain the 3D would bother my eyes for anything other than very short stints. Plus, I jumped on the DS bandwagon a few months after the Lite was released, and by that time there were a lot of great games for the system. I think I'll do the same here: wait for a hardware revision/price drop ($180 plz) and a decent library.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    4. Re:And rightfully so! by tycoex · · Score: 1

      The psp is a last-gen handheld. If you really want to compare it to another handheld, take a look at the "NGP."

    5. Re:And rightfully so! by MimeticLie · · Score: 1

      I'm going to side with Penny Arcade on this one. If the NGP had a price point anywhere close to the 3DS, Sony would have made mention of that when they announced it. They certainly would have said something before the 3DS launched, to try and convince some people to hold off buying Nintendo's handheld until they could compare it to Sony's.

      But beyond that, this seems like a rehash of the previous generation. Sony's supporters were slamming the DS for having inferior hardware, but the DS ended up winning by a wide margin. And it also continues that wonderful Sony trend of initially saying a technology is crap, and then showing up late to the party with it's own version. (see motion controls, rumble, wand controllers, and now touchscreens)

    6. Re:And rightfully so! by tycoex · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure that the 3DS will demolish the NGP in sales. It's pretty simple really, who actually uses handheld systems? Kids do. Adults are actually driving when they're in the car, and the vast majority of us have a smartphone that is "good enough" for those rare times we can actually make use of a handheld gaming device.

      It's pretty obvious the NGP will cost more than the 3DS, so it has the upper hand in the kid market from the start. Nintendo is also makes much more "kid-friendly" games, in general.

      I was just pointing out that in the specific areas of "power, resolution, and hardware" the 3DS is not top of the line. Also the price and low battery life compared to Nintendo's usual handhelds is a valid point. Nintendo is lucky that Sony is completely retarded and didn't release something for $200 or even $150, and instead decided to fail the same way they did with the PSP by releasing something that's even more expensive than Nintendo's already expensive handheld.

    7. Re:And rightfully so! by supersloshy · · Score: 1

      The price is way higher than any previous handheld from them

      Without inflation taken into account. Even still, I'd expect a handheld with graphics supposedly better than the Wii, a gyroscope, two cameras (one of which is two lenses used for a 3D effect), 3D support, a touchscreen, and all of the software included with the handheld itself (there are tons of easter eggs if you look for them) to be at least the price of a Wii. The price will go down with time, of course. I think that, at launch, something as versatile as a 3DS deserves that price point (which also sets it apart from cheaper alternatives like the DSi).

      the battery life lower

      Yes, I mentioned that as well. It's not incredibly low, or even bad, but it's still lower. I've found that, unless you're ultra-hardcore and play games every second of your life, charging it every night or so works out fine.

      several features like a single analog stick and resistive touch are outdated

      Maybe so, but they're cheap to implement. The lack of a second analog stick is easily fixed by using the touch screen (which I've found is actually better than an analog stick for things like FPSs), and using your fingers on the screen would produce fingerprints and be less accurate than a stylus. For something like the iPhone, where it's a general entertainment device, I can see why it has a multi-touch screen, but the (3)DS is designed with gaming as the most important activity, and utmost precision with something like a stylus is necessary for that. Also, I highly doubt that a multi-touch screen would be even necessary since there's buttons on both sides of the system.

      Power wise, the resolution is quite low, and the hardware is outclassed by pretty much all their competition.

      Same for the Wii, but it's sold rather well and has several innovative titles. Merely being powerful doesn't make a system good or bad. This argument also contradicts your first sentence: "the device really doesn't seem like the device Nintendo would have normally shipped". The DS, GBA, Wii, and pretty much every one of Nintendo's handheld consoles were under-powered and technologically lacking by design, as is the 3DS (but not to the same level as the others were). Nintendo beat the competition every time though because it's systems were cheapest to own, develop for (IIRC), easiest to use, and were the most innovative, regardless of the so-called "disadvantages".

      --
      "Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen
    8. Re:And rightfully so! by tgibbs · · Score: 1

      Hardware outclassed?
      Dual displays, touch and glasses-free 3D; accelerometer; 3D camera.
      Which competitor even comes close to matching those hardware features?

  9. Black Screen of Death fix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The fix for many of the black screens is to reformat the included SD card with FAT32. 3DS games and the system actually use the SD card pretty frequently, and I don't think whatever mechanism that formatted and shoved SD cards into the slots on the assembly line did a thorough job or something.

  10. I bought one of these in 1995... by LordStormes · · Score: 1

    It looked like this. Same issues with loose parts and headaches.

  11. How prevalent are these problems? by MimeticLie · · Score: 1

    It's too bad we never see actual numbers on things like this. I haven't encountered either black screens or headaches while using the 3DS. I'd be curious to know what percentage of users have them, but all there is to go on right now is the "some people on the internet" metric.

    1. Re:How prevalent are these problems? by tgibbs · · Score: 1

      I haven't seen these problems, even before I installed the update.

  12. And the 3DS's battery life also sucks by tepples · · Score: 1

    users reported instances where their 3DS screens grew black shortly before their consoles became unresponsive

    That happens to me all the time. Then I charge the battery.

    Sega lost the handheld race to Nintendo because Game Gear's battery life was far inferior to that of Game Boy. Sony lost the same way when the first PSP's battery didn't meet expectations that the GBA SP and the DS had built up. Reports are that the 3DS is the next Game Gear in this respect.

    1. Re:And the 3DS's battery life also sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only with the 3DS, there isn't really a competitor stepping up with better battery life. And no, mobile phones don't count.

    2. Re:And the 3DS's battery life also sucks by tepples · · Score: 1

      And no, mobile phones don't count.

      How not, other than perhaps parents not wanting the monthly bill?

    3. Re:And the 3DS's battery life also sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't really understand why Nintendo always wins........with the Game Boy, it was first to market, and had killer apps (tetris, mario), was far cheaper as well as having superior battery.

      The DS had better games, better interactive features, better controls and was far cheaper. As of today there is still not a killer app for the original PSP, its media is crap, its controls are crap and the games are watered down console games. If the PSP's battery lasted for 2 days before needing a charge it still wouldn't have even gotten close to Nintendo.

      Nintendogs and Brain Training are two of the best selling video games of all time - once you understand that you will understand why they always win. In fact, 19 of the top 20 selling video games of all time are by Nintendo. They don't sell that many games due to battery life you know.

  13. When a customer becomes more than a customer by tepples · · Score: 1

    Nintendo has probably the best customer service of all three major players in the console market

    This is true up to the point when a customer becomes more than a customer. When a customer wants to step up to making games or at least mods, Microsoft has that market cornered with App Hub and Xbox Live Indie Games. Nintendo has only WarioWare DIY, which some critics have called too little too late.

  14. When there aren't any demo units by tepples · · Score: 1

    So you spend alot of money on a device you wont use much at all now? Why didn't you play the 3DS at a store before you bought it?

    Nintendo didn't have Wii demo units in stores for several months. GamePark Holdings still hasn't got any demo units of its GP2X family products into any store in the Fort Wayne, Indiana, area that I've ever seen. Nor can I find Archos 43 or Nokia N900 in stores.

  15. I've seen it post-update. by Karl+J.+Smith · · Score: 2

    The first thing I did was update the firmware it when I got it on Sunday so that I could see the "OK Go" video. I never saw the "bsod" requesting that you power off and on again until yesterday when I was playing Ghost: Recon for the first time. I just saw it again today, also while playing Ghost:Recon. The exact wording is "An error has occurred. Hold down the POWER button to turn off the power, then turn it on and try again. For help, visit support.nintendo.com."

    I just looked for another update, and there is none.

    So the issue still exists with all current patches applied, and seems to show up in Ghost:Recon, at least for me.

    1. Re:I've seen it post-update. by Sparton · · Score: 1

      The one time I BSoD'd was also with Ghost Recon, but for me before the update. May be an issue with the way that game is programmed. Or, perhaps more cases are happening with it because that game is popular; it was noted as the 3rd best selling 3DS title this week on Gamasutra.

      I suspect with all the shenanigans the console is trying to do at once (rendering effectively 3 screens, game logic running in the background, pedometer, checking online for updates and notifications, transferring streetpass info) it's crashing into a black screen due to a difficult-to-reproduce combination of multiple things occurring (or possibly failing?) at once.

  16. Why 3D consumes more power by tgibbs · · Score: 1

    The 3D isn't actually anything amazing or powerful. It's a parallax barrier and the LCD hardware simple shifts even and odd horizontal lines so they get focused on your left and right eyes separately, and then simply display an offset image to each eye, simulating exactly how your eyes perceive depth in the real world.

    To display 3D the system has to calculate and render each frame twice, from two slightly different vantage points. So effectively, it is running at double the nominal frame rate. In addition, to maintain screen brightness when each eye is getting only half the light, the backlight needs to be twice as bright, which also consumes more power.