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The Nintendo 3DS, Headaches, and Bad Journalism
brumgrunt writes "A British paper is claiming that the Nintendo 3DS poses some kind of health risk. The claim sounds interesting, until you see how that conclusion was reached. 'On the 6th of April, the paper conducted a scientific experiment in which a 22-year-old member of the staff had his blood pressure and pulse taken after playing the 3DS in different situations – at rest, while walking, or while taking a ride in a car. The Sun came to the startling conclusion that the man’s pulse and blood pressure were higher while walking than while sitting down, yet concluded, apropos of nothing, “Children should not be left to play on it for hours.” The article neglects to point out that a raised blood pressure and pulse is perfectly normal, and you’re as likely to experience such a physical response while walking and reading a book as you are when playing the 3DS.'"
Pocket Gamer posted a humorous follow-up, using the Sun's own methods against it.
Please stop calling The Sun a newspaper or it's contents journalism.
It's stories (when not just crap about celebs) are written so that the brit sheeples can feel 'informed'.
They believe anything written in there because its the best selling rag and it leaves them a few more brain cells free to update twittle or facebook pages.
Nothing to see here, it's just The Sun, another celebrity and scandal obsessed tabloid paper, full of yellow journalism at its worst.
this just in. climbing stairs will raise your heartbeat and bloodpressure. Also just in. Breathing uses up calories.
a 22-year-old member of the staff
I recently did a similar study, using my girlfriend as my sample, to prove that 100% of humans have a vagina.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Look, of course you are "likely to experience such a physical response while walking and reading a book" - because if you think about it, both ALSO involve looking at 3-D objects, just as with the 3DS!!
So in fact if you are concerned about your child's health, you should in fact make sure that instead of interacting with 3D objects they are safely positioned in front of a flat 2D screen. 3D glasses should be hidden (even the Red-Blue kind) and just to be safe, you should make sire that at least four hours of the day are spent playing 2D platformers.
If you have any reluctance in following this plan, remember - it's for the children.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"On the 6th of April, the paper conducted a scientific experiment"
No it didn't. There was nothing scientific and any idiot knows that because it has The Sun written across the top in big letters.
And Nintendo have already complained in the press how much crap all these articles are.
I think their argument is that, compared to taking exercise, it's your resting heart beat that's elevated while playing the game. I still think the article (and the "newspaper") is utter garbage - at the very least they could have tested a larger sample of people and a larger sample of entertainment devices to give this some meaning. But it's the Sun, they don't care about meaning, they just care about fear mongering the latest must have gadget.
That entire piece is crap...anything which raises adrenaline will increase heartbeat and blood pressure. Gaming is an activity that some people really get into so of course its going to have that effect. Show me a gamer playing a fps or racing game that doesn't get higher blood pressure and pulse and I'll show you a gamer who's doing it wrong.
That said, sadly this is the first generation I have completely skipped a handheld release with no real intention of getting one at all. While I think the 3d thing is interesting and fairly innovative, I've been spoiled by iOS and Android and just cant see paying $40 for a game again. The counter to that is generally an uneducated response that android and ios games lack the depth of the Sony and Nintendo offerings but they are there if you look for them even in the RPG genre that Nintendo is famous for. I really do think Nintendo is going to be a world of hurt when it comes to handhelds, the price model myth has been disproven, look at World of Goo and Plants vs Zombies and its easy to see high quality games can sell and be very lucrative even at a lower price. Never underestimate the power of discreet gaming, you can carry around a phone or handheld as an adult and get in a few minutes of gaming here and there without so much as a glance, but employers tend to frown on adults bringing their DS or PSP to work with them.
See my post's title.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/
Newspaper! Riiiiiiight
I went to battle M.C. Escher, but drew a blank.
Would anyone notice the difference?
I recently did a similar study, using my girlfriend as my sample, to prove that 100% of humans have a vagina.
Fascinating. They also appear to be inflatable.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
If you call Plants vs. Zombies "High Quality," there's no arguing with you. It's fun, but it's a game that would take about a day to program, and then art asset creation takes however long you feel like. It's made by Pop Cap. They thrive on cheap impulse buy games that cost nearly nothing to produce. Plants vs. Zombies is completely undeep, and is basically glorified rock-paper-scissors. World of Goo is a better example, but still is an entire game built around applying the same mechanic in slightly different ways, or padded ways. If you want your argument completely blown out of the water, there's Pilotwings Resort. It's a glorified tech demo, and still has more *actual* depth than 99% of what you'll see on iOS and Android. Multiple vehicles that all act and control completely differently, each with a different set of missions, multiple ranks of missions, and a free-flight mode with hundreds of collectables. It's a game that's easy for anyone to pick up and do decently on, but still with enough depth and precision that you can feel like you're improving if you practice. Am I denying that it's possible to have deep games at cheap price points? No. But games for iOS and Android are pretty much designed around only having those few minutes to play, so they rarely get deep. PSP/3DS games are designed around having a larger chunk of time, not to mention having dedicated controls, so it's possible to do more complex things more easily. The price point is also hampered by the need for physical media since the games are so much larger.
Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.
I've played it for two or three hours at a stretch (ignoring Nintendo's "our lawyers made us say this" warning to take a break every half hour). I can sort of tell that my eyes are doing something different, probably because of the convergence/focus disparity; it feels a bit like looking at one of those "Magic Eye" pictures, but it certainly doesn't hurt or give me a headache. In any case, there is a control, and you can adjust the 3D effect to whatever level is comfortable, or even none at all (I generally have it at max).
"Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I do this!"
"Then don't do that!"