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Nintendo Announces 2DS Handheld — Plays 3DS Games In 2-D
Today Nintendo announced a new handheld gaming console called the 2DS. It will play all games from the DS and the 3DS, but games from the latter will be shown in 2-D (essentially as if the 3DS's depth slider was turned all the way down). The 2DS abandons the clamshell design of the earlier handhelds; instead, the device is a slightly wedge-shaped tablet with two small LCD screens — thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom. "It's a design that seems calculated to reduce manufacturing costs and durability issues, but it also seems fated to make the system nearly impossible to fit inside most pants pockets. The buttons and controls that were on the bottom half of previous DS and 3DS systems are now shifted toward the top, so you can reach the shoulder buttons that now rest above the top screen. This means you grip the 2DS from the sides rather than supporting it from the bottom with the corners resting in palm of your hand, like previous DS models." Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said the new console is target at younger children, as the 3DS is recommended for players age 7 and up. It's also cheaper than the other models at $130.
So we have, chronologically, the original DS, then the 3DS, then the 2DS.
Apparently Nintendo is taking a page from Microsoft's console numbering playbook.
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...but really it's no different than when Amazon started offering the Wi-Fi-only kindle: some people don't want the added feature, so Nintendo's giving them the option to get a device without it.
No defending the shape, though.
Besides the larger flat design not being pocketable, the new 2DS is also missing a great feature of the clamshell design from the AdvanceSP, DS, etc... the screen and main control button protection a clamshell design gave you. Unless you were really picky about the outer casing getting any scratches it essentially was it's own protective case. Now we'll have to work about scratched screens again.
That's the battle they have to win now.
Does it have "Ctrl+Shift+T" to view the last 3DS game you played? A sort of "Ctrl+Z" for the DS?
The G
...that is one ugly not-quite-a-tablet they have there.
The reason it doesn't fold up is because there's really only one screen, the plastic bezel on top makes it look like there are two screens. This was probably done to keep the cost low.
So now the touchscreen is way below where the rest of the control area, isn't that going to be awkward for games that combine stylus input with button presses?
I read the internet for the articles.
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I definitely consider myself a bit of a consumer whore regarding Nintendo. I've got nearly every iteration of every system, both home console and portable. Of the few I am missing, I would love to pick up some day. But this... I just don't know.
Did they use left over WiiU tablet cases for that monstrosity??
They said we'd never be able to start gaming in 2D, but now we've proven them wrong! Vast R&D budgets were spent developing the technology to convert hum-drum 3D games into exciting and powerful complete 2D gaming experiences! Come get yours for just 4 easy payments of $30!
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I'd gladly have spent an extra $20 on this if they'd stuck with a sane form factor. The pictures of this device look horrible, this is possibly the least convenient design I've seen for a device that claims to be portable.
Hey, if your kid can live without those, good for them. That's a YMMV thing.
Also YMMV: do you trust your kid with an expensive smart phone/tablet?
Lets be honest: 3d is a failure in this space. A huge nummber of 3DS users never turn the 3d on, and for a lot of the market it's not a selling feature. Making a cheaper unit without it is smart, as price is a huge factor in portable gaming sales.
But then they also stripped out a speaker (going to mono instead of stereo) and came up with this really awkward form factor. Why did they do that? This thing is going to be a lot more awkward to carry around because of that.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
i still wish they'd make a DSlite XL...play gameboy and DS games on a larger screen. i've thought about buying a replacement DSi XL shell/case and trying to stuff the guts of my DSlite into it. has anyone researched that?
no, the tablets are not our competition, people won't play games on them instead of buying dedicated handheld consoles with ridiculously overpriced games, everything is fine, we can continue charging $15-20 for games delivered electronically...
Plants vs zombies costs $1 for android/iOs, $15 for the 3ds.
My first thought was that this isn't very good idea: it will strongly discourage developers from making games which do interesting things with the 3D effects because they know that some of their audience won't be able to use it. But then I skimmed the Wikipedia articles of the top selling 3DS games looking for examples of interesting uses of 3D and this (from Super Mario 3D Land) is the "best" such feature I found:
While the game is designed to not require the 3D effect, some obstacles or points of interest are deliberately more noticeable or easier when the 3D is switched on.
So the 3D is just a gimmick, a 2D version will be fine.
I'm waiting for the 2DSXL where both screens are the same XL size and they go back to stereo. I don't mind the looks of the flat wedge/cake shape though it does make it permanently larger and exposes the 2 screens to inevitable scratching. I usually buy cases for my gear though.
After reading a few reports lately over how Nintendo's handhelds are the only remaining growth market for them, they come out with this.
This pretty much kills Nintendo dead.
This is a company too full of arrogance and pride (but the Japanese call it honor and tradition) to even realize they have now completely fucked up everything that was successful.
Nintendo is now the biggest joke in gaming AND electronics. Pulling a Nintendo should mean that you took something that was successful and followed it up with an epic fail and then pat yourself on the back for the accomplishment.
A acceptable synonym could also be "Pulling a Microsoft"
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
reminds me of the old gameboy Advance. but the old Gameboy Advance didn't have two screens. nice to see that the price is $130. i might buy one.
Is this for all the Pokémon fans who want to run X and Y at the same time? I know I was thinking about buying a second Gameboy for when X and Y hit so I could self-trade and "catch them all". Then again, Nintendo could be trying to compete with smartphone gaming.
It's a cheap second machine for anyone who plans to play the new Pokemon games. You need one to play, and one to trade, in order to get the interesting evolutions and version exclusives. It works like this. You play A all the way through. Then you play B, trade over the pokemon from A, get version exclusives, and breed. Then you play A one more time, trading all the eggs/babies over for a great starter set. Yes, the Pokemon franchise forces you to own two machines.
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Can you buy R4 style cartridges for this thing?I would not be suprised if a very large % of DS sales was because it was very easy to download and play pirated software. Maybe that's why 3rd parties are so pissed off at Nintendo but I doubt they cared because DS / 3DS handhelds can't have been sold at a loss considering how crap the hardware is.
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Why kill the only unique feature of your product and name the new one for what it's lacking. If it was a radically different name, design and form factor, it could have had a chance.
Bad moves all the way around. Our kids have a 3ds and ds that has not been used in months or a year even. They get all the games they need for free to 2.99 on their tablets & ipods or are happy playing some game on their laptop. Spending 29.99 on a game they may play for 20 minutes is a waste of money. Next the original ds design was very durable, could take some drops, could be sat on or stuffed in a bag. This design will lead to lots of broken screens and buttons. They should have just designed the 3ds games to be playable on a ds to start with, they did the forced upgrade to play the new games trick. And the 3DS was a bad idea to begin with, I always keep the 3d off or my head hurts, never seen the kids using 3d, nintendo even says eye damage may occur if young kids play in 3d mode.
According to this article, the cost reduction also comes from using one screen to represent the old dual-screen setup. Since both screens have the same PPI of 132, it's relatively feasible.
I have a feeling that Nintendo will release a brand-new tablet form-factor based on this very device. The single screen driving this probably has a resolution of about 400x500, so quadrupling the resolution (264ppi) will make it competitive with other devices, AND make it incredibly easy to support 3DS backward-compatibility (just draw a black overlay on the screen to separate things). This allows them to transition to the more popular single-screen "tablet with controls" form-factor with the least amount of pain.
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I don't think it's a coincidence that the 2DS comes out the same day as Pokemon XY (the first one to have an international, simultaneous release).
The 3D is a gimmick few players want, and really, making the console cheaper helps those pokemon sales, a game that has solid sales no matter what. It means a lot of money to Nintendo, so this makes perfect sense.
Also it's fun how the consoles are red and blue in color, since XY also goes back to such coloring (X is themed blue, Y is red).
They should have called it "Nintendo XY", I guess it's what most people want it for.
For me? It's a gift from god. I wasn't too keen on spending 200â for a console that only has one game that I want to play (XY), now for the same price I can afford the console, the game, and I still have money left. I'm sold.
Once again, Nintendo shows the world that it has no clue what people actually want from their products.
The Design of the console reminds me much of the Atari Jaguar Controller. Unfortunately the design was a joke at the time even though the pad was actually quite convenient with all the buttons.
The only reason they changed the name was due to a patent infringment lawsuit Nintendo lost to a Japanese inventor who was behind the 3D screen on the 3DS. The court ruled to pay him 9.75 dollars for every nintendo sold which made him a fortune. I am guessing since Nintendo can no longer use the technology without paying him, they chose to go back to 2D. Nintendo executives are not that honest, they listened to his pitch and ideas then copied it and released their product without paying him.
Eventually it'll be 0D where they'll sell you a piece of paper for $200 and tell you to imagine it all.
Does anyone else think the 2DS kind of looks like the Tiger Electronics handheld games from back in the day?
apparently no one has kids or can even fathom someone who would want a cheaper stronger form factor that doesn't have the added side effect of messing with very young children's developing eye function. Wake up people, there are more demographics in the world than you.
What do you do when you run out of Dimensions? Go backwards.
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