On my 9th birthday (quick math that makes me 30 now) I received on launch day the first Nintendo Gameboy. Up until then most handheld games were of the Tiger Electronics ilk.
I remember blowing people’s minds when I brought it school the next day. There were so many reason the Game Boy was the most successful system ever:
- A big step up from the fixed motion lcd found on the existing units
- Being able to change games. Seriously this was HUGE
- Multiplayer via cable was great too, Tetris multiplayer anyone?
- Small form factor (for the time)
These were all big advancements for the time, for the first time we had home console quality gameplay in a portable device. Before anyone says “OMG the Atari Lynx was color and came out then too!!!” Yes, and it was double the price, double the size and probably less than a quarter the battery life. Flash forward 21 years later and Nintendo is facing it’s fiercest competition yet: cell phones. Much like the best camera being the one you have with you, the best game system is the one you have with you. Who wants to carry a second device which is use specific unless said device brings something new and different to the table? I say this through the eyes of someone in the 18-35 demographic, and as someone who for the majority of their life has been surrounded with the concept of mobile gaming. The 3DS is Nintendo’s attempt to convince you it just might be worth carrying around a dedicated gaming device. Do they succeed? Let’s dive in and take a look.
What’s In The Box?
Something I believe is very telling about a company’s confidence in a product’s ability to sell itself is what’s in the box at launch. Case in point the original iPhone (which was unproven in the market and summarily mocked by industry stalwarts) included a dock when they originally sold for the astronomic $599 for the 8GB. The iPhone 3G the next year did not include a dock at all having proven it’s success. I believe that generally, companies unsure of how successful a product may be at a certain price point like to hedge and toss in some extras to help fence sitters justify a price.
The 3DS is no different bundled with quite of few items:
- 6 AR Game Cards
- Charging cradle
- 2GB SD (Seriously is it 2007? Wish they would have included something along the lines of an 8GB microsd, not only is it only 2GB but it’s also a FULL SIZE SD CARD)
The rest of the stuff in the box
- The unit
- Power Supply
- Stylus (telescoping!)
- Ginormous Instruction Manual, seriously the manual weighs more than the 3DS, cradle and charger combined.
Hardware
Great news! The hardware is top notch the build quality is great no creaks or flexing. The finish on the plastic/paint is glossy and nigh impossible to keep fingerprint free. The first manufacturer to make a finish glossy that does not smudge will hit it big (I am not talking about oleophobic coating of the iPhone either I am talking 100% smudge resistant). The only chintzy part would be the SD slot cover which I could see eventually becoming permanently loose if you fooled with it too much. The screens are bright and controls feel good. Some have complained the analog stick feels loose but YMMV. I for one am glad they included it to give you a better option for controls. Within the guise of a 3d environment there’s just something better about using an analog stick within the 3D perspective rather than a digital pad.
The row of buttons below the touch screen are not my favorite thing, they are “membrane” style and feel out of place when everything else is so tactile on the rest of the device.
The cameras well……I put them in the camp of the iPod Touch cameras of this year. Yep, they can take pictures……and that’s about it. Definitely not even going to replace even a very bad camera phone they do a fine job for the AR games and just messing around but you won’t be the known as the “Ansel Adams of 3D” rocking a 3DS anytime soon.
What the 3DS look like when in charging cradle, note the door to allow game removal while charging.
So How’s the 3D?
So….. the reason we are even having this conversation, the glasses-free 3D. How is it? Well I can say it definitely is a unique experience and definitely not for everyone. I found keeping the 3d slightly below the highest setting seem to make seeing the 3d easier if that makes sense. The effect is somewhere between those old optical illusion books where you stare cross-eyed until it pops out at you and the active glasses 3D found in the current crop of 3d TVs. It definitely adds depth and games like Pilotwings I found myself being more immersed as I flew and glided between objects and definitely made for a more enjoyable experience in what would have been standard DS fare only a couple of days ago. If you’d like an explanation on how the 3D effect is accomplished check out this on Tom’s Hardware. The bottom line is this: some games use the 3D effectively and some don’t. Much like the recent movie trend with 3D some just use it for gags and others are utilizing to effectively tell a story and much like Justice Potter Stewart “You’ll know it when you see it”.
AR Games
What would a new system be without a little software to showcase some of the features of device? Nintendo has thrown in a couple of games/cards to show off what the 3DS can do. First up is Face Raiders.
Face Raiders is a game that allows you to take pictures of people/friends/family which then get mapped onto a floating head that you then try and shoot as the fly around the room. It’s super fun to spinning around seeing this virtual head of a friend superimposed in the actual room you are standing in. Definitely a fun showcase of the cameras and the 3d.
AR Cards are similar in function to some of the things Sony has tried with their EyeToy camera in bringing cards to life, however, in this case it’s on a more personal scale since you control the “viewfinder” looking in on the little word created on your desk or table. Very cool tech demo but this is where I believe some better cameras would help immensely. The cameras seem VERY touchy and moving out of a narrow range of distance suddenly brings things to a screeching halt. Overall though very neat and everyone who witnessed it felt it definitely was fun addition to more traditional gaming.
Battery Life….Or Lack Thereof
Yes, battery life is as bad as you have heard. If you plan on having a marathon session be prepared to be tethered to a wall or other outlet. Typically it seemed Nintendo, much like Apple refused to release products it deemed unready. You have to believe Nintendo has been feeling the heat from the iOS family of devices to push the 3DS out with the battery in it’s current state. double the battery life and it would definitely change things. The issue really is that with the neat functions brought about by things like the street pass almost demand that you leave the system on (well in sleep mode) and thus make it tough if you want to suddenly game after having it in sleep mode all day. You have to know Nintendo will improve on it just question is just when. Is it a deal breaker? No, but you should think about your use scenario before leaving it sleep mode all day and then expecting to get anywhere near 4-5 hours of play on it.
The Others
Other “stuff” included:
- Mii Creation (pretty much like the Wii, create your own avatar).
- Mii Plaza
Mii Plaza is a unique concept that we have not been able to put through it’s paces quite yet. The idea is this: As you walk and/or drive around the city and you pass people with their 3DS sleeping, The 3DS’s will trade Miis using Street Pass. What’s Street Pass? Street Pass is Nintendo’s technology that allows sleeping 3DS systems to exchange information when they come into close proximity, say passing on a street. Of note Street Pass must be activated in every game that supports it. Here’s a short trailer showing it in action:
Mii Plaza itself is a minigame of sorts you play with Miis you have collected via StreetPass. You basically get to send collected Miis to rescue try and rescue your own Mii who has been captured. Kind of a cool take away from the whole StreetPass setup. There is another mini-game where an image is slowly revealed as you StreetPass collect Mii characters who each share a piece to create the final 3D image.
The Final Countdown
4 snaps in the Zorro formation!
- Glasses-less 3D is here!
- Yay! You can turn it off if it drives you nuts!
- AR rocks and will make for some very cool games.
- Well built and comfortable to hold and use
- Lots of great stuff in the pipeline (Zelda, Mario, Resident Evil, Netflix, Store, and Web Browser to name a few)
Meh
- Battery life is the suck
- Please create a better system for connecting with friends, give us screen names or something, anything is better than these stupid codes.
- Feels oddly incomplete without a major launch title from the Big N other than “PilotWings”
- No store at launch. Really screams to get some titles loaded be it old Nintendo, SNES, TGFX, Genesis etc.
Dry Heaving
- Trying to show someone how cool the 3D effect is when you can really only see it if you are holding it.
Like our review? Want to pick up 3DS of your own? Might we suggest supporting our site by buying it from Amazon through this link here: Nintendo 3DS