Nintendo 3DS: Portable Gaming Will Never be the Same

[dancearcade1]

Nintendo’s new 3DS handheld game console may prove to be the ultimate device for gaming and entertainment on the go. In addition to letting users view games in three-dimensions, without the need for glasses, the 3DS will offer video content from Netflix and free WiFi connectivity.

[Zevious Zoquis]

is it true that the 3D effect is pretty sensitive to how the unit is held? You have to hold it out straight in front of you and not move around much at all? If so, that wont be too great in the car or on the bus...

My iphone has Netflix and wifi and for me personally 3D isn't a big selling feature so I'm not really interested in a 3DS at all. I'm planning on getting an ipad2 and a iphone5 when they are available...that'll cover my gaming on the go needs and a whole slew of other bases...

[Spamcan]

The real question is how long will it take the average gamer to go from playing in 3D all the time to hardly ever, my guess is a week. IMO both the DS and the PSP were far greater leaps forward in portable gaming then the new hardware. The DS introduced touch screen gaming and the PSP shattered the portable / console performance gap for the first time since the TurboExpress. Both of these systems represented the first generation of portable gaming hardware focused on 3D. Here we are half a decade later and we've got yet another DS with a focus on a headache inducing feature and a new PSP packed with so many sensors it's like a gaming turducken. I'm far less impressed with that then I am at the fact that I can buy top quality games all day long for a few bucks a piece on a cell phone.

[Zevious Zoquis]

Yeah, I have a feeling that the 3DS might be a turd of epic proportions. "3D" has always been a hard sell for parents buying things for their kids for one thing and I don't see any reason why that won't still be the case. The 3D craze has really died off in movies and TV already. It was hot when Avatar came out but since then the big 3D movies have mostly been flops or good movies that benefitted little from the 3D aspect.

the "hardcore" crowd can yell all they want about how ios gaming is only for casual gamers but the fact of the matter is that so-called casual gamers make up the vast majority of the portable gaming market. Being hardcore isn't really a selling feature.

All Nintendo needs is for stories to start appearing about kids suffering severe eye strain (or other issues) from 3DS gaming a few weeks after release and its game over...

[MidianGTX]

Originally Posted by Zevious Zoquis

Yeah, I have a feeling that the 3DS might be a turd of epic proportions.

I'm not sharing that feeling at all. The Japan sales so far have been monumental and just because the 3D aspect may be gimmicky and short-lived it doesn't mean the DS part will be too. It's the follow up to the biggest selling handheld (and second best selling console overall) of all time, not something to stick your nose up at. It's just lucky they had the foresight to add the 3D slider.

[squarezero]

Originally Posted by MidianGTX

I'm not sharing that feeling at all. The Japan sales so far have been monumental and just because the 3D aspect may be gimmicky and short-lived it doesn't mean the DS part will be too. It's the follow up to the biggest selling handheld (and second best selling console overall) of all time, not something to stick your nose up at. It's just lucky they had the forsight to add the 3D slider.

I think it's selling in Japan for the same reason I preordered one: it's a new DS, with enough power to run contemporary-looking games. The 3D bit seems to be wearing thin already (at least with the gaming media), and the media capabilities are a bit of a joke compared to what the average smartphone or tablet can muster. But if we can expect anything from Nintendo it's that they (and their third-party partners) will make inventive use of the hardware. You can also expect that the user base will ramp up fast enough to make it profitable for developers to support the platform -- with the NGP I'm not so sure of that.

[Zevious Zoquis]

Originally Posted by MidianGTX

I'm not sharing that feeling at all. The Japan sales so far have been monumental and just because the 3D aspect may be gimmicky and short-lived it doesn't mean the DS part will be too. It's the follow up to the biggest selling handheld (and second best selling console overall) of all time, not something to stick your nose up at. It's just lucky they had the foresight to add the 3D slider.

Most of the DS's sales occured during a time when its only competition was Sony's handheld selling games for roughly the same prices. Now theres this thing called the app store selling great little games for less than 5 bucks each for devices that can do all kinds of cool stuff and that many people will already own and carry around everywhere they go.

I have no doubt the 3DS will sell for a time. I just don't think its going to be the behemoth some think it will be and I don't think it's "the future" of portable gaming in any real sense...

[Eli]

Originally Posted by Spamcan

The real question is how long will it take the average gamer to go from playing in 3D all the time to hardly ever, my guess is a week.

Less than that. I spent considerable time with a 3DS again at GDC here and it's laughable how bad the 3D implementation is. Cool gimmick, but yeah, I have a feeling most people will just leave the 3D slider set to off.

[Spamcan]

Originally Posted by Hodapp

Less than that. I spent considerable time with a 3DS again at GDC here and it's laughable how bad the 3D implementation is. Cool gimmick, but yeah, I have a feeling most people will just leave the 3D slider set to off.

Originally I was going to say three days but I figure most people will gradually move the slider down until the point they finally realize the autosteroscopic screen requires you're eyes to work twice as hard as polarized glasses and combined with the unsteady movement of playing a game in hand is an exercise in futility.

[Electric_Shaman]

Oh hai, lrn2search

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showth...=81482&page=22

only on the second page too...