What we know and don’t know about the Nintendo 3DS
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What we know and don’t know about the Nintendo 3DS
By Jason Bogdan
Published: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The next Nintendo portable device, codenamed the 3DS and using
stereoscopic technology to produce 3D graphics, was quietly announced
on March 23rd.
In the announcement from Japan, details on the mysterious device were
provided, including the system using a Sharp 3D LCD panel.
For those who don’t quite know the ins-and-outs of the current craze
of 3D screens, small screens that provide 3D imagery without requiring
any glasses have been around for a few years now. Other than the 3D
screen, other alleged features include a control stick rather than a D-
pad, built-in force feedback vibration, extended battery life and
wireless range and a rumored use of a accelerometer for built-in tilt
support. People with tons of Nintendo DS games won’t need to worry
either, since backwards compatibility has already been confirmed as
well.
That’s all the information Nintendo of Japan has released as of now,
but all the full info (including how the device looks) shall be known
at this year’s E3 in June.
There’s certainly been a ton of banter on the Internet, both good and
bad, about the possibilities of the device and the nature of the
announcement itself. The announcement was questionable since it was
made mere days before the U.S. release of the Nintendo DSi XL, a
larger-scale version of the Nintendo DSi for a slightly higher price.
It seems odd that Nintendo would announce their brand-new portable
device when they should be trying to make people buy a fancier version
of its years-old DS system. In Japan, the DSi XL (known there as the
DSi LL) has already been out for months so there wouldn’t be any
worries about announcing a new system.
IGN.com editor Craig Harris also put forward a hypothesis that
“because Nintendo’s using new 3D screen technology, the company has to
get the devices from somewhere: a third-party vendor. When Nintendo
signed the deal, that vendor probably has to make the announcement of
supplying the technology to someone. Someone big. Someone like
Nintendo. The news would get out, speculation would be made.”
Of course, the timing of this announcement isn’t out of character for
Nintendo; a very similar situation occurred when the Game Boy Micro (a
smaller version of the Game Boy Advance) was released at the same time
that news of the original Nintendo DS was released.
But no matter what the reasons for the announcement or speculation on
what will and what won’t be in the final version of the 3DS, it’s
great to finally learn of the true evolution of Nintendo’s portable
gaming. The original Nintendo DS had a great run, lasting over five
years with multiple hardware improvements and dozens upon dozens of
brilliant portable games of all genres. It beat the Sony PSP, despite
the latter having a stronger graphics engine. But now with new
portable competition coming from Apple with the iPod Touch, iPhone and
the new iPad, Nintendo now understands it needs to move on with
something new. Will the 3D technology now taking the film industry by
storm be as popular and effective for portable gaming? People will
just have to wait and see when full information on the 3DS is released
this summer.
http://www.dailycampus.com/focus/what-we-know-and-don-t-know-about-the-nintendo-3ds-1.1341061