Nintendo 3DS

[Daragon]

YYG, I lol'd at your "I'm not a fanboi" argument.

I bet if Nintendo released a turd in a box with their logo on it * then you'd be all over it. Even when you take it out of the box and coat your fingers in the stinky mess you still wouldn't have a bad thing to say about it

You're like the polar opposite of JAPJAC!

* Oh wait, you own a Virtual Boy

[mingo]

How does the video look in 3D Mingo? I am intrigued by possibility of Avatar on 3DS

tbh its not the best vid to show off 3D. I did see other videos when i went to the Pre show event such as Alice in wonderland 3D trailer and Toy Story which looked great. Im sure something like Avatar would look good on it.

[Family Fry]

In other news, Game Gear and TurboGraphx-16 Virtual Console coming late May alongside browser.
Should be interesting to see what others they will add later, would be all over it for GBA Vitual Console.

[Dogg Thang]

Shame they're being added so late but definitely good news nonetheless. A handheld VC is something I would use a lot.

[DCharlie]

well, had the machine now since the launch date and i've went from 3DS sceptic to completely won over.

Game wise - it's not exactly a great line up to be honest. Mainly because there's not too much originality in the Japanese launch - but still, Ridge and SF4 are both well put together (though Ridge does have some fairly noticable load times). Not put too much time into Layton, but seems good - and have only spent about an hour each on the other launch titles. I did put in a couple of hours into the Dinosaur 3D game or whatever it's called. It's pretty clear that it is a game for younger gamers - it feels a little like Infinity Blade Jr but lacks challenge so becomes mundane and plodding very quickly, which is unfortunate.

Surprisingly, where the 3DS "gold" is is in the built in software. Whilst i knew about Streetpass etc i wasn't particularly excited for it. However, in reality it's pretty great. I've set up my Mii and now whenever i pass anyone my details will exchange with any other 3DS users. Okay, fine - but that's nothing to get excited about right? Well, what then happens is interesting. Your selection of "Mii Friends" can then be used (only once though) in a mini-RPG. The RPG see's you as a King captured by ghosts. You are presented with a mini dungeon map which represents a series of battles - with each battle you get (roughly) three attacks per person you have met - once the person is scared off by a ghost then they are no longer usable. Therefore, to progress in the game you need to go out and pass by other 3DS users. The RPG also drops treasure in the form of hats that can be worn by your Mii , which is pretty nice.

There is also a "complete the picture" mini game too where each person you meet gives you a random piece of a gaming relating picture. Not sure what you get when the picture is complete - i have 14/16 on a Bowser / Mario picture so i'm guessing you get some kind of wearable Mii item.

There is also the concept of coins inherent in the system. At the moment the way to earn coins is via the pedometer: For every 100 steps walked within a day you gain 1 coin, up to (disappointingly) a maximum of 10 coins a day. With these coins you can buy "Cat Mii's" in the RPG which give you a random Cat Character to use in case you have not met any friends - or use to get a random piece in the "Complete the picture" game.

The retail games also include the ability for data to be swapped between games - as most people will be aware, for SF4 you gain random figurines that you can then collect and arrange into a fighting team which will face off with random passers by. This is much better than i expected. As you win more and more real battles against people online or in the 1p mode, you earn points which can then be used to play the "Figurine Roulette". From this you are given a character with randomized level, stats, etc. Each figurine has a "worth" based on it's level (so a stong level 7 character maybe worth 8 points whilst a level 1 character is only worth 1 point - i don't remember the exact points scale off hand) and the team you build can only have a maximum total value. So - as an example - say the total limit is 20, you can't just fill the 5 character slots with level 7s. So with your 5 characters set you go walk abouts and data is exchanged. You can then tune each character based on attack, defense, and speed - again, within a limit - you have 300 points to assign in any way you like with the default being 100 for each.

So, walk past someone who has street fighter and the next time you play , the character battle will be pending and you can go see the results. Please also note that you don't have to have the game running - this is all done from the inherent system software - all you have to do is set up the mode once and, unless you chose to not share the data in the menu, this transfer happens whenever it can.

Stat tracking on the 3DS is excellent - game play and distance walked are broken down into a bar chart showing time spent with each activity by the hour. A gaming log book keeps track of every game you've ever played on the system, including the time spent , number of times played, longest session etc. It all sounds very mundane, but it's extremely nicely done.

The Augmented Reality games are also pretty cool. Placing the "?" card on a flat surface and starting the AR mode brings up a set of 5 mini toys to play with. I'm sure everyone has seen the videos and the effect is extremely convincing.

Face Invaders is way more fun that it should be - take a photo of your face and your friends and the game maps the face to a ball. These balls then float around in a virtual augmented reality space , with the game showing the out-facing camera view with evil Face Invaders coming towards you from all angles forcing to move the 3DS around in order to find them and shoot them. Miss and the background gets shot away - it's a pretty interesting effect, i shot away the walls of our house revealing a star filled space behind.

Anyways, like i say, i've went form being completely unconvinced to well and truly on board. It's pretty clear to see that the next Pokemon game is - at least - going to make massive use of streetpass and it may even use the AR. The 3D effect is convincing but so far hasn't added anything spectacular though i hear Pilotwings is the first game where the depth perception has a very noticable effect on proceedings. But the top and bottom for me is that it's the built in software where the 3DS shines - unfortunately part of the experience that you won't be able to get from a demo booth.

Machine still has some issues - the friend list is fine and all that but there's no messaging and whilst the stat tracking is great there's nothing like achievements - SF4 has medals which are like achievements but there's no unified standard system-level concept like on the X360/PS3.

[teddymeow]

My brother came in to work today with his work review unit (Cosmo Black looks better than Aqua Blue IMHO despite my earlier wanting of the blue machine). I'm still torn. He had no games but the menu screen still seemed blurry no matter how much I adjusted the slider & Face Raiders is just a bit poo. The 3D pictures he'd taken hurt my eyes too!

The 3D worked so well at E3 last year. Is it possible that Nintendo have put in "worse" screens for the retail consoles?

[Flabio]

There are some people claiming that the launch hardware doesn't seem as good as the demo ones last year were. But who knows?

[hudson]

There are some people claiming that the launch hardware doesn't seem as good as the demo ones last year were. But who knows?

Maybe those units had an hours battery life.

[Party boy]

Could be down to the lighting...

[Tig]

Hot Damn









More here.




Is it me, or does this look better than what we've seen of Skyward Sword?

I really don't need another copy of OoT... aaargh...

[hudson]

I've only ever play a few hours in of OoT, so I am really looking forward to snuggling up to this at night

[Daragon]

Granted it probably wasn't the finished build, but I don't recall the demo of OoT I had a go with looking this sharp.

[Rossco]

Holy moly those pictures are gorgeous! As an OoT virgin, I cannot wait. More excited about this than Skyward Sword in a way.

[abigsmurf]

They're bullshots.

Rendered at four times the resolution of the 3DS, not just pixel doubled (the aliasing goes down to individual pixels)

[teddymeow]

And those Zelda pictures make me moist for the system again.

Seriously blowing hot & cold with this. It's not a question of being able to afford it. It's a question of how quickly I'll get bored of it!