Nintendo 3DS

[Synthesthesia]

My amazon order still hasn't shipped... just the games etc. Mine's a blue one..my mates who ordered a black one has shipped. Even though he ordered a good week and a half after me.

I don't really care anyway I'm getting one at midnight from game Hope I win the raffle! A free 3DS would be awesome.

[elaniel]

Been playing for about 1/2 hour now and the images look blurry to me while playing. Now on a PC monitor my eyes feel a bit off. Is that normal?

I'm hoping it is just me adjusting to experiencing a game in 3D.

[EvilBoris]

If you are feeling weird after playing you need to turn the 3D effect down.

Nintendo have gone the wrong way by letting you manually choose the level of 3D, it should be set in another way. Either by your pupillary distance or maybe more simply , automatically by your age / gender / nationality

[Corranga]

Really pissed off with Amazon. At first I wasn't bothered about having it for launch and selected free super saver delivery, then they put things up saying you could still order for launch if you selected 1st class postage, so I paid the extra and changed the address to my work.

9.15 on a Thursday night and it's not dispatched, not a hope in hell if it reaching Dundee tomorrow meaning it'll be Monday at the earliest, and no one to get it in work on Saturday if they try to deliver then

Complaint emails ahoy come tomorrow.

Chris

[Flabio]

Noone read the rants I made earlier in the year about how Amazon have completely lost the plot when it comes to getting stuff out to you for launch day then? Heh.

I fully expect to be able to walk into a shop on Saturday and buy one of these, I really do.

[Party boy]

I went to Tesco to see if I'd be able to get one from there at midnight and according to Customer service, who phoned the duty manager, they're not even selling them. Their incompetence has cost them the best part of £300 from me alone.

Looks like it's Morrisons for me tomorrow... us who preordered should at least get a better deal than random off the street you'd hope...

So was I right to cancel my Amazon order then, as everyone been messed around by them?

Is it just Shopto and iWOOT who got them to people early? I want to know for future reference, it seems slightly unfair that some people can get them before the launch date, but I want to get my next console pre-order early! Possibly the NGP, depending on the price...

[Party boy]

TNT are delivering on Saturday I'm going to scowl at the delivery man as I open it in front of him.

That guy probably took the weekend off to play on his new 3DS! Shocking stuff though, I thought my Wii had been nicked in transit when I didn't get it for launch, but it turned up the next day. I sent them an email that ended up being pretty sweary and the bastards (Parcel Force) never even replied. So I always try to avoid them, though I imported a PS3 and Parcel Force handled it in the UK, which wasn't what I wanted...

Glad to hear you're sorted and you won't have to wait any longer than I did through Parcel Force's incompetence.

[Chief H]

3DS arrived this morning at work this morning; was sweating whether Tesco Entertainment would come up with the goods in time - was dead set on Shopto from the moment they opened preorders but Pilotwings for ?7 was too good to resist - in the end it got dispatched yesterday via TNT and arrived first thing today, couldn't be happier with the service if I'd tried tbh so full marks to them. Sceptical as I was I'll be adding Tesco to the list of 'safe day one preorders'.

As requested, let's get some first impressions going: so you know where I'm coming from, I'm a bit of a 3D sceptic in general, not seen a 3D film at the cinema before, not been too fussed with TVs (in demos I tend to find 3D TV images look like a series of flat cut-outs arranged in 3D space) but pretty much decided on getting stuck in with 3DS since January and have sort of avoided hands-on opportunities to save myself for getting the real deal in my hands for myself.

And I'm really pleasantly surprised with how nicely the 3D effect works out. Generally, of the people I showed it to at work, I have seen people tend to fall into categories of not expecting much and being impressed or wanting it to work so much that they almost try too hard and end up a bit disappointed. One girl did keep pulling the most hilarious concentration faces whilst trying to get the 3D to work for her each time she picked it up. Good value for that alone.

First off the bat, I know it sounds frankly ridiculous, but I have to give real props to the system menu and UI. I've only had DS and DS lite before this so I'm guessing the menu tiles on the touch screen come from the DSi interface, and the 3D screen is left to display more flashy menu interpretations of each selection. What is great is when you access the menu whilst in a game and the main screen flexes into the backgroung for the menu to be overlayed in the foreground, reminding me a lot of the helmet HUD in Metroid Prime. It's a really sweet effect that I won't get bored of.

The menu grid starts off looking a bit daunting with all manner of unlabelled buttons but slowly as you pick through them and familiarise yourself with it all you make sense of where you are in the menu space. I'm (possibly over-) excited about the possibilities streetpass and spotpass open up, and being able to pull up your street and spot pass notifications at any time, multitasking stylee, makes so much sense.

I realise at this point I've overlooked the unit itself a little; coming from DS lite (which I've been playing pretty regularly recently) it feels much more 'grown up'. The plastics are harder, the unit a bit heavier and the sharpened edges and creases along its corners have a far more industrial feel than the soft, rounded plastics of the DS lite. Everything is squared off now, down to the tiny trapezium-studded indicator lights that you don't even realise rise off the unit at all until you take a really close look at them. I must admit I wasn't keen on the design from all the photos and reveals - I thought a lot of the design elements looked superfluous (the top-heavy look when shut, the cheapish-looking start/select/home buttons below the touchscreen) and that it looked as it if had been designed with a 3DS lite revision in mind, but in the plastic it's a really coherent piece of design. Especially when you get to using the device, you notice the function far before the form which is good design in my book. I went for cosmos black, incidentally (I always end up picking black handhelds, for one reason or another) and the metallic finish looks great. It's easy to forget it's an entirely plastic case; some aspects borrow from the PSP slim, such as the metallic silver top panel where the cart slot and power jack live, reinforcing the metallic look of it.

Top marks for sensible packaging too - much as I love the apple-style packaging that feels like you're opening a really elegant birthday present as you're introduced to your new gadget, the boxing strikes a neat balance in that everything is easy to get to and stuff isn't hidden under a myriad of stacked, interlocking cardboard shelves. The top tray easily slides out and you can get straight at the 3DS in its protective polystyrene sleeve. Simples.

I thought the charging stand was wireless (hence the long charge times) beforehand but happily it isn't. You can plug the charge cable straight into the 3DS or into the chargin station which has a clever little mechanical operation where the weight of the DS pushes two metal contacts into the top edge of the system which does the charging. Another nice touch, though the charging base does feel light and plasticy. Next to the aforementioned weighty feel of the 3DS itself, the charger and charging cable don't feel like a decent quality match which is slightly disappointing, but then that really is getting to the more functional side of the device and further away from the form.

As mentioned, got Pilotwings with it and Street Fighter also arrived from Shopto today. At some point I might even get around to writing about those as well.......

[hudson]

Really impressed with the 3DS so far. The 3D effect is excellent. Was pleased to see that Friend Codes now let you see when a friend is online and what game they're playing. At least that's what my 3DS was suggesting to me, not seen in practice yet.

SSFIV is excellent. My biggest fear was the controls, but I'm pleased to say that the dpad is working best for me. Not sure about Circle pad just yet. Which is surprising as most articles read like I may be using it over dpad full-time.

SSFIV even has Arcade interuptions from online challengers! Had one match and it was smooth as...

Ridge Racer is the usual deal, but with a deeper campaign. I prefer bumper view and it still looks ace. Had only a quick go around RRR track. Graphically, it's not far off the original RR. Bright colour palette, unlike the cool darker tones of recent RR. Something I welcome.

Pilotwings. Had a quick free flight using the handglider. The 3D effect was amazing.

Still yet to try Shadow Wars. Been busy with bambino and playing footy. Will put more time in when I go to bed later.

So far, very impressed.

[BIG EDD]

Sorry guys i know it looks like i'm ranting a bitbut i cannot believe a company such as amazon can piss people about like this.I pre-ordered an aqua blue back on the 9th feb.What really gets me going is that i've spoke to 2 people at amazon and recieved 2 emails stating that my machine would be dispatched today.I've just recieved another email in the last half hour saying they are waiting for stock to be delivered by their suppliers by midnight tonight and will deliver the machine on the 25th as stated on my open order page.Theres no way they can honour this at this time of night.The email also states at the end that if i havent recieved an email by the morning notifying me of dispatch to ring them.I'm gonna wait til the morning then if theres no sense off them i'll cancel.I really cant be arsed to chase about tonight hoping i'll pick one up as this saga has turned the launch sour for me as i was,well lets say getting a bit excited and to put the cherry on top of the cake my ridge racer and pilot wings turned up today from gameplay

[Chief H]

In terms of describing the 3D effect, I'd say the sensation is most like looking at a magic eye picture. But a really good one. That actually wants to work, to the point where it's helping you see it. now I'm rubbish at looking at magic eye pictures (they always appeared inverted to me, as if they're going in rather than out) but the sensation of having your eyes not quite focusing but still seeing a clear image definitely reminds me of magic eye stuff when I look at the 3DS. Found it quite comfortable tbh; the first time I looked at it and then put it away stuff seemed a bit weird, especially looking at a regular 2D monitor again, but I think that's the adaptation process you go through in getting used to the concept of 3D images on a flat screen without glasses.

The 3D definition is what's impressed me though; particularly on Street Fighter, the level of detail which the 3D can work on the relatively small but detailed character models has impressed me. As mentioned before, I've tended to see 3D stuff before as flat cut-outs arranged in 3D space and expected a bit of the same here, but the character models work really well in 3d, arms and legs moving in front/behind each other really convincingly. It is a shame that you have to pick between 3D and 60fps though. I personally think 60fps in a game is as much of a selling point as high def or 3D, I think it can make games look fantastic, so I would've loved to have both 3D and 60fps. At some points it manages it, and I'm sure once developers squeeze a bit more out of the hardware they'll manage it more consistently too, but the choice on SF is currently a pretty tough one.

But I'll try to leave more of the discussion of the games themselves for the First Play forum.

[arcnas]

Cancelled amazon. I'm off to tesco As ones for me and another for my. 9 year old who is desperate for it tomorrow. Last order amazon get from me

[gware]

Sorry guys i know it looks like i'm ranting a bitbut i cannot believe a company such as amazon can piss people about like this.I pre-ordered an aqua blue back on the 9th feb.What really gets me going is that i've spoke to 2 people at amazon and recieved 2 emails stating that my machine would be dispatched today.I've just recieved another email in the last half hour saying they are waiting for stock to be delivered by their suppliers by midnight tonight and will deliver the machine on the 25th as stated on my open order page.Theres no way they can honour this at this time of night.The email also states at the end that if i havent recieved an email by the morning notifying me of dispatch to ring them.I'm gonna wait til the morning then if theres no sense off them i'll cancel.I really cant be arsed to chase about tonight hoping i'll pick one up as this saga has turned the launch sour for me as i was,well lets say getting a bit excited and to put the cherry on top of the cake my ridge racer and pilot wings turned up today from gameplay

I still hope they come through with thier promise, i've ordered stuff from them before very late at night and it's arrived the next day, so fingers crossed

[Party boy]

That's something then! I've got nothing as yet, can't believe I have to get to sleep before getting my mitts on one, haha. If I let myself get excited about it I think I'd go insane, but I'd say i haven't looked forward to a launch so much in ages, if not ever. It's a shame the virtual console won't be up tomorrow though.

[Party boy]

Cancelled amazon. I'm off to tesco As ones for me and another for my. 9 year old who is desperate for it tomorrow. Last order amazon get from me

How comes your 9 year old gets one? I hope you're not spoiling them!