Nintendo 3DS

[Evil Avnovice]

*References/Press Releases

-Wikipedia entry
-Japanese press release (PDF file)
-Nintendo of Japan Nintendo 3DS page
-Nintendo of America Nintendo 3DS page
-Nintendo of Europe Nintendo 3DS page
-Nintendo of Austrailia Nintendo 3DS page
-Nintendo World 2011 Japanese Website
-Nintendo of America Retail Kiosk Locator

*Launch Dates Across Territories

-Japan: February 26, 2011 (25,000 Yen)
-North America: March 27, 2011 ($249.99)
-Europe: March 25, 2011
-Austrailia: March 31, 2011
-New Zealand: March 31, 2011

*Miscellaneous

-Formatting higher capacity SDHC cards to work on a Nintendo 3DS (USB card reader required)

[Wraith]

FWIW, Kotaku's post about the asahi article says:

Regarding a DS successor, Iwata offered this: "[It will have] highly detailed graphics, and it will be necessary to have a sensor with the ability to read the movements of people playing." In the past, motion peripherals have been released for the Nintendo DS.

Doesn't exactly mean "high definition" as in 720p.

[NoName]

So by motion controls they're going to marry the Wii controller and the DS? And add a screen similar to the PSP?

I suppose that'll be enough to get me to leave my DS lite. I wonder what the battery life will be like...

[Mike Kelehan]

So... should I get an XL, or not, then?

[Stoke]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelehan

So... should I get an XL, or not, then?

Also, looking like you're having a seizure in the living room is fine. Even funny if you can persuade enough family to do it as well. Looking like you're having a seizure on the bus/train could cause problems. Hilarious problems, but problems none the less.

[Vigil80]

You know, I wish I could be more eloquent about this, but... sometimes I really fucking hate Nintendo.

[Mike Kelehan]

Originally Posted by Vigil80

You know, I wish I could be more eloquent about this, but... sometimes I really fucking hate Nintendo.

To be fair, they really haven't released a brand new portable since the DS in 2004. They've just released newer, thinner, brighter, be-camera-ed models every couple years. If they release this new one this year, that's a five year cycle. They'll probably release it next year, for a six year cycle.

[Widgetcraft]

Oh boy, a motion sensor! That is what the DS needed: Another fucking gimmick to be clumsily wedged into games that work better without it. That brings the list up to:

• Two screens (still doesn't make any sense)
• A touch screen
• A microphone
• A camera
• A motion sensor

[Dukefrukem]

what's with the brackets in the title?

[Mike Kelehan]

Originally Posted by Heretic Machine

Oh boy, a motion sensor! That is what the DS needed: Another fucking gimmick to be clumsily wedged into games that work better without it. That brings the list up to:

• Two screens (still doesn't make any sense)
• A touch screen
• A microphone
• A camera
• A motion sensor

Nobody's saying every game has to use all of these. It's still a good option for developers to have. Accelerometers cost about $2.

[Widgetcraft]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelehan

Nobody's saying every game has to use all of these...

And yet, we still get games that force me to use the touch screen as a substitute for traditional controls, that the DS is perfectly capable of pulling off, just because the touch screen happens to be there. If you put some stupid shit gimmick on your platform, there is a good chance that developers will use it, because if they don't then reviews will say, "Unfortunately, as good as the game is, it doesn't really make creative use of the {gimmick}."

[Jeffool]

Originally Posted by Heretic Machine

And yet, we still get games that force me to use the touch screen as a substitute for traditional controls, that the DS is perfectly capable of pulling off, just because the touch screen happens to be there. If you put some stupid shit gimmick on your platform, there is a good chance that developers will use it, because if they don't then reviews will say, "Unfortunately, as good as the game is, it doesn't really make creative use of the {gimmick}."

Sounds like a perfectly reasonable complaint, and one that should be taken up with developers and reviewers.

I hope they place the screens closer together though, and make both of them touchscreens.

[TheFlyingOrc]

Originally Posted by Wraith

Doesn't exactly mean "high definition" as in 720p.

Sure, if you care about whether it meets the "marketing buzzword" criteria for video fidelity.

A screen that small makes pursuing 720p absolute madness.

Originally Posted by Heretic Machine

And yet, we still get games that force me to use the touch screen as a substitute for traditional controls, that the DS is perfectly capable of pulling off, just because the touch screen happens to be there. If you put some stupid shit gimmick on your platform, there is a good chance that developers will use it, because if they don't then reviews will say, "Unfortunately, as good as the game is, it doesn't really make creative use of the {gimmick}."

lol this is the worst opinion

Y'know, technically, you can do pretty much any function on your computer with just the keyboard, not the mouse. However, oftentimes it is more pleasurable to use the mouse, but sometimes, software designers make the wrong decision and add mouseclicks where button presses would suffice.

[Mike Kelehan]

Originally Posted by Heretic Machine

And yet, we still get games that force me to use the touch screen as a substitute for traditional controls, that the DS is perfectly capable of pulling off, just because the touch screen happens to be there. If you put some stupid shit gimmick on your platform, there is a good chance that developers will use it, because if they don't then reviews will say, "Unfortunately, as good as the game is, it doesn't really make creative use of the {gimmick}."

I can't think of any DS games I've played recently that had that problem. I can think of ple-he-henty Wii games that do, certainly, but in the DS games I've been playing the touchscreen is either necessary (Layton, EBA), optional (Phoenix Wright, Picross) or not used at all (Castlevania, Dragon Quest, Mario Kart, countless others). What games are you thinking of?

[Wraith]

Originally Posted by TheFlyingOrc

Sure, if you care about whether it meets the "marketing buzzword" criteria for video fidelity.

A screen that small makes pursuing 720p absolute madness.

Not saying it should be 720p, just that that's what "high definition" means in the world of gaming, gadgets and displays.

[Widgetcraft]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelehan

I can't think of any DS games I've played recently that had that problem.

Both Zelda games, for starters. Don't give me that shit about how good they are either, the touch screen controls might work, but not half as well as the d-pad did in every other 2D Zelda game.

but in the DS games I've been playing the touchscreen is either necessary (Layton, EBA), optional (Phoenix Wright, Picross) or not used at all (Castlevania, Dragon Quest, Mario Kart, countless others). What games are you thinking of?

How about Castlevania? Didn't the first Castlevania game on the DS force you to use the stylus to "capture" souls or some shit? It was a completely unnecessary and cumbersome mechanic, from what I've heard, and that's why I skipped over it in favor of Portrait of Ruin/Order of Ecclesia.

How about Lunar Knights? Good game, and most of it was controlled with the standard d-pad and face buttons, but for some god-awful reason the flight portions were assigned to the touch screen exclusively. They basically turned your ship into a cursor, and made you use that to fly and shoot. The only reason they did this was because there is pressure to use gimmicks when they happen to be built into the platform. Hell, they added these entirely superfluous sections of the game just to incorporate the gimmick.

[Mike Kelehan]

Originally Posted by Heretic Machine

Both Zelda games, for starters. Don't give me that shit about how good they are either, the touch screen controls might work, but not half as well as the d-pad did in every other 2D Zelda game.



How about Castlevania? Didn't the first Castlevania game on the DS force you to use the stylus to "capture" souls or some shit? It was a completely unnecessary and cumbersome mechanic, from what I've heard, and that's why I skipped over it in favor of Portrait of Ruin/Order of Ecclesia.

How about Lunar Knights? Good game, and most of it was controlled with the standard d-pad and face buttons, but for some god-awful reason the flight portions were assigned to the touch screen exclusively. They basically turned your ship into a cursor, and made you use that to fly and shoot. The only reason they did this was because there is pressure to use gimmicks when they happen to be built into the platform. Hell, they added these entirely superfluous sections of the game just to incorporate the gimmick.

The first CV did indeed use the stylus to capture souls. It was a gimmick to be sure, but not an obtrusive one; you just drew the rune and you were done. They did stop that in later ones, though, which is why I said "recent" games.

As for the Zeldas, since the special weapons involve using the touchscreen, switching back and forth between pad-and-buttons and the stylus would be a pain, so I'm fine with their decision.

[Widgetcraft]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelehan

The first CV did indeed use the stylus to capture souls. It was a gimmick to be sure, but not an obtrusive one; you just drew the rune and you were done.

Pulling out the stylus at all is itself obtrusive when the rest of the game has nothing to do with it.

As for the Zeldas, since the special weapons involve using the touchscreen, switching back and forth between pad-and-buttons and the stylus would be a pain, so I'm fine with their decision.

The special weapons aren't particularly special in function, and in fact don't really do anything that hasn't be done with a controller before. They would have been implemented slightly differently without the stylus controls. Again, they exist in the state that they do because the touch screen is there, and Nintendo wants people to use it.

[Evil Avnovice]

I'd forgotten about this, so a man can dream, even if the successor doesn't turn out like this:

I'm also curious as to who removed the brackets from my header, as I put those there for a reason.

[TheFlyingOrc]

Originally Posted by Heretic Machine

The special weapons aren't particularly special in function, and in fact don't really do anything that hasn't be done with a controller before. They would have been implemented slightly differently without the stylus controls. Again, they exist in the state that they do because the touch screen is there, and Nintendo wants people to use it.

It's more fun to use the stylus unless you're a giant manbaby with super control issues.