Nintendo 3DS

Unless you’ve poked out your own eyes and ruptured your eardrums somehow, then you’d be aware of the Nintendo 3DS which was officially revealed at E3 2010… though, maybe you’d only have to poke out one eye for the device to end up being just a more powerful DS in your eyes… eye… But is the 3DS just an evolution of the Nintendo DS or is it capable of providing much more than the DS ever could?

A lot of information about the Nintendo 3DS has been released over the past week including specs, pictures, hands-on impressions as well as a long list of games being developed for the system. There are a lot of people at E3 who absolutely love the 3DS and were amazed by its no-glasses 3D effect first-hand. People who weren’t lucky enough to attend E3 can only take their word for it… and that’s very unfortunate.

UPDATE: Eep, just a few minutes after publishing this entry I found out about this: Nintendo 3DS’s GPU: DMP’s PICA200.

When the Nintendo DS was released back in 2004 with its oddly shaped silver shell, it was quite the handheld revolution in many ways. With its touch screen display it opened up new gameplay opportunities not possible before and also allowed the streamlining of some existing gameplay. The built-in microphone and dual screens also opened up new ways of interacting and viewing games… a lot changed from old days of the Game Boy.

The DS has been out for six years and has sold approximately 130 million units worldwide. We all know what the DS is capable of but it’s still not clearly known what the 3DS is really capable of. There are many unknowns in regards to the system, but let’s take a look at what we know and the potentials of the technology in the device.

Note: The 3DS system that Nintendo showed during the E3 2010 event was a prototype, so there’s definitely going to be some changes made to the final version of the system.

3D gaming and cameras

Not having seen the 3D effects myself, it’s very hard to comment on them… however, from what I do know, the 3D effect doesn’t come easily and is the entire reason that the 3D slider located on the right of the screen exists. Reports from various sources say that there are moments when the 3D effect can be lost and you end up seeing a double image. Other sources say that you need to be looking straight at the screen without it being on any kind of angle AND have the 3DS at a certain distance for the 3D effect to be viewable. This will certainly make the system a little harder to play for some people, however you can turn the 3D effect down and even turn it off entirely using the 3D slider provided.

Another interesting tidbit concerns the resolution of the top screen. Official Nintendo specs say that the top screen resolution is 800×240 with 400px for each eye to create the 3D effect. The reason I mention this is because of a handful of games for the DS that have you holding the handheld device like a book. As I mentioned above, as soon as you turn the 3DS at any angle that isn’t straight on, the 3D effect is immediately lost. So, when you take those two factors into account, it’s not really helping the situation for developers who want to make games for the 3DS and have them laid out in that book format.

Moving on to the cameras; it’s nice to see the addition of dual cameras on the outside shell of the system. There have been many 3D camera devices popping up lately, most of which have been shown off during CES 2010 earlier this year. Nintendo has revealed to us that you will be able to take photo’s in 3D, but I’m also hoping that the 3DS will also allow people to take 3D video as well… that would be VERY nice if it were capable of doing so. Anyway, the specs on the Nintendo site say that the outer cameras can take pictures up to 640×480 which is nice. We have no way of knowing what the maximum resolution of the inner camera is at this point in time, however there were some tech demo’s using both the inner and outer cameras to demonstrate their various functions.

Dual screens

Satoru Iwata was quick to tell the audience at the Nintendo Press Conference that they had tried to enable touchscreen support for both screens. They apparently tried and failed at the attempt due to the negative impact it would have on the 3D effect enabled on the top screen. It would’ve been ideal to have both screens set up as both touchscreens and 3D enabled but there are obvious technological limitations that are yet to be overcome.

As I’ve stated in the 3D section of this entry, the top screen resolution is 800×240 with 400px for each eye to create its 3D effect. The actual viewable resolution is 400×240 for the top screen and a resolution of 320×240 for the bottom screen. In comparison, the resolution for both screens found on the DS are 256×192. The size of the top screen found on the prototype shown at E3 is 3.53″ with the bottom screen being 3.02″. In comparison, the bottom screen is actually smaller than the 3.12″ screens on the DS lite and 3.25″ of the DSi… in fact, it’s closer to the 3″ screens found on the original DS… which is strange considering the much higher resolution.

From the looks of things the vertical height of the bottom screen is the same size as the top screen, however I feel that the size of the bottom screen, in my eyes, is unacceptable considering what we’re used to with later versions of the DS. I’m hoping they change this in the final production model of the 3DS; I really don’t want to have to deal with any kind of downgrade when switching to the 3DS.

I personally feel that the bottom screen should be 400×240 just like the top screen and have the vertical height that is at least identical to the screens of the DSi… unfortunately, many developers have had the development kits for the 3DS for quite awhile and the bottom screen will keep its current resolution setting.

Controls and other features

The button layout for the 3DS is similar to the various versions of the DS with the obvious major difference being the D-Pad being moved to the secondary position and a new analog slider at a primary position. Many who have tried out the system itself have commented that the analog slider feels very nice to use with its concave design, large surface area and movement resistance. It’s been stated that the analog slider on the 3DS is far superior to the analog nub found on the PSP… which is a HUGE sigh of relief for everyone concerned. The D-Pad itself looks to be of the same design as the D-Pad found on the Wii Remote… hopefully it uses the exact same materials as well, I happen to like the way the Wii Remote D-Pad feels.

On the right there are the usual A, B, X, Y buttons as well as a power button which I assume functions with a delay timer so the player has to hold it down for a few seconds to turn the system on and off. This will make some people feel much safer in case of accidental button presses. The Start and Select buttons are now located underneath the touchscreen and appear to be touch sensitive buttons. In between the Star and Select buttons is a Home button which is an obvious influence from the Wii. I’m sure there are quite a lot of Wii elements added to the 3DS which we haven’t seen yet.

The front end of the system has a single 3.5mm headphone jack as well as power and charging indicator lights. On the DSi, players had the ability to turn the wireless for the system on and off using the options menu; on the 3DS the wireless switch is built into the hardware and is located on the right side of the system. On the left side there is a volume slider as well as an SD card slot similar to the one found on the DSi and DSi XL.

The backside of the system has the 3DS port which is also capable of taking in DS games, however I don’t know exactly how the port works to allow both… it may have to do with the notch found on 3DS game carts. Along with the game port is a slot to hold the stylus which is apparently going to be a telescoping stylus that is 4 inches when fully extended. However, one of the more interesting features of the 3DS seen so far which many people have mostly ignored is the addition of an IR port located next to the stylus port. From the looks of things, Nintendo liked the IR feature of Pok&ecute;mon Heart Gold & Soul Silver so much that they’ve got plans to use it in the future… or it could just be something that’s only featured on the prototype models.

And of course, the top section features stereo speakers as well as the 3D slider, inward facing camera and obviously the 3D screen… if you hadn’t noticed by now. Finally, the touchscreen itself, located on the bottom section, may not have any real changes made to it since the technology is the same, however judging from the higher resolution screen and smaller screen size than the DS lite, the sensitivity of the touchscreen may be higher to compensate for the change.

With all of that said, I should remind people that the design of the 3DS shown at E3 2010 was only a prototype and that the final version of the 3DS may have some changes which will effect the layout of the buttons and other features.

Motion controls

An interesting addition to the 3DS and one that wasn’t actively demonstrated at E3 are the motion controls. According to official specs, the 3DS has an accelerometer and gyroscope which gives it the same functionality as the Wii Remote with Wii MotionPlus.

The odd part is the effect the motion controls will have on 3D screen. As I’ve explained before, the folks who got to handle the 3DS in their own hands commented about how fragile the 3D effect could be at times. I find it odd that the 3DS would have motion controls with a device that loses its 3D effect whenever the system isn’t viewed straight on and at a certain distance.

Nintendo has stated that they’re aware of this issue so it’ll be interesting just what they’ll do about it with the final production model. However, if this issue isn’t dealt with it will mean that developers would have to work their way around it if they want to use both 3D and motion controls in their games at the same time.

System power

No official specifications have been released for the 3DS hardware, however there is obviously a substantial power increase from the DSi judging by the videos, screenshots and first-hand experiences from people who have played the system. Many speculate that the 3DS is on par with the PSP or is perhaps even more powerful than the system considering the fact that the 3DS has to display visuals on two screens as well as creating the 3D effect on the top screen. Other speculations suggest that the 3DS may be as powerful as the PlayStation 2, Dreamcast or possibly even as powerful as a GameCube or Wii.

From the looks of some of the screenshots released for the 3DS, it seems like this is quite a capable system that is ultimately limited by the small resolutions of its dual screens.

Above are two images showing screenshots of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D “The Naked Sample” and compares them to screenshots of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for the PlayStation 2 and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PlayStation Portable. For this comparison I have preserved the resolution of each game to give a better idea of what you’re seeing… though, obviously the shots of the 3DS game won’t be exactly how it should be seen since it should have a 3D effect.

I’m not going to go into the intricate details when looking at these comparison shots since “The Naked Sample” isn’t a final game and was only shown as a tech demo for the 3DS… that and, as stated before, we can’t really see the 3D effect that the 3DS is design for. However, the screenshots I have posted up are so you can decide for yourself where the 3DS fits in all of this…

My personal belief is that the 3DS may turn out to be a mini GameCube… but I don’t have any proof to back up that statement; just my hopes…

Wireless connection and online

Nintendo did spend a few short moments at their press conference to talk about the new wireless features of the 3DS. Like the DSi, it will support IEEE 802.11 with WPA/WPA2 security settings. It’s obvious that it will support both B and G standards, of course there’s no way to know if it will support the new N wireless standard… would be nice, but there are doubts it’ll go that far.

The internet access is said to be a lot easier this time around with the 3DS having the ability to automatically connect to open wireless sources it detects without the need for configuring any settings. It’s also been stated that the 3DS can also access the internet as well as other 3DS systems to transfer game data even when the specific game isn’t in the system, all while in sleep mode. I’m thinking this could also mean that Nintendo could use this feature to spread firmware updates to 3DS systems not connected to the internet for whatever reason. If true, it would mean that anyone who has any “less than legal” devices or modifications for the 3DS will have to make sure to keep that wireless switch turned off permanently.

I’m hoping to see some interesting additions to the 3DS online system… but most of all, I’m hoping that Nintendo somehow does away with its crappy Friend Code system and moves towards a more Xbox Live type service… but free, of course.

Final thoughts

From what I hear, there wasn’t much in the way of playable games shown off during E3 2010. There was a port of Star Fox 64 as well as Nintendogs + cats and some nifty playable and non-playable tech demo’s. The different screenshots released during the expo showed off different types of visuals. Some were closer to the quality of the original DS while others looked like they were close to being roughly GameCube quality. Many have commented that the model for Pit from Kid Icarus: Uprising looks exactly the same as how he is seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl… though we won’t know for sure how similar the two models are until we dump them both into an editing program and compare.

Having the 3D effect as well as the motion controls and analog slider is definitely going to open up many new gameplay possibilities… but for the most part we’re all going to have to play the waiting game to find out what developers really have. I’m sure there’s going to be an initial period where the games are only going to seem like small steps up from the DS, but I am hoping that at least a couple of them will show that the 3DS can do things the DS could never dream of.

There are still a lot of unknowns concerning the 3DS, but I’m sure we’ll end up finding out about most of them in the coming months… though the system won’t reveal all of its secrets until it’s finally released and all those tech-heads out there can take it apart to see exactly what’s inside.

While we do wait for the eventual release of the 3DS, Nintendo fans have a lot to play in the coming months on both DS and Wii… so it’s not like things are going to be dull.