3DS

[Salanewt]

Well, it is more or less the same trick that I used on her to get GSDD for me when it was released. More like a form of psychology than brainwashing, and it works for her as well. I doubt it would work for getting everyone a 3DS.

Also, I usually do not preorder, but I am making a special exception for Nintendo. Oh yeah, I have to spend some of my points soon (I wanted one of those pins, but I found out about them too late).

[zman9000]

Pins? what do you mean pins?

well anyway I am going to wait till about 3 or 4 good games come out before i get it.
I heard that Japan has it already. I haven't been searching much into it lately because of college, so is it true?

[Salanewt]

The system? It is definitely real. As for good games, you might not have to wait long after the system's release. The fourth Paper Mario is coming out, as well as a remake of Ocarina of Time. There are several more games, but I feel that I should wait for my memory to remind me of what they are.

[Charon]

I am about 95% sure they have VC for 3DS.

I'm really looking forward to this. The catalog looks great. Would make an excellent 18th birthday present! heheheh...

[Atrius (He/Him)]

You guys know there is videos of the 3DS on youtube.

or at least a prototype. ( it uses the camera to make it 3D )

I will post a link if i find it again.

It uses a parallax barrier to make the screen appear 3D, the camera has nothing to do with it.


Virtual Console with Gameboy & Gameboy Color games is confirmed.


Release dates for the system are:

JP, 26 Feb 2011
EU, 25 Mar 2011
US, 27 Mar 2011
AU, 31 Mar 2011

[zman9000]

no no. i saw some where that a DS or a 3DS was using the camera. it would lock on to some glasses and as you moved your head the screen would change perspetive.

but i can't find it again......

[Atrius (He/Him)]

I know exactly what you're talking about, but that video was all just speculation.  It's confirmed that the 3DS actually uses a parallax barrier to create the 3D effect.

[Atrius (He/Him)]

Soo, I decided to go grab one, who else?


    The 3D effect is pretty nice, there's a definite sweet spot you have to be in to see it properly or the screen gets blurry, but it doesn't seem too difficult to find & maintain.  I was slightly concerned there may be some evidence of the trick used to produce the 3D effect in the quality of the image on the screen.  I'm glad to say there isn't, I couldn't tell any difference in quality between the top & bottom screen (Bottom screen is not 3D) or on the top screen with 3D on or off.  As for the effect itself, for the most part it's like looking through a window as in everything goes back into the screen rather than popping out although it is capable of that as well.  I haven't played any games with it yet besides what the system came with, but so far it doesn't feel gimmicky or overused at all, it's just a very nice addition to the visual capabilities of the system.

    The system comes with some AR (Augmented Reality) games.  These are played using a card the system comes with (It also comes with 5 character cards, but these are only used in a photo shooting mode to display a model of the character.  They include Mario, Link (Cell shaded style), Kirby, Samus, and Pikmen).  The AR games use the two outside cameras, and the AR card to display a game in the actual physical location you placed the card on screen.  You place the card on a flat surface, and the games will distort the image to create hills, and dips in it in addition to adding other 3D elements to the scene.  If you move around the card, or change your angle to it the viewpoint of everything in the games responds likewise.  The games include Archery (Aim your DS at targets, then hit the A button to shoot), AR Shot (Hit a ball into a goal, think mini-golf), and fishing (Pretty much what it sounds like), then there are 3 photo modes, Graffiti, Star Pics (This is where the character cards come in), Mii Pics (Take pictures of your Miis in real places, not compatible with the character cards for whatever reason).  The games are pretty cool for showing off some of the systems capabilities, but I don't see a whole lot of replay value.  Of course there's also Face Raiders, where you take a photo of someone's face then shoot flying copies of it to rescue it, or something weird like that.

I'm not going to touch too much on the physical hardware itself, except to say that when you first try to use the outside cameras the image may be extremely blurry.  Not to worry though, this is easily fixed by calibrating their vertical alignment, which is a fairly simple task.

The store didn't have any of the launch titles I was interested in so I don't have any games for it yet, I'll probably go try somewhere else later.

[Salanewt]

Wow, now I am looking even more forward to playing mine! Which colour did you get? I have the black one, though I might have gone for a white or silver one if they were available/existent.

As for launch titles... Bust a Move. I remember playing it on the N64, so it made up for the store not having Ocarina of Time 3D (or Kid Icarus, or Star Fox 3D, or...). I still have to wait for my work to be finished, which should be about 20 minutes if I am lucky. I also got an accessory kit, which I might explain in detail later.

I am looking forward to seeing what the AR system is like, I do not recall using something quite like it before. All in all, I am excited about testing out the features of the system to see what they are like.

[Atrius (He/Him)]

I got the black one too.

I wouldn't really call it an AR system, it's just a couple small games.  The cards that it comes with don't have any sort of data codes printed on them, they're just pictures, so it's extremely doubtful you'd be able to buy more that do other things later on.  Like I said, they're kinda cool to show off some of what the system is capable of, but unlike the 3D screen they do feel a bit gimmicky.

[Salanewt]

1. Cool.

2. Ah, I see. I have yet to try it out, but mainly because I just beat Bust A Move's Puzzle Mode. Pictures only? I guess there shouldn't be much of a point to that.


Also, some advice to those who have yet to enjoy its splendor (or to those who have already): It would be best to refrain from looking at the screen when switching from 2D to 3D. Changing the intensity of 3D seems to be fine, but it is a bit of a strain on the eyes to change between 2D and 3D.

[Rolina]

Ack, I heard bust-a-move was one of the worst launch games on the 3DS...  GLad to see you're still enjoying that, though.

The AR games are a bit better than picture-only.  It's kinda fun, though... the fishing game is QUITE glitchy.

I've got a black one.  I've got none of the launch games (it HAD to be released at the end of the month, didn't it?  I get paid monthly. >_>), but it's pretty neat, I must say.  Can't wait for the VC to open up.  As for DS games... the loss in quality IS noticable.  You can still play the games, but I was hoping that the smoothing effect would have been done a bit better.

People have been exaggerating the so-called 'sweet spot', though.  It works fine for me - I'm actually getting uncomfortable when trying to leave the sweet spot.

[Salanewt]

Bust A Move actually kind of stinks. The version I used to play on the N64 is 80% better than this drivel. Still, it gives me something to do until I get a better game or two for it. Puzzle Mode only has 80 levels, each level taking no longer than a few minutes, and sometimes no shorter than 3 seconds because of the game-breaking power-ups. Something more, the player is allowed to break the line! For Challenge Mode, Hard was not challenging at all; I quit after my score reached 27 million. Achievements are cool enough though. Still, something to do to try out some of the 3D capabilities.

Perhaps I should try one of them. I might as well, since it may be a few days before that store stocks up on launch titles that are a bit better than what I decided to buy.

Black? Cool, that seems to be the preference amongst everyone. As for anti-aliasing, it seems to happen more in 3D mode than in 2D.

Before it gets blurry? The sweet spot is quite comfortable, but it can be fun to move around for little reason.

[Rolina]

Aye, I've noticed.  I find it very strange that 3D models suffer more than sprites from this.  You'd think it'd be the other way around!

Dark Dawn looks kinda O.o-y, but Digimon Story Dusk looks nice.

My problem with "Sweet spots" is more the AR stuff.  The so-called sweet spot for 3D?  It's where I'm most comfortable playing.  That whole range.  It actually gets a bit uncomfortable to hold the darned thing outside of the sweetspot, so I really have no problem there.

[MaxiPower]

Ghost Recon turned based game on it apparently looks like **** however actually is getting great reviews for its gameplay.. turn absed games like that i wouldn't normally be into but after i reviews on it and actual gameplay its a cert ill pick it up at some point

[Atrius (He/Him)]

@ DS game image quality on 3DS:  After launching the game on the 3DS home screen hold down either the Start or Select button while it loads.  This will display it in it's original resolution on the 3DS's screens so it will be considerably smaller, but crisp as it was meant to be.

[Salanewt]

That is a sweet tidbit, thanks!

Has anyone tried out the Mii Plaza yet? If so, have you had any luck getting coins? You are limited to getting 10 a day though, so you can't trick the system that easily. Luckily, it only takes a few minutes to get enough coins to play one of the games.

Anyway, have any of you purchased any games for the 3DS yet?

[Rolina]

I'd do more in mii plaza... but...

REALLY?  Even in my own game, I'm a damsel in distress!  FML!

[MaxiPower]

theres a hidden RPG in the system itself, i remember reading that

[Atrius (He/Him)]

That's the game Role's talking about.  Basically your Mii gets captured, and you collect other people's Mii's as adventurers through Streetpass to rescue it.