The Nintendo 3DS Thread

K1LLSW1TCH · 11 Jan 2011 at 16:46

So with the release of the Nintendo 3DS being only a few months away I thought we should have a thread with a little information on the system and the games which have been confirmed so far. I've tried to make sure that all of the information is accurate but I can't 100% guarantee everything here. There will be another conference on the 19th of January where more details will become clear, including the European release date.

The price has been announced to be 25,000 Yen with the U.S and European prices to be announced in 8 days time. There's loads of features to still be announced but I'll wait till closer to the time and just update this post instead of commenting on all of the speculation. It will be backward compatible with Nintendo DS games but not GBA games though Nintendo have plans to release older games as paid for downloads.

Firstly the technical specs and a few images:

Code:

[list]
[*]Weight: 230g (DS Lite weighs 218g and the original DS 274g) 

[*]Dimensions: 130x74x20 mm (slightly smaller than the DS Lite which is 133 × 749 × 22 mm)
 
[*]Screen: 3.53 inch top screen screen and 3.02 inch touch screen screen

[*]Battery Life: TBA however figures of 3.5 hours per charge have been 
mentioned, though this does not explain various conditions ie brightness, 3D effect turned on or off etc

[*]Stylus: 100mm Telescoping stylus

[*]Controls: A, B, X, Y, R, L, Dpad, Analogue nub (Circle Pad), Touch screen, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Start, Select, Home, Power, Camera, Volume control and 3D level adjustment
 
[*]Cartridges: Up to 2 GB

[*]Storage: Internal TBA but ships with 2GB SD Card 

[*]RAM: TBA 

[*]CPU: TBA

[*]GPU: DMP Pica200 IP core 

[*]Camera: 1 internal with resolution of 640 x 480 (0.3 Mega) and 2 external with 640 x 480 (0.3 Mega) capable of taking 3D photos
[/list]

Now onto the games, and there's a lot of great franchise games that have been announced so far:

Nintendo
Animal Crossing
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Mario Kart
Nintendogs + Cats
Paper Mario
Pilotwings Resort
Star Fox 64 3D
Steel Diver

Activision
DJ Hero 3D

Bplus
Vektor Tank 3D

Capcom
Resident Evil: Revelations
Super Street Fighter IV 3D

EA
FIFA Soccer
Madden NFL
The Sims 3

Firehazard Studio
Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs - The Videogame

Gameloft
Asphalt GT

Hudson
Bomberman
Deca Sports
Kororinpa

Konami
Contra
Frogger
Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D The Naked Sample

Level 5
Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle

Namco Bandai
Dragon Ball
Gundam
Pac-Man & Galaga
Ridge Racer
Super Robot Wars

SEGA
Sonic the Hedgehog
Super Monkey Ball

Square Enix
Codename: Chocobo Racing 3D
Dragon Quest
Final Fantasy
Kingdom Hearts

Take-Two
Carnival Games

Tecmo Koei
Dead or Alive Dimensions
Dynasty Warriors
Ninja Gaiden
Samurai Warriors 3D

Tomy
Naruto Shippuden Action

THQ
Kung Fu Panda: Kaboom of Doom
Marvel Super Hero Squad Infinity Gauntlet
Saints Row: Drive By

Ubisoft
Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy
Battle of Giants: Dinosaur Strike
Driver Renegade
Hollywood 61
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory

Links:

http://e3.nintendo.com/3ds/
http://www.1up.com/
http://kotaku.com/

Personally I am very excite provided it doesn't retail for a ridiculous price.

XPE · 11 Jan 2011 at 17:31

I think the 3DS looks great my only problem is if the UK launch is any thing like the Japanese launch there will be no games I want

K1LLSW1TCH · 11 Jan 2011 at 17:32

XPE said:
I think the 3DS looks great my only problem is if the UK launch is any thing like the Japanese launch there will be no games I want

I think from the list in the OP a decent ish amount (at least 10) should be available on launch. That MGS video is really impressive and I actually think it looks better than the PS2 version, I can't imagine how much better it would look with the 3D effects as well.

XPE · 11 Jan 2011 at 17:38

K1LLSW1TCH said:
I think from the list in the OP a decent ish amount (at least 10) should be available on launch. That MGS video is really impressive and I actually think it looks better than the PS2 version, I can't imagine how much better it would look with the 3D effects as well.

MGS 3 does look good but we haven’t seen any new stuff, its just the E3 stuff they keep repeating, so I think its some way off.

K1LLSW1TCH · 11 Jan 2011 at 17:40

XPE said:
MGS 3 does look good but we haven’t seen any new stuff, its just the E3 stuff they keep repeating, so I think its some way off.

Hopefully next week there'll be some new stuff shown, as well as pricing.

Haly · 11 Jan 2011 at 17:41

I'm a little wary about the battery life (low battery life is why my PSP doesn't get played as often as it deserves) but I'm hoping it's a conservative estimate.
Having played on a 3DS in the Summer though, I'm just a teensy bit excited about owning one

CliffyBiro · 11 Jan 2011 at 17:43

Kudos on the OP.

msmalls74 · 11 Jan 2011 at 17:48

Ill wait to try before i get excited around 15% of the population cant see 3d, im sometimes ok at cinemas but sometimes it doesnt work for me

I may wait for the refresh with decent battery life though and/or see what the PSP2 is like. Games do look cool even though most of the ones i like are just new version of games ive already played.

K1LLSW1TCH · 11 Jan 2011 at 17:49

Haly said:
I'm a little wary about the battery life (low battery life is why my PSP doesn't get played as often as it deserves) but I'm hoping it's a conservative estimate.
Having played on a 3DS in the Summer though, I'm just a teensy bit excited about owning one

Yeah I'm hoping that it's just a conservative estimate too, though if it turns out that 3.5 hours is the max I'll get out of it then it's not a big deal to me personally as I'll probably end up playing it indoors a lot anyway. Plus I'm sure there'll be some kind of in car charger released too.

skippi90 said:
Kudos on the OP.

Thanks dude.

XPE · 11 Jan 2011 at 18:30

its not 3.5 hours, its 3 to 5 hours. (a bit better)

I'm hoping for a half decent shop channel, while I don’t expect an apple type store, some of EA's game might be nice with dead space, mirrors edge and battlefield.

K1LLSW1TCH · 11 Jan 2011 at 18:35

XPE said:
its not 3.5 hours, its 3 to 5 hours. (a bit better)

I'm hoping for a half decent shop channel, while I don’t expect an apple type store, some of EA's game might be nice with dead space, mirrors edge and battlefield.

Ah yeah I just remembered, the 3.5 hours was the estimated charging time, or so I've read anyway.

Metalface Mark · 11 Jan 2011 at 18:35

I think 3-5 hours is pretty poor for a handheld, the caveat being if you can take extra batteries which im guessing you wont be able to. If this is the case, id probably wait until the second generation with better battery life and lower pricing.

Its nice to get a proper new console release, its been what 4 years or so since any new tech.

CliffyBiro · 11 Jan 2011 at 19:12

I'll get one the moment they get a Pokemon game on it.

K1LLSW1TCH · 11 Jan 2011 at 20:07

skippi90 said:
I'll get one the moment they get a Pokemon game on it.

Nintendo gave the Pokemon company special access to the hardware or something, 3D remakes would be welcome.

Vonhelmet · 11 Jan 2011 at 20:09

msmalls74 said:
Ill wait to try before i get excited around 15% of the population cant see 3d, im sometimes ok at cinemas but sometimes it doesnt work for me

It's not like the 3D images at the cinema. The key point is that it requires no glasses. It uses something called a parallax barrier, which is something that sits in front of the screen and has special slits in it so that each eye sees something different. Your brain then pieces it together. According to Wikipedia the tech's main limitation is that you need to know quite precisely where the viewer is, but with a handheld console you have a pretty good idea of how far away they will be from the screen, and you know they'll be looking head on, so it should work well.

K1LLSW1TCH · 11 Jan 2011 at 20:21

To those who are going to wait until the second revision apart from possible better battery life what else are you expecting? Slightly bigger screen perhaps but so far we don't know for certain how long the battery lasts and it isn't as if this will be like the original DS when that launched. Just wondering, it's not a criticism.

R088ieS86 · 11 Jan 2011 at 20:24

3DS + SSF4, which is supposed to be a luch title, will be my choice.

XPE said:
I'm hoping for a half decent shop

You would have thought that most of the SNES/NES imports they did for the wii should be playable on the 3DS - hope they bring back unirally!

The Running Man · 11 Jan 2011 at 20:31

Want! Looks great. I will definitely get one.

rp2000 · 11 Jan 2011 at 20:38

K1LLSW1TCH said:
To those who are going to wait until the second revision apart from possible better battery life what else are you expecting? Slightly bigger screen perhaps but so far we don't know for certain how long the battery lasts and it isn't as if this will be like the original DS when that launched. Just wondering, it's not a criticism.

I think a bigger screen (assuming you mean the 3D screen) would be a hinderence. I would be surprised if revision 2 of the device had a bigger screen and a better battery (as the larger screen would sap more power).

I think someone mentioned it in a handheld thread recently, that the battery life is the most important thing for a handheld console. The fact this has 1/3 - 1/2 the capacity of a DS is not a good thing, especially as it is at the expense of a gimmicky feature, like 3D. i think 6 hours + is the minimum for a handheld (I think even the PSP manages that!!), Hopefully the 3-5 hours estimate is with wifi-off, else it could be worse! I think I also read that you will get some sort of free docking station to charge it, which will only add to the cost of the unit.

Personally, I am going to wait for a newer revision with a better battery and also some better info on what using this thing for extended periods would do for your eyes etc. I am sure I recall reading there is going to be health warnings regarding how long you can use this at a time etc.

Having said all of that a 3D MGS, Sonic, SF4, Starfox, Ridge Racer is very intriguing, can't wait to try these out in the shops. Also, if they make this a competitive price, it could fall into impulse purchase territory, but considering the DSi XL has an RRP of £160, I doubt that will happen. £150 and I would probably ditch my concerns and buy a 3DS on impulse (It would have to have a demo cart as well, showing off games in 3D).

rp2000

Bigpops · 11 Jan 2011 at 20:47

My mate has played one and prattles on about it all too often. He says it's awesome and is waiting for the pre-orders to open.

I haven't touched my DS in about a year, so I'll probably give it a miss.

PS. He works for a developer btw, which is how he's had his hands on it.

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The Nintendo 3DS Thread