Haven't posted here in years, hi to anyone who recognises me! This is a blog post I have written for my website, managed to get some hands on time with a 3DS today and am pretty impressed:
Today I got some hands on time with the new 3DS from Nintendo. Having been tipped off on Twitter that the local HMV had grabbed themselves one, I made my way to the store and asked the guy standing at the counter if they did actually have a 3DS and whether I could have a look at it.
They kindly gave me a demo of the system and some hands on time with it. Unfortunately there weren't any games for the system in sight but there were the augmented reality games that come loaded on every retail version of the system. As you can see in the picture, you place one of the six cards that are included with the 3DS on a flat surface and watch as the tabletop come to life. with the '?' box card, a series of targets appear in which you have to move the device around using the gyro and accelerometer to aim and shoot. As the HMV employee was adement, and fairly so, that the device remained tied to him, this proved awkward in parts, especially when a dragon appeared and I had to move around to avoid his attacks (the dragonnot the HMV guy!). The augmented reality games seem to be a really good way of showcasing exactly how exciting the concept of the 3DS is and shows all the interesting new features that developers can really innovate with. I can't wait to see what Nintendo and third party developers can come up with this time round, having seen some pretty original game mechanics with the DS.
As you may know, I am a skeptic when it comes to 3D. I rarely think 3D really adds that much to my movie experiences and have limited experience with 3D gaming. I personally believe that the 3D on the 3DS works just as well if not better than in theaters. The blurry mesh of the screen viewed when being held by another slowly merges to form a fantastic looking image that seems like you are looking into a window to another world. Even when the dragon moved towards the screen it really felt like it was moving toward me. I expected the 3D to work on the 3DS but not as cleanly as it did when I got my hands on it today. I felt completely comfortable with the 3D slider on full but played about with it, very easy to make little tweaks to suit your preference, which I suppose will differ from game to game, or how you are holding your 3DS. Theres a certain magic to using the 3DS for the first time, the concept of glasses less 3D sounds like something from the future, but it works so well you'll be a bit taken aback when you first use a 3DS.
Hardware wise I was also pleasantly surprised. I've knocked the design of the 3DS before, but seeing it close up, it kind of does work as a piece of hardware, and feels more sturdy than I expected. Of course the design does look very Nintendo, as in, before we turned our logo grey and tried to be Apple Nintendo. I've decided I like that. The D-pad does feel like it takes second priority to the new slider pad, so it seems that, if games use this for movement, the controls will feel a bit jaunty due to the placement when compared to the face buttons. The face buttons have a nice clicky feel to them and the slider pad is much better than the one previously seen on the PSP, mostly due to its larger size. The resolution on the top screen looks great, whereas the lower is more of the standard fare that we have seen on previous DS's. The 3D cameras at the back really seem to work well in creating 3D images. I placed my hand in front of the lenses (like the guy in a rather stupid looking press shot) and I'm not going to lie it looked good, I now understand why the guy was doing it...
I'm under the impression that Nintendo have done it again. Created a console that will become a top seller to gamers and the casual market alike. I didn't get much time with the system today, but enough for most of the concerns I had to be squashed. I still think it can be a little jarring switching focus between screens as it always takes a second or so to really focus in on the 3D but that seems to be the only problem I can currently find with the system which otherwise left me very impressed. There is a slight concern to the portability of Nintendo's new handheld for example, playing the AR game on a bus just wouldn't be possible and if you are being bumped about the 3D effect may suffer. Then again both these obstacles aren't too much of an issue, especially as the 3D effect can be switched off. It seems evident that Nintendo know that it's handhelds are played as much at home as they are on the road and the 3DS supports experiences for both.
Personally, I can't wait to spend more time with the 3DS, look out for more news in the coming weeks.
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