Jul 29, 2011

The Bad News:

The Battery life:I know this point has been talked about ad nauseam, but I can distinctly remember several situations in which death by boredom was at my very doorstep only to dig desperately into my bag, searching for something to ease the pain. When suddenly I feel the cool sleek curves of my true sanity saver, and thrust my tightly clutched DS LITE above my visage. The world comes sharply into focus, a shining halo surrounds my prize, and the Legend of Zelda Triforce chime echoes in my head. Abruptly a dark thought creeps into the corner of my mind, “oh no, how long has this been in here?”  I cautiously ask myself. “When was the last time this was charged”? I shudder. As I gingerly slide the power to on I think to myself, “Come on…Come on… please be charged…what game is even in here? Oh, New Super Mario Brothers PLEASE PLEASE”, the cries resounding in my brain.  “Half a battery!!!! A WINNER IS ME”! Yeah this might not happen so much anymore, I mean read that stat one more time only 3 to 5 hours full brightness and 3D rendering.

Here are some comparisons:

Device	Screen size	Total Size	Battery Life	Weight
3DS	3.53″	134.0 X 74 X 21mm	3-5 hours (3D) 1300 mAh	230g
DSi XL	4.2″	161.0 X 91.4 X 21.2mm	13-17 hours 1050 mAh	314g
DSi	3.25″	137.0 X 74.9 X 18.9mm	9-14 hours 840 mAh	214g
DS Lite	3.0″	133.0 X 73.9 X 21.5mm	15-19 hours 1000 mAh	218g
DS Phat	3.0″	149 X 84.7 X 28.9mm	10-14 hours 850 mAh	300g

 

It’s not all bad news, the screen is gorgeous. Images are crisp and clear clear. This machine’s processing power is rendering images on par with the GameCube!

Mixed feelings:

The 3D effect: The screen technology is what puts this in the mixed feeling category. They will tout that it’s 3D WITH NO GLASSES!!! They don’t tell you that in practice, it’s 3D with no glasses that if not held in the exact right position leads to eye strain, ghost images, and wanting to turn the effect either down or off. Sometimes you’re not in a place that makes holding the 3DS just right which for me lead to neck strain, and arm fatigue. Don’t get me wrong when it’s right, and you can hold it right, boy  is it sooooooo right. (You will not believe how much 3D adds to the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It’s freaking gorgeous on this machine). In some ways I think Nintendo kind of drank their own Kool-Aid a bit on the 3D stuff. For example, the other day I heard they were going to put a Starfox game on the system. Which is going to utalise revloutnary 3D effects and the entirety of the tools the 3DS can bring to bear including motion controls. I ask you how are you supposed to use motion controls that tilt along the x/y axis AND keep your head in the right position to view the 3D?

What they Knocked out of the park:

Let me just say this the Nintendo 3DS has a holy shit moment packed inside its tiny little body, several in fact. It’s the moment when you realize the full potential of the device if used correctly. You see the 3DS comes packaged with some fun little mini-games already inside. These mini-games are both fun and an amazing tech demo showing off the full potential of this baby. The best part is there is more than one packed into the device! I won’t spoil them all, but I will let the device speak for itself in the below video (Skip to 2:30 if you want to get right to it):

Miscellaneous:

It’s clear that Nintendo also wants this to be a social device. Two things they have added in this regard are Street Pass and traveling Mii’s. The 3DS is designed to be closed in stand-by mode and taken along with you (so much so that when you hold down the power button it asks you if you really want to turn the device off). If you pass certain Wi-Fi hotspots or other 3DS’s various things are designed to happen either in games you play or on the machine itself. Since the systems haven’t been out that long and I don’t frequently traffic areas with youth (that my parole officer knows of) I can’t really comment on their efficacy or fun. Suffice it to say those things are on the device and they are sometimes used to play a game or augment a game experience.

Final thoughts:

Oh 3DS you rascally little scamp…I could never stay mad at you for long. Because, for as many things that are wrong with you, there are just so many that are right, and quite a few that will blow your mind. I’ll hear your argument that, “Nintendo has forsaken the hardcore gamer” till the cows come home and honestly I totally understand why you feel that way. However, (IMHO) there has always been something special about a company whose mission seems to be, to not just make games and platforms, but to engineer fun. To care more about the entire experience of living with a Nintendo Product. The 3DS is no different in this regard.  This machine is engineered to be an experience.

To buy or not to buy? That is the question.

EDIT: I am immediately downgrading this to a don’t buy. Nintendo announced at the Tokyo Games Show major changes to the platform. A link to an article that sums up my feelings about this news can be found here.

If you’re an early adopter then let me ask you a question? Do you want a handheld device that can render games on the level of the last generation of Home consoles? A device that has several holy shit moments, and a very large wow factor that you can show off to your friends? Hell yeah you do!  Then go for it because this device is all those things and a bag of crispy applewood smoked bacon.

However, if it’s not the right time for a new toy in your life then wait for the inevitable and (most likely) vastly improved second version that will come out in a year, and you will be a happy camper. The other reason for this is software support. At of the time of this writing there is only 1 game (and believe me I have played many of them) that is worth it and that is Ocarina of Time

Edit: P.S. Want 3D movies like Avatar on the go? Nintendo recently announced 3D Netflix Streaming.

Edit: ANOTHER P.S. for you Early and Non-Early Adopters alike…Nintendo has announced a serious price drop for the 3DS. $190 effective August 11. If you’re already an early adopter besides feeling really stupid. The news is not all bad, Nintendo will be offering 20 free downloadable games to everyone who owns a 3DS and uses it to connect to Nintendo’s eShop at least once before 11:59pm on August 11. However, the 20 games are all virtual console titles, and break down as 10 NES and 10 GBA releases. Thank God I took advantage of that GameStop DS lite trade in deal. With all the games and the DS I traded in I only ended up paying about $160 for a 3DS and 2 3DS Games!

 

Nintendo 3DS Stats:

Sensors

Input interface pads, motion sensors, gyro sensors, microphone, cameras

Wireless / WiFi
Bidirectional data for wireless gaming
WEP, WPA and WPA2 support
IEEE802.11b / g compatible
Internet Browser (available as built-in software)

Camera
Inside Camera AND Outside Camera resolution: 640 × 480 (0.3 megapixels)
Lens focal length / image sensor: CMOS / Effective pixels: 300,000 pixels

Product Dimensions
Horizontal length 134mm × 74mm × thickness 21mm (when folded)
Weight: 235g / grams (this includes a SD card and stylus + battery)

Top Screen
Wide LCD Auto-stereoscopic function (16.7 million colors)
3.53″ (76.8mm × side length 46.08mm)
800 dots horizontal × 240 vertical dots (three-dimensional can be assigned for each of 400 x 800 dots)

Bottom Screen
LCD, touch input capabilities (16.7 million colors available)
3.02″ Type (horizontal length 61.44mm × 46.08mm) / 320 dots horizontal × 240 vertical dots

Battery Life
There are a lot of settings that can effect your total battery life for this. Turning the 3D on/off or messing with brightness or WiFi can very much effect how things go.

Minimum: 3 hours 30 minute / 3.5 hours
Average: 5 hours
Maximum: 8 hours

Here’s one more table comparing additional features across the Nintendo DS (Phat), Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo DSi, and Nintendo DSi LL / XL:

Feature	DS (Phat)	DS Lite	DSi	DSi XL	3DS
Screen Size	3″	3″	3.2″	4.2″	3.53″
Special Stylus	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Built-in Games	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Wide Viewing Angle	No	No	No	Yes	No
Cameras	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Web Browser	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
SD Memory Card Slot	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Demo Download	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Music Playback	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Internal Storage	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
DSi Shop	No	No	Yes	Yes	eShop
Sleek Design	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
GBA Compatible	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Weight	300g	218g	214g	314g	230g
Battery Life (hours)	10-14	15-19	9-14	13-17	3-5 (3D) 5-8 (no 3D)