My Nintendo 3DS Impressions
22nd February 2011
Recently I managed to score an invite to an exclusive Nintendo 3DS Preview Event in London.
If you have any interest in the handheld you will probably already know all of the details, and I doubt that you'd be able to learn anything new from me. The event staff were more specialised in the knowledge of event planning, so it's not like I could really ask any questions myself. Regardless, I thought I'd write up my impressions of my short time with the device. At least it'll be something new to post on my website, which seems to be suffering from a lull in new content at the moment while I feverishly work on completing my own video game.
It felt a little awkward attending the event. Due to invites being given out to individuals and not parties, my group consisted of around twenty-odd people all silent and entirely on their bill.
I was more reserved in my excitement than the other attendees, letting them rush past me. After the initial rush has died down, I found an empty stand and prepared myself to play one of the less-anticipated titles. Yet surprisingly that wasn't the case! The first thing I saw on that 3D display was the opening title sequence to the Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time; Link riding Epona across a grassy hillside. My eyes didn't have to adjust, the 3D effect was instant and it worked!
I know how the 3D works and I understand how Nintendo have managed to achieve the 3D effect. Yet to see it there clear as day is really quite amazing! If I had to describe effect, I'd say it's like looking through a little window into a miniature village. Your head does have to be in a very specific position though. Tilting your head left or right causes you too see a double image. It's not so much of a problem as you normally hold the device directly in front of you anyway; but the 3D is a lot less forgiving than wearing 3D glasses (but does look a lot better).
I played around a bit with the Legend of Zelda, picking up boulders and throwing them at children; as you do. The game has been substantially overhauled visually from the N64 original while still feeling very familiar. A new addition that I discovered was the "view mode" that places you into a first person view, then using the built-in gyroscope allows you to move the console around to look at the environment. It was all very cool, but I do hope you can toggle the feature on and off to avoid awkwardness in public places.
The second game I got to play was SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV: 3D EDITION. I've never really played any of the games in the series, so I was just mashing the buttons like a newb. Of course, this would happen to be when the videographers would choose to film me. I hope that the footage never makes the light of day.
I then had a brief opportunity to play Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, barely enough time to figure out the controls. As I flailed about with the knife, which I expect is the equivalent of starting the windscreen wipers by mistake on a car; we were all told to proceed to the next room. I only got to spend a couple of minutes with the game, but I can say that Resident Evil looked lovely - possibly better than a game you'd expect to see on Wii. I can't help but feel that the 3DS makes the Wii feel a little bit redundant.
Next up was Nintendogs + Cats, the game that I'm most interested in at the moment. Holy-holy, those kittens are so adorable! Unlike the previous 3DS games that I played, the 3D effect in Nintendogs actually came forward through the screen; the little kitten had it's paws on the screen and it's wee head was poking out. D'awww! Seriously, it's the cutest thing ever!
Yay, on to more games with a "3D" suffix on the title! Super Monkey Ball 3D played a lot like previous iterations. I felt like the 3D didn't work so well with game, mainly due to how frequently the game threw spinning bananas at the screen making me lose focus.
Rabbids 3D felt like a fairly generic platform game, yet I think this was the game I spent the most time playing; the game's not without it's charm. It also gave me a feel of what the inevitable Mario game would be like, and I like it!
A few units were set up displaying non-playable software. The first was footage of Sky 3D, it was showing some kind of sport that involved kicking a ball around or something. I don't know. It didn't hold my attention for very long. The second was Mario Kart, looking very pretty running and running at a high frame rate. The third was Metal Gear Solid: The Naked Sample. This looked extremely pretty! Lastly, Animal Crossing! The 3D works really well with this game, almost like having your own little doll's house! The elongated player bodies will take some getting used to though!
The Nintendo 3DSeseses in this room weren't locked to playing a specific game, so I got the opportunity to play around with the operating system and in-built software.
The 3D camera didn't particularly wow me at first. The picture was really grainy, low quality and the 3D wasn't defined much. Maybe I'm just used to the HD camera on my iPhone 4? The photos stored in the gallery taken from the unit's previous locations looked a whole lot better though, so probably the problem was with the really dim lighting in the room.
One of my main concerns about the Nintendo 3DS is whether or not the 3D effect will make me feel sick or give me a headache. I know that the feature can be turned off, buy when you're paying so much for it I'd be reluctant too! Unfortunately on the day of the event I was coming down with a really bad cold. I already had a bad headache so I wouldn't have been able to tell if the handheld gave me a headache or not. The time I spent with the Nintendo 3DS didn't make me feel any worse if that's any consolation!
However, when I now look at my regular Nintendo DS lite it makes me feel physically sick. It seems so crude and basic in comparison, haha!
I've tried my best to be objective when writing this, but don't get me wrong; I'm really eager to own a Nintendo 3DS. The only thing would would make me more excited would be if I could actually develop games for it! In a surprising move, Nintendo have adopted the .MPO file format for saving 3D photographs. I already have my stereoscopic artwork saved in this format, so I'm really interested to know whether or not I'll be able to view my 3D photos on the screen.
Oh, and did I mention that it's shiny?!
I was more reserved in my excitement than the other attendees, letting them rush past me. After the initial rush has died down, I found an empty stand and prepared myself to play one of the less-anticipated titles. Yet surprisingly that wasn't the case! The first thing I saw on that 3D display was the opening title sequence to the Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time; Link riding Epona across a grassy hillside. My eyes didn't have to adjust, the 3D effect was instant and it worked!
I know how the 3D works and I understand how Nintendo have managed to achieve the 3D effect. Yet to see it there clear as day is really quite amazing! If I had to describe effect, I'd say it's like looking through a little window into a miniature village. Your head does have to be in a very specific position though. Tilting your head left or right causes you too see a double image. It's not so much of a problem as you normally hold the device directly in front of you anyway; but the 3D is a lot less forgiving than wearing 3D glasses (but does look a lot better).
I played around a bit with the Legend of Zelda, picking up boulders and throwing them at children; as you do. The game has been substantially overhauled visually from the N64 original while still feeling very familiar. A new addition that I discovered was the "view mode" that places you into a first person view, then using the built-in gyroscope allows you to move the console around to look at the environment. It was all very cool, but I do hope you can toggle the feature on and off to avoid awkwardness in public places.
The second game I got to play was SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV: 3D EDITION. I've never really played any of the games in the series, so I was just mashing the buttons like a newb. Of course, this would happen to be when the videographers would choose to film me. I hope that the footage never makes the light of day.
I then had a brief opportunity to play Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, barely enough time to figure out the controls. As I flailed about with the knife, which I expect is the equivalent of starting the windscreen wipers by mistake on a car; we were all told to proceed to the next room. I only got to spend a couple of minutes with the game, but I can say that Resident Evil looked lovely - possibly better than a game you'd expect to see on Wii. I can't help but feel that the 3DS makes the Wii feel a little bit redundant.
Next up was Nintendogs + Cats, the game that I'm most interested in at the moment. Holy-holy, those kittens are so adorable! Unlike the previous 3DS games that I played, the 3D effect in Nintendogs actually came forward through the screen; the little kitten had it's paws on the screen and it's wee head was poking out. D'awww! Seriously, it's the cutest thing ever!
Yay, on to more games with a "3D" suffix on the title! Super Monkey Ball 3D played a lot like previous iterations. I felt like the 3D didn't work so well with game, mainly due to how frequently the game threw spinning bananas at the screen making me lose focus.
Rabbids 3D felt like a fairly generic platform game, yet I think this was the game I spent the most time playing; the game's not without it's charm. It also gave me a feel of what the inevitable Mario game would be like, and I like it!
A few units were set up displaying non-playable software. The first was footage of Sky 3D, it was showing some kind of sport that involved kicking a ball around or something. I don't know. It didn't hold my attention for very long. The second was Mario Kart, looking very pretty running and running at a high frame rate. The third was Metal Gear Solid: The Naked Sample. This looked extremely pretty! Lastly, Animal Crossing! The 3D works really well with this game, almost like having your own little doll's house! The elongated player bodies will take some getting used to though!
The Nintendo 3DSeseses in this room weren't locked to playing a specific game, so I got the opportunity to play around with the operating system and in-built software.
The 3D camera didn't particularly wow me at first. The picture was really grainy, low quality and the 3D wasn't defined much. Maybe I'm just used to the HD camera on my iPhone 4? The photos stored in the gallery taken from the unit's previous locations looked a whole lot better though, so probably the problem was with the really dim lighting in the room.
One of my main concerns about the Nintendo 3DS is whether or not the 3D effect will make me feel sick or give me a headache. I know that the feature can be turned off, buy when you're paying so much for it I'd be reluctant too! Unfortunately on the day of the event I was coming down with a really bad cold. I already had a bad headache so I wouldn't have been able to tell if the handheld gave me a headache or not. The time I spent with the Nintendo 3DS didn't make me feel any worse if that's any consolation!
However, when I now look at my regular Nintendo DS lite it makes me feel physically sick. It seems so crude and basic in comparison, haha!
I've tried my best to be objective when writing this, but don't get me wrong; I'm really eager to own a Nintendo 3DS. The only thing would would make me more excited would be if I could actually develop games for it! In a surprising move, Nintendo have adopted the .MPO file format for saving 3D photographs. I already have my stereoscopic artwork saved in this format, so I'm really interested to know whether or not I'll be able to view my 3D photos on the screen.
Oh, and did I mention that it's shiny?!
