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If you've heard any news from this year's E3, you'll know that some of the biggest news to come from Nintendo's press conference is their next-generation portable console, the 3DS.
Basically, it looks a lot like a Nintendo DS, but it can create glasses-free stereoscopic 3D on its top screen.
I have mixed feelings about this. The game lineup looks really good: remakes of Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64, an epic-looking Kid Icarus sequel, a new Pilotwings game, and a Paper Mario game. From the footage and screenshots revealed at E3, it looks like the graphics power and processing power has increased significantly from the DS, so the games are much prettier and much bigger than before.
On the other hand... I really dislike this 3D craze. We didn't need it in our movies, and I'm not sure we need it for our games. Of course, the biggest thing I hate about the 3D craze is the glasses. Since the 3DS doesn't need them, at least that's out of the way. Nintendo made a good call giving us a slider that can turn off the 3D effect. There's no way the 3D would work if someone is watching me play over my shoulder, which is not that uncommon. However, since it is a portable system, you probably won't move it much in respect to your head, so for a single person, the 3D might actually be more helpful than obtrusive. Miyamoto and company do bring up a good point regarding 3D gaming: it can be hard to judge distance for floating objects in a 3D world rendered on a normal 2D screen. It isn't as drastic a revolution for gameplay as the DS touchscreen or the Wii remote's motion sensors, but it does have potential for augmenting the gameplay.
It looks like there will be a downloadable-content feature like the one on the Wii, which is interesting. But more interesting is the 3D camera on the back: since there are two cameras, they can combine the images into a 3D image, and then display it on the 3D screen. I don't know how quickly the novelty of that particular feature will wear off, but at the moment it sounds really cool.
The aspect that I consider the dumbest part of the whole system is the totally unnecessary accelerometer and gyroscope. News flash: if you move the system around, you'll lose the 3D effect! You have to keep your head in a sweet spot to see the 3D and you can't have the system tilted too much, so what's the point of motion-sensing on a portable console? It's bad enough that they overuse the accelerometer on games for the the iPod Touch, where tilting the screen requires you to tilt your head if you want the display to appear upright throughout.
quote:You have to keep your head in a sweet spot to see the 3D and you can't have the system tilted too much, so what's the point of motion-sensing on a portable console?
accelerometer + gyroscope is easy enough to include, mechanically, in the device, just for any case (and there will be many) where an individual game's design wants to preference their use over the 3d effect in parts or in whole.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
So - as a Santa Clause who will be investing in some form of DS in a few months - what is your recommendation? Is the DS3 cool enough to justify buying it for a 7-year-old?
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Jun 2006
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quote:Originally posted by DDDaysh: So - as a Santa Clause who will be investing in some form of DS in a few months - what is your recommendation? Is the DS3 cool enough to justify buying it for a 7-year-old?
A seven year old is too young, but the seven year old's parents could certainly enjoy such a device.
I think the 3D is way cool, I'm not sure how I feel about it in movies, but I'd still like to pick up a 3DS and see what impression it leaves me with.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I won't buy in early on anything 3d, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it gets applied across a range of products in the coming years. I still found the one film I've seen in 3d (toy story 3) to be slightly nauseating, so I wouldn't like to be forced to use 3d, but I would of course like something like a fully 3d flat panel television screen big enough to cover a wall with no-glasses-3d perfectly clear from any viewing angle. I mean, imagine, someday things like that are going to be in houses. What will we do with them?
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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It has a new Paper Mario with pop up book graphics,remakes of starfox and OoT, a Kid Icarus shooter, and you wouldnt be forced to use e3; you can turn it off.
Posts: 1407 | Registered: Oct 2008
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quote:Originally posted by DDDaysh: So - as a Santa Clause who will be investing in some form of DS in a few months - what is your recommendation? Is the DS3 cool enough to justify buying it for a 7-year-old?
My personal experience with young kids with a DS leaves me optimistic. I have three younger cousins, the youngest of which was able to play Mario Kart (and actually finish the races!) at age three. There is a wide variety of titles on the DS that can be enjoyed by people of any age, and the 3DS promises to continue this trend.
But it really depends on the kid. I know some around-seven-year-olds that just aren't interested in video games, and some who are too interested in video games for their own good. I'll leave it at this: the 3DS looks like a worthy continuation of the original DS, which was certainly "cool enough to justify buying it," whether for a 7-year-old or anyone else.
It doesn't seem that the release date for the 3DS is announced; the closest we got to a date was the vague confirmation that it would be this fiscal year.
Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
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Perhaps the age thing is less "can they" then "should they"?
I dunno. As one who was playing Zelda at age 3 (the first one!) I am not sure. I think I grew up okay, but maybe I should have waited a little longer before tv and video games became a babysitter...
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Check out the screen for the new Paper Mario. The pop up art style is going to awesome on 3DS.
Posts: 1407 | Registered: Oct 2008
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I'd be happier about it if I hadn't bought a DSi about a year ago. But I'll admit the technology does look neat, and I'd be glad for a bump in processor power- the DS is one of the few consoles out now which I genuinely believe has been exploited, power-wise, to its limit.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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Nobody liked the idea of a console based around motion sensors until the Wii showed them how it was done. You can be sceptical about the technology, but Nintendo have clearly shown that they don't do this stuff just for the novelty of it.
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The 3D screen has interesting implications for gaming, the more I think about it.
For instance, it will likely flip around the kind of platform we'll see sidescrollers on. 2D platformers are making a comeback on the Wii, what with New Super Mario Bros and the forthcoming Kirby and Donkey Kong Country games.
But with the 3DS, 2D will (at least temporarily) be obsolete. If you want to market a console with a 3D screen, you should sell 3D games for it to play, so for the first year or two after the 3DS release, I don't expect to see many games that don't have some kind of 3D effect available. It would be like making a game for the DS that left one of the two screens completely blank (some time after the DS release, it did get more and more games that did not utilize the touch function, but the first round of games all had to slap touchscreen control on, even when it was unnecessary). So ironically, we'll be seeing more big, 3D-rendered worlds on a portable gaming console and more 2D sidescrollers on its contemporary home gaming console.
Nintendo is also pulling an unexpected move by trying to win back the "hardcore" demographic with this console. Half the first-party games announced are nostalgic remakes or sequels, with the bonus of stereoscopic 3D effects and much better graphics (the top screen on the 3DS has less resolution than a PSP, but it has powerful shaders built into the hardware, making its graphics capability perhaps even better than a Wii). I suppose this kind of makes sense. The main gimmick of the 3DS is, of course, the 3D, which isn't about "getting new people to play games" or "making it easier for the player to interact with the game," which are common Nintendo slogans, as much as "enhancing the experience," a phrase slung at the hardcore demographic.
This isn't to say that Nintendo is abandoning the casual audience. It looks to me as if they are satisfied with the growing consumer interest in casual games and intuitive controls, and are now inviting the groups that alienated themselves from the company when they started aiming to get new players from other demographics.
Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
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To be honest I'm getting tired of these "gimmick" systems.
I understand that Nintendo is catering to family gaming as well as children. I think the motion controls are annoying, and is a deciding factor in whether or not I purchase a game. If I am forced to use the WiiMote with it, I won't play it. When I play a game I want to get immersed in it. I don't want to have to worry about swinging the remote a certain way, or balancing on a board. It is fine for the WiiFit (which I use on a daily basis) but not for a Zelda game.
I picked up Monster Hunter Tri because it came with a standard remote. I don't have to wave a wand around.
The 3D craze is the same. Sometimes I think game companies think that pretty graphics and new technology are the only things gamers care about. Gameplay, story, and replayability (sp?)take a back seat to the new technology. I won't be purchasing one, just as I will not be purchasing The Playstation Move or the Microsoft Kinect.
If the next generation of game systems all use motion controls, I will probably give them up for good and play strictly PC games.
Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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While I do think gimmick games can get annoying, I think motion controls are as valid a method for user input as buttons, analog sticks, or a mouse. Game designers should be wary, however, and not stick in a new method of control just to exploit the hype around it. There are a lot of games that can benefit from motion controls (and I actually think Zelda is one of them, if it's done right), whereas others should stick to traditional buttons.
I think the beauty of the Wii Remote is that it can go either way, working well as a traditional controller or as a motion-sensor.
I have no idea how a gyroscope will benefit games on the 3DS, but I'm sure there are game developers who are at least as creative as I am that will think of something in due course. It's a guarantee, though, that there will be developers who try to stick it in for no reason.
Regarding stereoscopic 3D, it is pretty useless in most contemporary applications. There is one movie I have seen that actually used 3D to help tell a story, and that's How to Train Your Dragon. All the others were basically cash-ins on an unnecessary feature.
However, I think it might be useful in video games, because it lets the player determine the depth of floating objects, like the rings in Star Fox. It is not necessary, but it might help. That said, I haven't played a stereoscopic 3D game before, so I can't say if it really does help. At any rate, I'm glad it can be switched off on the 3DS, because there are some situations it wouldn't work well in.
You are right, Geraine, that gameplay should not take a back seat to the technology behind the game, whether it is hardware or software. That doesn't mean that new technology shouldn't be introduced.
When designing a game, the Ur-questions to ask are "will it be fun?" and "how long will it be fun?" When designing a system, the questions should be "can it/will it be used to make fun games in a new way?"
A new console should have new features that can be used in games. Otherwise, there's no reason to switch from its predecessor.
Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
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The 3D craze is the same. Sometimes I think game companies think that pretty graphics and new technology are the only things gamers care about. Gameplay, story, and replayability (sp?)take a back seat to the new technology.
The techical guys developing the tech and the people actually making the games are seperate departments, though.
As a huge fan of lightgun shooter (Metroid Prime 3 is sweet) and a fan of No More Heroes (albeit a fairly shallow game gameplaywise), I love motion controls.
I actually cant wait to sweat my ass off playing that one goalie game for kinect.
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