E3 2010 is still under way but Nintendo has already had their keynote showing off the upcoming games on the Wii, and their latest iteration of the DS console, the Nintendo 3DS. Yes, it’s finally ready to show! There are still a few glaring omissions like the actual hardware of the screen, and the processor, as well as a street date for release, or the price. But we can now actually see what it looks like.
Nintendo 3DS Launched!
There are a few things we do know now for sure. The 3DS still has the touch screen, at a 3:4 ratio and 3.02″ on the bottom, but the 3d screen is a widescreen format at 3.53″ on the diagonal and sporting a 800×240 pixel resolution. It seems like Nintendo is planning on pushing mobile 3d Movies, but we’re unclear on how they plan on delivery. We find it unlikely they’ll go with a movie cartridge delivery like PSP’s now defunct UMD. Although it will feature improved wireless. Digital delivery on the DSi’s current flakey connection would be questionable.
The wireless now supports WPA/WPA2 encryption which people have been demanding for awhile. Supposedly the 3DS will also update software automatically and make available downloadable content, as well as communicate with other 3DS’s without any user interaction. Nintendo were vague on the details or the particular usefulness of this feature. There is some speculation that it ties into their anti piracy measures for the 3DS but no details can be known for sure until developers start playing around with it after launch.
Prominent on the 3DS are two camera lenses running at an underwhelming .3 mega pixels but why two? Surprise! Your 3DS is also a 3d photographing gadget. We’ll be excited to play around with that feature upon release. As with the DSi there is also a front facing camera that can be used for head tracking if a game developer chooses to implement that particular feature.
In terms of gaming, all reports have declared the device impressive and revolutionary. There is a depth slider on the right side of the top lid where you can dynamically adjust the 3d depth effect as per your personal preference. The 3DS also sports an analog thumbpad called the “slide pad” that is sized considerably larger then the PSP version. Below is a confirmed launch list of games for the Nintendo 3DS:
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D- The Naked Sample
StarFox 64 3D
Battle of Giants: Dinosaur Strike
Nintendogs + cats
Resident Evil: Revelations
Mario Kart 3D
Paper Mario
Animal Crossing
Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracles
And a host of others that have yet to be finalized…
