E3 2010: Nintendo 3DS Hands-On Preview
Post by Steve Farrelly @ 03:07pm 24/06/10 | Comments
AusGamers played with a number of tech demos on the show floor at E3 on Nintendo's new 3DS hand-help. Read on for our full thoughts...
By now you know there's serious buzz about the place regarding Nintendo's next hand-held offering. A lot of people are also in puzzlement given they only just released an update to the DS in the form of the DSiXL, but make no mistake, the DS suffix for 3DS doesn't *really* mean this is simply the next lo-def, old-console throwback in portable form - this is the future of gaming, shrunk down, affordable, portable and awesome.
When the system was first revealed, no one believed they could do it. Ideas like lenticular lens, stereoscopy, autostereoscopy and more were thrown around, or people assuming Nintendo had travelled to the future and stolen technology for their own ends and come back in time for E3.
We're not specifically sure about the screen tech (autostereoscopy seems the likely candidate though), but we can tell you it works. On the day Nintendo unveiled the system, I lined up for almost half an hour to get a two-minute glimpse at it, and it was tethered, rather aggressively, to a Nintendo booth babe, but no amount of busty chest thrust in my face would take my eyes away from a gaming revolution. Naked-eye 3D. No glasses. Completely interactive and at a resolution that made the visuals on the hand-held look comparable to GameCube (and that system had some amazingly stand-out games in the visual department).
Later I learnt Nintendo had actually been experimenting with 3D with GameCube hardware to great success, but knew the consumer would not be ready to adopt the price of it, or television requirements at the time, so they sat on the tech and refined it, waiting for the moment to strike. Then along comes Avatar.
"What was great luck for us was that the movie Avatar became a big hit a year after we decided to work on the 3DS," Iwata said in an interview with Venture Beat. "The TV manufacturers also decided to make 3D a big part of their newest TVs, just as we were preparing to launch at E3. It was great luck because two years ago, when we made the decision, it was just impossible to predict these things. Looking back, all of our work paid off. You have trial and error. But we were able to track the progress and predict when the technology would be mature."
What's more astounding was the sheer amount of systems they had on the show floor (still tethered to buxom beauties), but that none of this design is final. Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aim has said they [Nintendo] were "gauging the response" from show attendees which included the likes of analysts, retail and media. Personally I wasn't a big fan of the dual-coloured blue/black number, but I did play with a pure glossy black number at Nintendo's booth, and as far as I can see, that one doesn't need to change at all.
There were a number of demos on the show-floor, none of which included anything *fully* playable (a few had basic control options). There was interaction available, but a lot of the time this was basically applied to camera-controls, but at the very least it meant that everything we were looking at was running off the hardware in real-time.
Stand-outs included the lengthy Kid Icarus: Uprising gameplay video you could watch in 3D. This was the first one I checked out and it definitely offered one of the best examples of how the viewing technology could applied to videogames. Pit's flying immediately lends itself to immersion, but elements such as dodging lasers that appear to leap out of the screen at you, or the swipe of a scythe from a boss ultimately pulled you into the action. Equally, sweeping camera movements as we follow pit soaring high and low; through caverns twisting caverns and above sprawling fields - offered hints at a gameplay experience like no other.
Resident Evil: Revelations on the other hand, proved the machine had some serious processing power hidden in its flat make-up. Chris Redfield finds himself captive aboard an ominous ship at sea. The dark, moody atmosphere lent itself perfectly to the Resi we've grown to love, while the 3D sparked a sense of dread unknown in the series before. We also saw the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart and Paper Mario running on the hardware, but it would be Solid Snake who would ultimately grab my attention.
Like so many of the other tech demos on the floor, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D - The Naked Sample, was essentially a roving, interactive tech video, but of all the demos it presented the most promise. You start the demo in the first-person, prone and crawling through grass. Blades brush by your face, while the surround sound fills your ears and senses with a forest orchestra. Twigs snap under your weight and the whole thing - from the moment the camera crawls forward - is seen from your desired head movements. The new 3DS analogue button gives you free control of where Snake looks, while the system itself guides you through detailed, crisp grass and forest debris.
As it gets more dense, a snake darts down from a rotting log hissing in your face - its tongue is so close you swear you could grab it. Avoiding a nasty bite, the rails move forward as butterflies begin to fill your periphery. There's no depth-of-field effect here, they hover and flutter about in true 3D you could swear they were really there. A crocodile basking in the sun reveals itself ever so slowly. It brushes past you as if you weren't there, scales coming right up against the side of your face. The sensation is remarkable, and it's furthered all the more for the stunning graphical display.
A tree comes into view before our AI-controlled Snake realises he's been spotted. Arrows fly from high in the canopy and land inches from your face. As they do so, dust kicks up onto the screen and into your eyes. The sensation here is a heart-pounding one, and even more reason to want to cut the 3DS off Nintendo's booth babe and make a run for it.
The peripherally-annoying dust slowly wears away as the iconic Snake makes his way to a familiar wooden bridge. There's a chopper buzzing around, and beyond the 3D, the system's sound is really helping to engage all of my senses. Eventually Snake moves onto the bridge and the demo prompts me to use the camera control to move my view of events around our protagonist a full 360 degrees, which when you do reveals just how incredible this 3D stuff in your hands, and naked to the eye, really is. The rest of demo involves wasps, Snake hanging precariously off the bridge while the chopper - and its deadly blades - hover just below (and under) you and a "Thank You" for playing the Naked Sample.
Honestly, it was breathtaking and exhilarating all at once. We had a quick look at "How to Train your Dragon" in naked 3D, which was money, and all the other demos we checked out continued to reiterate the basics - this machine is going to change hand-held gaming in a massive way. For the more hardcore of you out there, we have some official specs and info to follow, as well as a list of confirmed games thus far, but in the week since E3 ended, the industry resonance is that every publisher is basically on board for this baby, and with a tentative March 2011 cut off for "absolutely will be released" it's time to start saving again.
Basic Specs
Size (when closed): Approximately 5.3 inches wide, 2.9 inches long, 0.8 inches tall.
Weight: Approximately 8 ounces (226 grams).
Top Screen: 3.53-inch widescreen LCD display, enabling 3D view without the need for special glasses; with 800x240 pixel resolution (400 pixels are allocated for each eye to enable 3D viewing).
Touch Screen: 3.02-inch LCD with 320x240 pixel resolution with a touch screen.
Cameras: One inner camera and two outer cameras with 640x480 (0.3 Mega) pixel resolution.
Nintendo 3DS Game Card: 2 GB Max at launch.
Wireless Communication: Can communicate in the 2.4 GHz band. Multiple Nintendo 3DS systems can connect via a local wireless connection to let users communicate or enjoy competitive game play. Systems also can connect to LAN access points to access the Internet and allow people to enjoy games with others. Will support IEEE 802.11 with enhanced security (WPA/WPA2). Nintendo 3DS hardware is designed so that even when not in use, it can automatically exchange data with other Nintendo 3DS systems or receive data via the Internet while in sleep mode.
Game Controls: Touch screen, embedded microphone, A/B/X/Y face buttons, + Control Pad, L/R buttons, Start and Select buttons, "Slide Pad" that allows 360-degree analog input, one inner camera, two outer cameras, motion sensor and a gyro sensor.
Other Input Controls: 3D Depth Slider to adjust level of 3D effect (can be scaled back or turned off completely depending on the preference of the user), Home button to call system function, Wireless switch to turn off wireless communications (even during gameplay), Power button. The telescoping stylus is approximately 4 inches when fully
extended.
Input/Output: A port that accepts both Nintendo 3DS game cards and game cards for the Nintendo DS™ family of systems, an SD memory card slot, an AC adapter connector, a charging cradle terminal and a stereo headphone output jack.
Sound: Stereo speakers positioned to the left and right of the top screen.
Battery: Lithium ion battery details TBA.
Games Officially in Development
Nintendo:
When the system was first revealed, no one believed they could do it. Ideas like lenticular lens, stereoscopy, autostereoscopy and more were thrown around, or people assuming Nintendo had travelled to the future and stolen technology for their own ends and come back in time for E3.
We're not specifically sure about the screen tech (autostereoscopy seems the likely candidate though), but we can tell you it works. On the day Nintendo unveiled the system, I lined up for almost half an hour to get a two-minute glimpse at it, and it was tethered, rather aggressively, to a Nintendo booth babe, but no amount of busty chest thrust in my face would take my eyes away from a gaming revolution. Naked-eye 3D. No glasses. Completely interactive and at a resolution that made the visuals on the hand-held look comparable to GameCube (and that system had some amazingly stand-out games in the visual department).
Later I learnt Nintendo had actually been experimenting with 3D with GameCube hardware to great success, but knew the consumer would not be ready to adopt the price of it, or television requirements at the time, so they sat on the tech and refined it, waiting for the moment to strike. Then along comes Avatar.
"What was great luck for us was that the movie Avatar became a big hit a year after we decided to work on the 3DS," Iwata said in an interview with Venture Beat. "The TV manufacturers also decided to make 3D a big part of their newest TVs, just as we were preparing to launch at E3. It was great luck because two years ago, when we made the decision, it was just impossible to predict these things. Looking back, all of our work paid off. You have trial and error. But we were able to track the progress and predict when the technology would be mature."
What's more astounding was the sheer amount of systems they had on the show floor (still tethered to buxom beauties), but that none of this design is final. Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aim has said they [Nintendo] were "gauging the response" from show attendees which included the likes of analysts, retail and media. Personally I wasn't a big fan of the dual-coloured blue/black number, but I did play with a pure glossy black number at Nintendo's booth, and as far as I can see, that one doesn't need to change at all.
There were a number of demos on the show-floor, none of which included anything *fully* playable (a few had basic control options). There was interaction available, but a lot of the time this was basically applied to camera-controls, but at the very least it meant that everything we were looking at was running off the hardware in real-time.
Stand-outs included the lengthy Kid Icarus: Uprising gameplay video you could watch in 3D. This was the first one I checked out and it definitely offered one of the best examples of how the viewing technology could applied to videogames. Pit's flying immediately lends itself to immersion, but elements such as dodging lasers that appear to leap out of the screen at you, or the swipe of a scythe from a boss ultimately pulled you into the action. Equally, sweeping camera movements as we follow pit soaring high and low; through caverns twisting caverns and above sprawling fields - offered hints at a gameplay experience like no other.
Resident Evil: Revelations on the other hand, proved the machine had some serious processing power hidden in its flat make-up. Chris Redfield finds himself captive aboard an ominous ship at sea. The dark, moody atmosphere lent itself perfectly to the Resi we've grown to love, while the 3D sparked a sense of dread unknown in the series before. We also saw the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart and Paper Mario running on the hardware, but it would be Solid Snake who would ultimately grab my attention.
Like so many of the other tech demos on the floor, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D - The Naked Sample, was essentially a roving, interactive tech video, but of all the demos it presented the most promise. You start the demo in the first-person, prone and crawling through grass. Blades brush by your face, while the surround sound fills your ears and senses with a forest orchestra. Twigs snap under your weight and the whole thing - from the moment the camera crawls forward - is seen from your desired head movements. The new 3DS analogue button gives you free control of where Snake looks, while the system itself guides you through detailed, crisp grass and forest debris.
As it gets more dense, a snake darts down from a rotting log hissing in your face - its tongue is so close you swear you could grab it. Avoiding a nasty bite, the rails move forward as butterflies begin to fill your periphery. There's no depth-of-field effect here, they hover and flutter about in true 3D you could swear they were really there. A crocodile basking in the sun reveals itself ever so slowly. It brushes past you as if you weren't there, scales coming right up against the side of your face. The sensation is remarkable, and it's furthered all the more for the stunning graphical display.
A tree comes into view before our AI-controlled Snake realises he's been spotted. Arrows fly from high in the canopy and land inches from your face. As they do so, dust kicks up onto the screen and into your eyes. The sensation here is a heart-pounding one, and even more reason to want to cut the 3DS off Nintendo's booth babe and make a run for it.
The peripherally-annoying dust slowly wears away as the iconic Snake makes his way to a familiar wooden bridge. There's a chopper buzzing around, and beyond the 3D, the system's sound is really helping to engage all of my senses. Eventually Snake moves onto the bridge and the demo prompts me to use the camera control to move my view of events around our protagonist a full 360 degrees, which when you do reveals just how incredible this 3D stuff in your hands, and naked to the eye, really is. The rest of demo involves wasps, Snake hanging precariously off the bridge while the chopper - and its deadly blades - hover just below (and under) you and a "Thank You" for playing the Naked Sample.
Honestly, it was breathtaking and exhilarating all at once. We had a quick look at "How to Train your Dragon" in naked 3D, which was money, and all the other demos we checked out continued to reiterate the basics - this machine is going to change hand-held gaming in a massive way. For the more hardcore of you out there, we have some official specs and info to follow, as well as a list of confirmed games thus far, but in the week since E3 ended, the industry resonance is that every publisher is basically on board for this baby, and with a tentative March 2011 cut off for "absolutely will be released" it's time to start saving again.
Basic Specs
Size (when closed): Approximately 5.3 inches wide, 2.9 inches long, 0.8 inches tall.
Weight: Approximately 8 ounces (226 grams).
Top Screen: 3.53-inch widescreen LCD display, enabling 3D view without the need for special glasses; with 800x240 pixel resolution (400 pixels are allocated for each eye to enable 3D viewing).
Touch Screen: 3.02-inch LCD with 320x240 pixel resolution with a touch screen.
Cameras: One inner camera and two outer cameras with 640x480 (0.3 Mega) pixel resolution.
Nintendo 3DS Game Card: 2 GB Max at launch.
Wireless Communication: Can communicate in the 2.4 GHz band. Multiple Nintendo 3DS systems can connect via a local wireless connection to let users communicate or enjoy competitive game play. Systems also can connect to LAN access points to access the Internet and allow people to enjoy games with others. Will support IEEE 802.11 with enhanced security (WPA/WPA2). Nintendo 3DS hardware is designed so that even when not in use, it can automatically exchange data with other Nintendo 3DS systems or receive data via the Internet while in sleep mode.
Game Controls: Touch screen, embedded microphone, A/B/X/Y face buttons, + Control Pad, L/R buttons, Start and Select buttons, "Slide Pad" that allows 360-degree analog input, one inner camera, two outer cameras, motion sensor and a gyro sensor.
Other Input Controls: 3D Depth Slider to adjust level of 3D effect (can be scaled back or turned off completely depending on the preference of the user), Home button to call system function, Wireless switch to turn off wireless communications (even during gameplay), Power button. The telescoping stylus is approximately 4 inches when fully
extended.
Input/Output: A port that accepts both Nintendo 3DS game cards and game cards for the Nintendo DS™ family of systems, an SD memory card slot, an AC adapter connector, a charging cradle terminal and a stereo headphone output jack.
Sound: Stereo speakers positioned to the left and right of the top screen.
Battery: Lithium ion battery details TBA.
Games Officially in Development
Nintendo:
- nintendogs + cats
- Steel Diver
- PilotWings Resort
- Star Fox 64 3D
- Kid Icarus: Uprising
- Animal Crossing
- Mario Kart
- Paper Mario
- DJ Hero 3D
- Etrian Odyssey
- Shin Megami Tensei
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
- Resident Evil: Revelations
- Super Street Fighter IV 3D
- FIFA Soccer
- Madden NFL
- The Sims 3
- Asphalt GT
- Music game
- Bomberman franchise
- DECA SPORTS franchise
- KORORINPA franchise
- Baseball franchise
- Contra franchise
- Frogger franchise
- HIDEO KOJIMA'S METAL GEAR SOLID SNAKE EATER 3D "The Naked Sample"
- PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER franchise
- Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle (name not final)
- BloodRayne: The Shroud A Boy and His Blob
- Face Racers: Photo Finish
- Lion's Pride: Adventures on the Serengeti
- Martha Stewart
- WonderWorld Amusement Park
- BOKUJYOUMONOGATARI 3D (name not final)
- Dragon Ball franchise (name not final)
- Gundam franchise (name not final)
- PAC-MAN & GALAGA (name not final)
- RIDGE RACER (name not final)
- Super Robot franchise (name not final)
- Sonic (name not final)
- Super Monkey Ball (name not final)
- CODENAME: Chocobo Racing 3D
- DRAGON QUEST franchise
- FINAL FANTASY franchise
- KINGDOM HEARTS franchise
- Carnival Games franchise
- DEAD OR ALIVE 3D (name not final)
- DYNASTY WARRIORS (name not final)
- NINJA GAIDEN (name not final)
- SAMURAI WARRIORS 3D (name not final)
- LOVELY LISA 3D
- NARUTO SHIPPUDEN ACTION
- de Blob 2
- Kung Fu Panda Kaboom of Doom
- Marvel Super Hero Squad Infinity Gauntlet
- The Penguins of Madagascar
- Puss N Boots
- Saints Row: Drive-By
- Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy
- Battle of Giants: Dinosaur Strike
- Driver Renegade
- Hollywood 61 (name not final)
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
- Batman franchise
- LEGO franchise
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