Nintendo 3DS: The Future of Gaming Has Arrived (#e3)

Two hours and fifteen minutes.

This was how long I stood in a near stagnant line. Why did I take over two hours of my first E3 experience to take part in a massive a line crawl? To be one of the first people in the world to witness Nintendo’s unveiling of their newest handheld video game unit, the Nintendo 3DS. Boasting 3D imagery from the top screen without the assistance, as well as hindrance, of a pair of glasses, the 3DS will provide gamers and non gamers alike a new tool at their disposal. 3D gaming for the avid gamers, as well as 3D movie support for the non gamer who wants to watch a flick in a whole other way.

The journey began at 10:15am, where I decided to visit Nintendo’s massive booth of beauty and bewilderment. The plan was to hit their booth as soon as the floor opened. Unfortunately, I was sidetracked a bit. Once I got back on track, I was soon derailed by one of the longest lines man has ever witnessed. It stretched. It snaked. It broke off and became segmented. It seemed like nothing but a cruel joke. Thankfully, good company, engaging conversations and plenty of joking kept me from running to the corner of West Hall, curling up into a ball and crying my eyes out. After numerous stop and go moments, with more stopping than going, we were selected to move up to the ramp that leads to Nintendo’s 3DS display.

Only to wait twenty more minutes.

Before moving to the ramp area, I witnessed the Nintendo 3DS encased behind a glass display case. This sexy beast bears a myriad of similarities to the Nintendo DS, DSi and DSi XL. The bottom piece of the unit held a nearly identical look to it, from button placements to the size of the touch screen. Two major additions comes in the form of an analog nub where the d-pad was originally (with the d-pad relocated below the analog nub) as well as the power button appearing on the bottom right. The top screen is in a widescreen format, with the surrounding borders holding a much darker color tone than the color of the handheld its self. The camera placement remains unchanged.

On the ramp of impatience, a Nintendo representative walked down with a demo unit in hand. On this blue bombshell held a half dozen different examples of the capabilities of the Nintendo 3DS. Once my turn came up, I was filled a joy and excitement I hadn’t felt since Christmas day two decades ago. With a grin from ear to ear slapped across my face, I received my first sampling of Nintendo’s next handheld juggernaut.

The size and weight felt unchanged from the current DSi units on the market today, making for a warm and welcoming introduction. The analog nub, though much larger than the one found on the PlayStation Portable, also felt more comfortable, without that awkward skidding sensation between the bottom of the analog its self and the plastic casing around it or the mechanics below it. To the right side of the top screen is a 3D slider. This allows you to either intensify the 3D effect (if the game applicable allows for a more intensive set of 3D imagery) or completely turn off the effect, leaving you with your traditional perspective.

The visual demo within the Nintendo 3DS being carted around by the Nintendo representative immediately thrusted my eyeballs out in a similar 3D effect that I witnessed on screen. The quality and clarity was astonishing, with the analog nub allowing me to pan the camera around the image for a different perspective. Using the 3D slider to power off the 3D image left me with visuals that were Nintendo Wii quality, something previously unheard of. Sure, these could always be mock ups to further intensify the experience we are receiving, but one cannot commend the quality of the imagery enough. One rather significant change was the size of the cartridge slot, which seems nearly as large as a Virtual Boy cartridge. Oddly enough, I did not see a DS cartridge slot either, though the 3DS will reportedly be backwards compatible with Nintendo DS titles. We were told that these units were still incomplete, so they are more than likely subjected to further tweaking.

After witnessing this brief glimpse of what I was about to see up past the ramp, the line began to move. When I reached the peak of the ramp, my eyes gazed upon the most beautiful sight ever witnessed by man:

Dozens of gorgeous women, with a Nintendo 3DS within their presence. It was hard not to become hypnotized by such a bevy of beauty in the form of a sleek and sexy 3D handheld unit, as well as a sleek and sexy line up of ladies guiding you through each of the available videos and demos. Unfortunately, Nintendo did not permit direct photography of videos of the 3DS in action, so everyone will have to live vicariously through my interpretations of the technology and presentation behind the Nintendo 3DS.

My first hands-on experiment within the confides of the Nintendo’s realm of Sexytown was with a demo unit containing a video teaser of Mario Kart. Within this 90 second presentation, I was able to pan the camera around as Mario and Luigi raced each other through several different tracks, with a plethora of obstructions and power ups whistling by in full 3D form. A thoroughly strong first impression received from the 3DS unit area.

In total, there were about a dozen different demonstrations to the power of the 3DS. They ranged from a movie trailer that was in 3D (the image wasn’t as intense, and oftentimes seemed like it wasn’t even 3D, which also begs the question “what format will the 3DS be if movies will be released onto the handheld unit?) to displays that showcased the capabilities of the 3D imagery on the 3DS in a powerful fashion (the Kid Icarus 3DS video clip displayed the different gameplay portions and how they each are perceived in a 3D environment, which all looked mighty impressive). Capcom provided a Resident Evil title in a video clip form, with the ability to pause it at will, which allowed you to zoom in and out on the picture, as well as manipulate the camera to pan around slightly. The 3D imagery was too intense, leading to an almost “double vision” type blurriness, however when I adjust the 3D slider, I was able to rectify the problem. One note on the quality of the graphics themselves — they matched the quality of Resident Evil 5. Mock ups or not, the power of the Nintendo 3DS becomes more apparent with each passing demo.

There were two playable demos on display: The Sims 3 and Nintendogs. With The Sims 3, you had a chance to tinker with a create a character portion, where you could change their clothes, hair and skin color. Nothing fancy, rather underwhelming to be honest. More or less it was the lest impressive demonstration of the Nintendo 3DS in both 3D element portrayal, as well as overall visual detail.

The other playable demo at hand, Nintendogs, showed off some nifty effects that made you wish that you could reach out and pet the lovable puppy that’s reaching forward for you to pet. There were three different dogs available, with a dozen different props to toy around with. Throw on an Elvis wig with sunglasses onto you pooch, while he’ll parade around, all the while he’ll tease your emotions by coming up close to the screen. Pick up a tennis ball and toss it into the room and he’ll run after it and start to gnaw on it. You can put your face up to the camera on the 3DS and witness your puppy run up to the screen and lick you, almost smelling his doggy breath. It’s an adorable demo that does its best to test out the 3D capabilities in a cutesy manner.

My twenty minute session with Nintendo’s video vixens and vibrant video game handheld had come to an end. The Nintendo ushers point us towards the way out, as we look back at this mass of overwhelming amazement, sulking over the fact that our time has passed. The 3D imagery still fresh in our minds, we file out, with grins from ear to ear, already setting aside whatever monetary fees that will be needed in order for us to acquire a Nintendo 3DS on day one.

While the price point, final specs, media of choice and release date still remain unclear to us, the single thing that I came away with was the fact that once again, Nintendo has crafted a video game unit that will change the way we perceive gaming forever. The Nintendo DS touched upon a new method of gaming with their dual game screen, with the bottom screen being a touch screen. The Nintendo Wii unchained gamers from the world of standard controllers for gameplay, and allowed gamers to command motion into what they do in game. The Nintendo 3DS will aim to visually present the games you play in a way that’s been done before, but through a method that erases the nuisances of extra peripherals that have blinded the convenience of the gimmick. This isn’t just a matter of implementing gaming into a 3D perspective without the use of glasses; depth perception through the 3D imagery will potentially play a monumental role in how we play video games as a whole.

Whatever the price point, whatever the launch titles, whenever Nintendo releases the 3DS to the masses, one thing is for certain — the future of gaming has arrived.

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