3DS Impressions - Three Weeks of Owning a 3DS, Highs and Lows

Today, Monday, marks three full weeks of owning an Aqua Blue 3DS. I believe I've gotten a good feel for most of the components of playing and owning a 3DS. One thing I definitely haven't experienced, as a result of the 3DS games I have, is the experience of playing a game with demanding and rapid button usage, which I've heard from a few people will cause the "sweet spot" to shift out of view frequently. I can see the merit in that, but I'm not ready to dismiss or enforce the idea until I try out some kind of action oriented game.

Three weeks in; do I regret getting Aqua Blue over Cosmic Black? I don't at all, but I have yet to see a wild black 3DS so I'm not 100% on what I'm "missing". As I said in another portion of my impressions, the black all around the top screen doesn't bother me. I'm surprised at how much it doesn't even cross my mind, actually. But something that has been crossing my mind lately, to kick off the lows....

The Lows

Well, it's not -that- bad

It's really only been the past few days that I've been missing the lack of the eShop at launch.

Dead or Alive Dimensions (3DS) Officially Dated for May 24th in North America

The next entry in the Dead or Alive series has been dated for May 24th by Tecmo Koei.
Also announced was a run of 34 SpotPass exclusive costumes, so downloaded from the internet, with a run from May 24th to June 26th, and a chance to pick up any you missed from June 28th to June 31st. Sounds like a really fierce move to get people to buy the game as soon as possible.

I've been holding off on getting Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition to see what Dead or Alive Dimensions is bringing. With no extensive experience with either series, I've had a hard time deciding, but the limited time (as of now) costumes might push me toward or away from DoA: Dimensions, depending on how quickly I can determine that I want to pick one up.

Were you looking forward to the game before, or at all now that we've learned that these costumes might be forever unobtainable if you try to pick up the game later?
Source

3DS Impressions - The Screens, 3D, and Sweet Spots

At this point, I think anyone that's wanted to see the glasses free 3D screen of the 3DS has seen it, so I'll focus a bit more on some less obvious things.

But I'll start with my own experience of 3D. I don't usually use it with the 3D Depth Slider all the way up, usually at 50% to 70%, and mostly just with PilotWings Resort where I think it's valuable to the experience, and the camera functionality where it's necessary to capture a 3D photo. With the 3D Depth Slider at 0% to about 15%, I can tell that the parallax barrier is on, but I can't say that I really notice 3D, even in a game like PilotWings Resort where you can have a huge spacial distance between the closest object on screen and the farthest. I have no trouble seeing 3D, and 3D doesn't give me headaches at all, which isn't unexpected. It's always been easy for me to see "Magic Eye" 3D images and I've seen many 3D movies without headaches.

The "sweet spot," the ideal zone in which to view the 3DS' top screen's 3D is quite small. I heard many hands on reports that didn't quite agree on this; for every four that would say you only get about a centimeter to move your head left and right, there would be one that would say you have about an inch and a half. They're both right, but when you go beyond that centimeter or so range, you start noticing the parallax barrier darkening the image, but the image is still obviously 3D. As I understand the technology, having a "sweet spot" that small is the best you can do when you get the columns of pixels down to as small as they are on the 3DS. It took a few hours, but I don't have any trouble now keeping the 3DS at an angle suitable for viewing 3D. For me eyes, I can move the 3DS about a foot backwards and forwards to my face before I get distortion, so there is no adjustment with holding the 3DS at a different distance than I would with a GBA SP, DS lite, or any handheld gaming device.

One thing I didn't catch being mentioned about the 3DS' 3D screen is that the 3D actually slots up clearly at two additional angles. As you angle the 3DS, you'll see the image darken and clear multiple times; straight on, is the "sweet spot", a bit to the left is a view where your right eye sees only the image meant for your left eye, and your left eye sees only the image meant for your right eye, giving a reverse 3D image. Speaking of reverse 3D, I'm actually baffled as to why you don't get reverse 3D when you view the 3DS upside down. It seems to me like the image that was meant for your right eye would now be reaching your left eye and vise versa and the image would be 3D, but not so. Very interesting and I hope some devs take the opportunity to have games with the player (or a second player) viewing the 3DS upside down. A bit to the left of the reverse 3D is one of the other spots to view 3D, and the save for tiling to the right. Beyond that, and you begin seeing the left and right eye images with both eyes so the effect doesn' work. So this idea that you can't share the 3D with more than one person at the same time is technically very incorrect.

I touched upon it in a previous section of the impressions, but the 3DS screens have a smaller viewing angle than DS lite screens or DSi XL screens. In the end it's enough for normal playing so it's not a flaw I would name of the system, but it is something I suspect will be improved in the next iteration of the 3DS, if only to be another item on a comparison list.

On paper, the pixel resolution of the 3DS didn't get that big of a bump from the DS systems. I actually ran some numbers one night just to see what kind of percentage increase the resolution got from the Game Boy Color to Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance to DS (one screen), and now DS/DSi to 3DS (bottom screen vs. bottom screen). Like I usually do, I was scribbling out the results on an open session of PictoChat so I don't have the numbers anymore, but the bump from DS to 3DS was par for the course of Nintendo handhelds. I said that to say that in practice, the resolution difference from DS to 3DS seems bigger than ever, especially when viewed with 3D on. I've seen two or three people make the claim that the 3DS' 3D screen looks better than HD, and I have to say, that sentiment has some merits. I don't believe you can fully validate that idea, but the mental perception of each is very comparable.

Has anyone else noticed anything interesting about the screens or 3D that they feel is worth mentioning? Maybe something you noticed because of another 3DS launch title?

3DS Impressions - The Cameras

Originally there was going to be part three and a summary to the impressions, but I feel like each part might get more attention if they were shorter.


When it was first announced that the 3DS was keeping 0.3 Megapixel resolution cameras like the DSi, I, like almost everyone else immediately thought "that sucks". It was a few months later that I actually learned a thing or two about megapixels; in regards to the 3DS, 0.3 Megapixels is over thrice the resolution of the 3DS screen, and that there is such a thing as good and bad at any pixel resolution. I took any opportunity to point this out to anyone who was outright complaining about the camera resolution since they likely knew as little as I had. I was just trying to get the word out that it doesn't immediately mean bad things. A few impressions came out from people that played with 3DSes as some press events and the general term being used was "grainy". "Well, I'll see for myself soon enough" I said.

And I did see for myself. Grainy is an appropriate word. But before we get to that, a bit of an observation about how the 3DS uses the cameras. When I first used the 3DS and it's cameras, I immediately noticed that it simply wasn't capturing a sharp image. I went to the camera application, and it did render the pictures cleaner after you took them, so I just chalked it up to a downgrade in resolution to make the real-time capture faster. I tried out the face-merge feature (hilarious results every time, by the way), and it didn't strike me at the time, but the user's face on the outside camera always came up abnormally large even though I tried to hold the 3DS half-way between the two of us. Through more use I discovered what was actually going on; the image from the outside cameras is permanently zoomed at a software level when it's displayed on-screen, thus it's appears more grainy than the end image really is. It actually makes a ton of sense for the end product. The zoom means that the AR cards can go off camera a ways and the AR does not break. It lets you readjust the 3D focal-point after you take a picture, instead of permanently cropping off the right and left of the image. In the end it makes for a better user experience, and if the 3DS can only capture a video at 0.3 megapixel resolution at an acceptable level with it's current processors, then what's the point of asking for something higher?

I've included some pictures I've procured using the 3DS.

In-game screen from PilotWings Resort's handglider

My cat, in 3D! But this is 2D.....

A picture taken in AR Games

A trail I sometimes run

If there's something in particular you'd like clarified about the cameras, or just something (or an idea) you'd like me to capture with the 3DS camera, let me know in the comments and I'll answer or capture the image to the best of my ability.

My Impressions - PilotWings Resort for 3DS

Of all the games prepped for launch day, PilotWings Resort always seemed like the most risk-free purchase of the bunch. Not because I had enjoyed the series prior. Quite the opposite, I remember renting PilotWings 64 and having a hell of a time trying to control these crafts and accomplish the tasks they were throwing at me and I left it as another bad rental without giving it another thought for years and years. Then E3 2010 rolls around and among many titles and series that Nintendo revealed were coming to 3DS was PilotWings Resort. What really caught my eye is that it was set on Wuhu Island of Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit Plus. The Island Flyover mode of Wii Sports Resort had become my favorite piece of that game, so an expansion of that sounded great to me. Roll forward to February 22nd when Nintendo laid down the day-one software for perspective owners of the 3DS in the U.S., and easily PilotWings Resort still looked like the safest purchase to me. Roll forward again to a few weeks before the launch of the 3DS in the U.S.. Reviews and impressions were coming in for the final version of PilotWings Resort, and a grim detail seemed to be universally voiced; you could beat the game in about an hour and a half. It doesn't matter how you spin that number or how awesome that hour and a half is, for $40 that's a lousy deal.

For a second, I wavered on whether or not to purchase PilotWings Resort.

My 3DS Impressions, Part 2

The Logistics
I'm not sure how to describe what I mean by the included topics in this part of the impressions/early review. Other points of the hardware that don't quite fit in with Interfacing or the next part on the "experience" that is the 3DS.

AC Adapter
The lowly AC adapter. So important for enjoying the 3DS, but such a minor concern. The AC adapter has a cord about 3 inches shorter than the DS lite's charger if I'm not mistaken. Judging by multiple pictures from Google Images searches, this is the exact same AC adapter as the one that shipped with the DSi and DSi XL. This is kind of unfortunate. Not only does it have just enough bulk that it can take up three outlet slots on many power strips, but it also means that the 3DS wasn't given a cable for charging that could have given it a faster charging time and/or bigger battery. On the bright side, the non-new charging jack lets you use some accessories meant for the DSi and DSi XL.

Using the Cradle
They did add a new method of using the AC Adapter, and I think it's actually a very smart addition.

Update - 3DS Still Not Supply Constrained in My Area

I made sure to check out the day one supplies of the 3DS in my area, and there were plenty. Now, a week later there are still plenty. Just from some asymmetrical shelving arrangements, I'm guessing that a few have been sold in that week. Nintendo has reported that the 3DS was the best selling handheld launch in the U.S. in their history, but I'm not sure that really means huge numbers. It's a shame for the moment because I've only had one wild StreetPass encounter, and even that was from a GameStop employee (she had a very accurate Mii).

I'm not currently worried about the 3DS not being a success, and thus not getting great software support, personally. As seems to be Nintendo's plan, the 3DS will need to sell itself when people show it off to friends and family, which isn't going to happen instantly. It might need a few hard kicks from the likes of Mario Kart to really get that viral spreading started, like the first DS needed Nintendogs and Brain Age to start it on the path of the best selling video game console ever (has it reached that just yet?).

Pac-man & Galaga Dimensions Update - 4 Additional Games Added, Including Pacman Championship Edition, DLC

Famitsu has revealed that Pac-man & Galaga Dimensions will include Pac-man Championship Edition, Galaga Legions, the original Pac-man and the original Galaga given a 3D make-over to appear as though you're really playing them on tilted arcade cabinet screen. If you're keeping count then that means you get 6 different games in Pac-man & Galaga Dimensions. Two new 3DS games made specifically to take advantage of the 3DS, two already released re-imaginings of classic titles adapted to take advantage of the 3DS, and two absolute classics with the real cabinet presentation. Oh, and leaderboards for some or all of them (it's not made clear)!

Additionally a fact-sheet has revealed that Pac-man TILT will have two different ways to play. The first with the action on the top screen from a side-view where you tilt the 3DS like wheel to get Pac-man rolling. The second with the action on the screen from a top-down view where you tilt the 3DS like you're rolling a ball on a square tray. You'll move between the two styles using in-game warp-pipes. You'll give the 3DS a bounce to make Pac-man jump, and can activate object using the touch-screen. Galaga 3D Impact has a move where you can catch enemies with a tractor beam and launch them back at the enemy to cause a stronger attack. Both games will have online leaderboards and paid dowloadable content that has yet to be revealed.

I doubt you have any idea how happy it makes me just to get Pac-man Championship Edition, and on the go. There is no doubt in my mind about paying $40 for this package now, because this sounds like an awesome deal to me. A proper 30th anniversary celebration. I'm very curious about what DLC they plan for Pac-man TILT and Galaga 3D Impact... I'd love to see additional Bandai Namco characters integrated in some way (such as Klonoa) but Pac-man needs a ball shaped character and Galaga is in first-person and we very well don't want to be shooting at cats in sneakers!

Have these announced details made you reconsider purchasing Pac-man & Galaga Dimensions? I'd love to hear why or why not in the comments.

Famitsu source
Fact sheet source

My 3DS Impressions, Part 1

Interfacing with the 3DS
This first part of my impressions/early review will focus on one of the most important concerns of handheld system; the hardware that lets you control your games. Unlike home consoles, the controller of a handheld console is integrated around the components that take controller data and game data and use it to produce what you see on a(n also separate) television screen, so you can't buy a new controller for them if you hate a particular aspect of it.

Touchscreen
Pointing out that the 3DS doesn't have a capacitive touch-screen seems to be the basis of many arguments that Nintendo is "stuck in the past". While it's certainly true that the touch-screen isn't capacitive like so many smart-phones, it's also true that's it's easy to still use a finger to use touch-screen functions. I can't say for sure, but it seems likely that the resolution of the touch-sensitive film has increased (different thing from the pixel resolution of the LCD behind it). It may just be an old DS lite touch-screen, but the 3DS' is much more sensitive to finger use compared to that.

My Brother's Initial Thoughts on the 3DS

Since I haven't experienced all parts of the 3DS (StreetPass and experiencing coping with the battery) I thought I'd post up the thoughts of my....interestingly minded older brother. He's not as avid of a gamer as me, but he plays regularly, and pays attention to games and tech news.

Q: What do you think of the design (look) of the 3DS?
A: It's a great size, not too big, not too small. It has a good weight and feels well constructed, though the hinge should have a stronger hold (Editor's note: this concerns the hinge staying locked into it's open positions, not necessarily an issue of wobbling while in the open position). I would prefer it in a different color (red) and I'm not a fan of the tri-color scheme.

Q: Are there features or hardware you would like to have added (or removed) or improved on the 3DS?
A: No additions really but there are some things I would change. I would prefer that both screens have the same aspect ratio, even if it meant they were both 4:3, but I would prefer wide screens. I don't like the location of the power button or d-pad. I feel like I could accidentally turn it off, and I have to readjust my hand to use the d-pad. I would much rather have a rocker or two buttons for adjusting the volume. I think that it's an improvement that they moved the headphone jack to the middle and made the buttons snappier (vs. a DS lite). I love the new stylus; it feels high quality and looks nice. I also like the speakers; they seem a ton better than any of the DS' speakers (Editor's note: Neither my brother nor I have experience with the DSi).

Q: Concerning the operating system/user-interface, how easy or tough was it to navigate the menus and find features you were looking for? (Editor's note: My brother is a fan of Mac computers and owns an iPhone 4, so I was hoping to see if there were any navigation concerns from someone used to those interfaces)
A: No real trouble (Editor's note: He took a few seconds to find the Internet browser). It feels "familiar".

Q: Have you already seen or could you imagine, a way that 3D would improve your ability to play a game? What do you think of 3D in general?
A: No, between the built in software, PilotWings Resort, and Ghost Recon Shadow Wars, I don't see the potential for 3D enabling me to play games better. It's really neat and not needing glasses makes this a better experience than movie theater 3D. In general though, I see 3D as more valuable in games than movies.


If you have any questions or comments for my brother, throw them in the comment section and I'll send them his way for rebuttal.

The 3DS Came Today!!!

I'll tear my eyes away from the 3DS to give some owner's impressions. Hopefully soon. I'll see which family members I can get impressions from, and write those up as well. If you didn't see the post when I first got them, I have PilotWings Resort and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Shadow Wars, so I'll include impressions for those as I play them.

Slick Battery Life Extender You Can Use with Your 3DS, $35

Na na na na na na na na Batman!

That's right, it's a wristband battery and it comes with a connector that fits the 3DS. Specifically, it's designated as a DSi/DSi XL adapter, but it will fit in the 3DS perfectly since they use the same connector.
Coming in at $35, it's more expensive than the 3DS specific battery replacement Nyko is offering, but it will fit more gadgets, and leave your 3DS looking like it did the day you got it, if those things are important to you. The battery is rated at 1800 mAh, whereas the 3DS' battery is rated at 1300 mAh, so it's conceivable that this will at least double your play time with the 3DS while in use. If/when the battery life of the 3DS starts to bother me, then this is definitely a product I will consider buying. It has an adapter for iPhone and mini-USB among others, so depending on what you own, you could get a ton of use out of this.

If you guys were considering the Nyko battery, is this a more appealing option? I'd love to hear why or why not in the comments.

You can buy it right here.

Joy - 3DS Arrival Date Bumped Back to the 29th

Looks like Amazon came through, and my 2 day shipping is really 2 day shipping. I checked it only hours ago, and the status was still Not Yet Shipped or something similar and the arrival date still set for Wednesday (the 30th). But I just checked it and it says "Shipped" and the estimated arrival date is the 29th. That's one less day of sitting and staring at two 3DS games I can't play.

My face when (but not my face)

Buy One Get One Half-Price Sale on 3DS Games at Toys-R-Us

I hadn't heard about this deal, so I'm glad I walked into Toys-R-Us to check out 3DS supplies. Best deal I have seen for 3DS games so far. Even after tax it beats Amazon's $10 credit with a 3DS game.

I'm now the proud owner of two games that should be very entertaining:

The twins

Unfortunately, my 3DS isn't due to arrive till Tuesday. But hey, saving $23 on the 3DS, and now $15 on two games is definitely a good thing in my book.

3DS is not Supply Constrained in My Area

Not sure what the status is everywhere else, but I visited several shops and they all had 3DSes in stock. Both GameStops, Toys-R-Us, and Best Buy all had plenty. This is in complete opposition to the launch day situation for the Wii in my area. Maybe all those pre-orders helped out the situation, or maybe these 3DSes are due to disappear in the next two days. I'd like to visit the same shops again in a few days to see if there has been a significant change. On one hand, not seeing them selling through in the next week or so might suggest that either the price is too high for anyone besides those passionate/fanboyish enough to buy it at launch, or that the advertising is late or ineffective, or it might mean both are true. On the other, I'm just happy that people buying 3DSes with the plan to sell them on eBay for a profit might get screwed.

Has anyone else checked out the 3DS supplies in their area? Plenty in stock or just bare shelves where 3DSes should be? Let me know in the comments.

Rage (if True) - Bomberman 3DS, Kororinpa 3DS, and Omega Five 3DS Cancelled

As listed in the latest issue of Famitsu, a popular video game magazine in Japan, Bomberman 3DS, Kororinpa 3DS, and Omega Five 3DS (a port of an existing XBLA title) are cancelled. If you aren't aware, Konami has fully acquired Hudson now, which is likely the reason that these and other unreleased titles from Hudson are now cancelled. One of the only reasons I have any doubt about the listings is because a PS3 version of Bomberman Live is cancelled. Standard Bomberman is still a money maker, so I have no idea why Konami would throw money away like that. Otherwise, I believe it's all horribly true. When asked about it, a Konami representative said they had "no comment".

Kororinpa stands out as the biggest loss for me personally. It's easily one of my favorite new IPs of this generation. A lot of that has to do with the control, which lets you rotate the world 1:1 with the Wii remote (across two axis, and before MotionPlus). That control scheme would not work well on the 3DS, so there is the potential that the game would lose what makes it so compelling, but I'd rather see the alternative than not see anything at all. If nothing else, this makes Super Monkey Ball 3DS an easier purchase if there isn't a better (IMO) alternative down the road.

The Bomberman for 3DS looked to be a new adventure game, a style of Bomberman game that I really enjoy. They didn't show off enough of the game for me to be hugely disappointed at it's loss, but I'm definitely disappointed at the idea of the loss of something similar to the other games I enjoyed so much. Omega Five is a preexisting game, so my disappointment is simply that it's not on the 3DS.

Again, Konami hasn't confirmed or denied this, so I for one will keep close tabs on it and update again with new information.

Source

4 More Days Till the 3DS Stops Haunting My Dreams

You may or may not know that the Nintendo 3DS is releasing in 4 days in the United States. But you definitely don't know that I've had many dreams about the 3DS; more than any game, system, movie, or event in my life. It's almost bizarre to me since on a day to day basis, I'm not daydreaming about the 3DS, but the common theme in my dreams is that I'm finally viewing the 3D screen. That 3D screen that has often been described at "magical" has made it's way into my sleeping thoughts, leading to some great moments of bliss, and great moments of disappointment when I awake to find that, no, I didn't win that 3DS with 15 games.

Now personally, I'll be waiting seven days for my 3DS, despite having 2 day shipping *grumble grumble* so the 3DS will probably get a few more days of haunting in..... But some won't even need to wait 96 hours (24 hours in a day times 4 days) because of midnight launches at places like GameStop. While my pre-order isn't at GameStop, I always try to drive by my two local GameStops (don't ask me why, but they're less than two miles apart <___<) to see how long the lines are. I never expect anything like the kind of lines that get reported on television, but it always gives me a nice feeling to know that most of them love gaming that much. It seems like the weekend rain definitely has a chance to keep up through Saturday night, so I might not see anybody camped out at all (I assume they would be in their cars) but I'll still take a quick trip over.

Anyone else had a dream about having the 3DS in their hands at some point, or am I the only crazy one?

Two Games Finally Confirmed for the U.S. - The Kore Gang, Cubic Ninja

The Kore Gang has been a much longer time coming than Cubic Ninja, and has already released in Europe so if you don't remember it, I don't blame you. I don't know if I ever saw any impressions for the game, but it looked like a really solid adventure game with an incredible and unique style.

We got a few more details with the Cubic Ninja announcement, since it wasn't a silent Amazon.com listing, some new some old;
100 levels
Move your character by tilting the 3DS or with the circle pad
No stereoscopic 3D
4 unlockable abilities: shrink, shield, shuriken, and the ability to push switches from afar
Time Trial mode
Trade ghost data with friends
Survival mode
Level creation
Created levels can be converted into QR codes, other 3DSes can read the codes using their built-in cameras and load the levels

I'm personally very interested in both of these games, happy to see The Kore Gang debuting at a budget price of $30, though a bit disappointed that they didn't throw in stereoscopic 3D when they added circle pad controls to Cubic Ninja.

Kore Gang source
Cubic Ninja source

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime Sequel Coming to 3DS

Coming from the newest issue of Famitsu, a popular Japanese magazine dedicated to gaming, is the announcement of a 3DS sequel to the highly acclaimed Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime for DS.

Unlike Rocket Slime for DS, this game will be 3D which is great when paired with the stereoscopic 3D of the 3DS. The game is set on the open seas, where you can use your customizable ship for ship-to-ship battles through the single player adventure. You can also hook up with friends for 2 to 4 person multiplayer matches (not confirmed if that's local, online, or both), and there is some kind of SpotPass implementation (remember, that's hooked into the internet, not other players as in StreetPass).

I haven't played the first game, but it's something I'm still interested in picking up. I know a couple people who named it their DS game of the year for 2006, so needless to say it wasn't just journalists that loved it. If they can bring back that magic again, then this is a sure winner given the Dragon Quest branding.

Official site here (Japanese)
Source

News I Missed - Many Best Buy's Have 3DS Demo Kiosks, Right Now!

Well this a surprise. Turns out many Best Buy's all over the country have gotten demo kiosks for the 3DS in the last three days or so. I commented about how Nintendo's 3DS television commercial would be better suited to debut as close to demo units going up as possible, without knowing that demo units had in fact gone up right along side the commercial. Last I heard, GameStop wasn't getting their demo kiosks until the 25th of March, so I assumed that would be the earliest any store would get them..... I wonder if GameStop's J. Paul Raines is feeling lousy.

I decided fairly long ago that I wasn't going to visit any of the demo kiosks since I was preordering the 3DS; I'd like to keep the 3D and menus as magical as possible. But what about you guys, are you going to or have you already visited your local Best Buy to see the 3DS in person?