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.

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.

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 Idea of the Perfect Downloadable Games Store

I really only got to thinking about this because of a fairly negligible portion of the most recent episode of Podcast Unlocked, the newest podcast from IGN.com all about Xbox 360 news, games, and happenings, that promises to record weekly (instead of triannually). A large portion of the episode was about the members of the podcast discussing what they expect from the next Xbox, as well as what they would prefer out of the next Xbox, and one of the questions was about what they would like to see from the next XBLA type store. I don't remember them really speaking that much about it, but it inspired me, so my thanks to them.

Pricing
I feel a bit crazy every time I say it, but I think App Store game prices are generally too cheap. Actually I should feel crazy, because that's not really what I mean.

Article Re:"The Frustrating Fiscal Resilience of Nintendo Games"

If you don't remember how these "Article Re:" pieces work, or it's your first time seeing them, then this is me responding to another article I saw somewhere else on the internet, like I did in the other Article Re:.


Today's Article Re: is actually an article promoting one of the site users comments, so it might not fully represent the views of the staff over at Kotaku.com, but one of them thought it was worth promoting, so I think it's safe to assume someone thought this guy hit a nail on the head.

Today's article is also really short, so I don't feel it's necessary to break it up at all:

What's up with the pricing of Wii games? My family got a Wii this past Christmas, and so I've been looking to play some 1st party Nintendo games, but they're insanely overpriced. Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out three years ago and a copy of the game is an average of $45. Super Mario Galaxy, which came out about three and a half years ago, is $40. Twilight Princess, which came out four and a half years ago, is $40 dollars. I'm guessing the demand is still fairly high for these games, and so the best idea that I can come up with is that Nintendo is keeping the supply limited in order to jack up the prices, but why? These games have been out forever. Why can't they let the people who waited this long and still want a copy their game buy it without paying nearly full price? I'm a broke college student. I don't have the money to buy games new, so I usually wait until the price drops, but with Nintendo, that NEVER happens. It's quite frustrating.

Article Re:"Why Sony's PSP2 (NGP) will fail"

Thought I might try another piece idea. Commenting on another article from another site. Not necessarily always agreeing or disagreeing, but just analyzing the arguments and points being made, and giving my stance on the subject. 
 
This piece is a point-by-point response to this article over at Destructoid.com, titled "Why Sony's PSP2 will fail."


For starters, the article has a sensationalist title. Good tactic for grabbing attention, but I think it just brings about a less intelligent dialogue as some passionate supporters of the subject at hand post their knee-jerk reactions, and people who are passionately against the subject at hand post their knee-jerk reactions, at which point the groups hurl insults at each other rather than discussing anything.

The article begins with a paragraph running through the various technology in the NGP, so we'll cut to the first point of interest;

"Is Sony misinterpreting the handheld market by betting, as usual, on technological superiority?" "As a company, Sony is adept at building sleek devices laden with bleeding-edge technology. But they have proven themselves less skilled at selling the mass market on those high-tech gadgets, especially in the gaming space since the last console generation. Of course, those issues are related: filling gaming devices with the latest and greatest tech ensures that they will be prohibitively expensive at launch and for many months thereafter, which, in turn, limits the potential market to technolust-afflicted early adopters. That was how the early years of the original PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 played out, which is to be expected when you price your hardware at $249 and $499/$599, respectively."

Has the NGP Killed All Hope for 3DS First-Person Shooters?

To keep things simpler, I'm just looking to compare first person shooter games; that is, a game viewed from the first person perspective where your most frequent task is shooting, and you play as a human or humanoid figure that you have full control over. There are certainly some games that include first-person gameplay sections, such as TRON 2.0 Killer App for the Game Boy Advance, maybe you could play a third-person shooter in first-person perspective if you wanted, or something like Touch the Dead that is most definitely first-person, but fully on rails. I'm looking at the most frequent, default gameplay style. 

Video games let even her do this.

It may surprise you to know that the DS has more first person shooters than the PSP. Though, maybe not. Maybe you see the "one analog stick and it's on the wrong side" thing as a big enough hurdle for first person shooters, so it just makes sense, even if it seems like the PSP has the processing power to better accomadate the genre. Despite those considerations, it may still surprise you to know that the DS has almost twice as many first-person shooters as the PSP, and the PSP only beats out the GBA in first-person shooter count by one.

January 27th Sony Conference - My Thoughts

So late last night (for the U.S.) Sony blew the lid off of their new portable gaming machine. Codenamed the NGP (Next Generation Portable), this bad boy has a 5 inch OLED capacitive touchscreen, two "micro analog sticks", the usual array of cross, circle, triangle, square buttons, cross-pad, 2 shoulder buttons, hardware for motion and gyroscopic controls, a digital compass (for the LiveArea functions, I presume), 1 camera on the front, 1 on the back, a 5 inch touch-panel on the back, built-in microphone, Wi-Fi (n/g/b compatible), 3G, GPS, bluetooth, a slot for a flash-based cards, stereo speakers, standard 3.5mm headphone jack, and all this while promising "close to PS3" level graphics with a "target" battery life like that of the PSP 3000 (4 - 6 hours).

What's New (pussy cat)?
Not much, honestly. As far as stuff that wasn't leaked before the conference we got info about the LiveArea functionality, Near functionality, a look at the UI, and a look at some games/tech-demos. Otherwise we got a spot on list of specs, spot on info about the controls (dual analog, touch-screen, touch-panel), and a fair representation of what kind of graphics to expect before the event even happened. The confirmation is nice, but I really wish Sony could keep their secrets a secret.

Sessler Soapbox - 3DS: An Uphill Battle

Game Reviews - E3 2011

Adam Sessler is a man I respect. And usually I whole-heartedly agree with him. But here I think he fails to look ahead at the situation of the 3DS.

My Thoughts on the January 19th Nintendo 3DS Conference.

I thought it was a pretty dammin good conference. For people looking forward to the 3DS anyway. The only shame for me was that the U.S. didn't get different colors (so, Blue and Black). This whole day of news took me from "unsure if I want this immediately" to "*click**click* 'eff yeah! it's preordered!".

I was personally expecting the price to be more than $250, but less that $300 (I would have said $279.99 if I was pressed) so it was wonderful news when they announced the price. It's still expensive, but a whole $30 less than I anticipated at best, coupled with my discovery that Amazon isn't charging tax on the thing? I couldn't pass up the idea of saving about $55 bucks so I jumped at the preorder.

A single universal friend code, spend cash not points on downloadable content, price announced, release date announced, launch window lineup announced, lots of game media, lots of details about the front end menus and interface, me grabbing a preorder, transfer downloaded 3DS games from one 3DS to another, MP3 format support, SDHC (up to 32 GB) support, and a 3DS version of CRUSH? So much more than I expected out of the day and event.

If I had to pick a favorite piece of news from today.....heck, spending $55 less than I was expecting is great news. What excited you most from today? Let me know in the comments.