Happy 3DS Day!

[Kendrik]

Sooooo... 3DS came out today. Anyone get a chance to see it yet? I think I'ma check to see if any local stores have display units. I really wanna see it in action instead of just reading reports about it.

Hefty price tag, no doubt. But it looks awesome.

 

[Tek7]

I plan on waiting until I'm employed again AND after Nintendo releases a second generation model (<3 my DS Lite and GBA SP), but I'm interested in hearing from others who can afford to purchase a 3DS on day one (or shortly thereafter) and choose to do so.

 

[Keero]

My dorm buddy picked it up today. I gotta say, the 3D tech looks impressive, especially with the AR Cards mini-game collection. He was also playing SF4 which looks great, too.

/hugs my PSP

 

[Tek7]

I'm thinking of dropping by the local Best Buy, laughing at the salespeople (They think they're PC Technicians! How cute!), chuckling at the retail price of anime (fansubs ftw), and playing the 3DS display unit.

What interests me even more than the glasses-free 3D is the impact the higher game price point and higher development cost will have on Nintendo's share of the handheld games market, if any, as it faces competition from low-cost games on iOS devices on one side and premium games on the PSP2.

The DS was (and remains) an amazingly successful handheld often overlooked by gaming "journalism" because of its tendency to focus on and praise murder simulators and roid-rage space marine killfests. (Case in point: Ghost Trick is a fantastic game and should have received much, much more attention than it did.) Nintendo's success with the DS can be attributed to a number of factors, including a lower cost of game development (which contributed to a massive library of excellent third-party titles over the course of 6 years and counting), and a comparatively lower price point for games.

It will be interesting to see if Nintendo continues to perform as well in the handheld games market.

But yes, I'm still interested to see games in 3D without glasses.

It will be a while before I'm able or willing to drop $250 on a new gaming platform. Until then, there's still a huge number of great DS titles I've yet to play through, so I'm in no rush.

EDIT: And yes, I'm aware that the DS is home to an onslaught of shovelware as well. Every successful game platform is, including the 360 and PS3. Gaming "journalism" (again, there's no such thing as games journalism) sites just prefer to focus on Wii and DS shovelware.

 

[Kendrik]

So. Uhm. Target had a display unit. I tried Pilotwings on it.

It's so cool.

I mean, it's still Pilotwings, and it doesn't seem like a gaming revolution (yet), but to see the tech actually working? Awesomeness.

It didn't really feel like 3D movies and stuff where things come out at you. Instead, it's like seeing the world extend out from you. Makes sense given the physical layout of the tech.

And did I mention it's really cool?