I just got out of Nintendo's Media Summit where I played Nintendo's 3DS for the first time. I've been gaming on handhelds for pretty much 20 years now, and this is the first time in a long time I said "holy crap" after experiencing a portal system. Nintendo's keeping much about the system under wraps, but I got a chance to hold the system and play around with timed demos to check out the stereoscopic 3D display and how it could affect gaming as we know it.
First of all, the system itself is a natural evolution of the Nintendo DSi system. It feels nice in the hands. It has a large analog stick for the left thumb that slides in circular fashion – far superior than any of the options Sony's offered on its PSP system.
But it's the 3D display. Holy crap.
It's even more beautiful in motion.
Trust me, you really have to see this thing in person to understand why I'm incredibly impressed. Nintendo is using an LCD technology that sends each eye an independent image that the brain merges together, and the effect adds depth. A lot of depth. The effect is immediately obvious, yet seems so natural. And there are multiple sweet spots, so you don't have to awkwardly hold the system in a position that doesn't feel comfortable. If you twist the system you'll get double images and lose the 3D, but it's simple to keep the stereoscopic effect within view.
The first system I played had the trailer for Legends of the Guardians, the upcoming owl movie from Warner Bros. I've seen this played in front of Alice in Wonderland, in 3D, and the depth effect on the 3DS screen is just as pronounced as the RealD version I saw in theaters. The same can be said for the How to Train Your Dragon and Disney's Tangled: fantastic video quality and excellent 3D depth.
But, you know, these aren't running in realtime. I want to see how actual games can use the 3D depth. And I want to see how powerful the 3DS hardware actually is.
Nintendo has a demo that runs through static 3D models of Mario, Zelda, Yoshi, and Pikmin, where you can use the analog slider to rotate the camera. The detail on these models are very, very slick, with tons of lighting effects and detailed textures. And the 3D effect works fantastically.
Snake's 3DS debut looks superb.
The Kid Icarus Uprising trailer shown at the company's press conference was being played on a 3DS. Once again, it wasn't realtime but it's using in-game assets. And it at least showed how the 3D depth can apply to some of the action sequences like Pit zooming through tunnels and across spacious environments. It's a stunning effect, absolutely.
Nintendogs and Cats is also playable in a basic form. To retain the 3D effect, players interact with a silhouette of the dog on the lower screen. The upper screen shows the puppy all cute and adorable (and with some detailed fur texturing). When you toss the tennis ball to him, he really looks like he hops off into the distance, and when he delivers it, he really does come out of the screen in a nifty effect.
The Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater demo is an absolutely fantastic showcase of the 3DS system's capability. It's interactive in the sense that players can rotate the camera all around the action, but it's all being played out by the system. It looked pretty much as good as the PS2 version of the game, with some pretty spectacular 3D effects.
There's more to the 3DS demos which I'll get to later. ButI can't overlook the 3D camera on the thing: you can see a realtime video feed of the cameras in 3D, and take a still photo…and then tweak the 3D effect using the analog slider. Though you can't do anything else with the photos (yet), this part of the system could be a fantastic way of showing off holiday snaps.
More later, I promise. I'm off to the Nintendo booth for more hands-on play.
