Nintendo let out a press release today teasing their next portable gaming system, the Nintendo 3DS (probably a working title). It’s apparently going to feature 3D gaming w/o the use of glasses.
Things I’m happy about:
- Backwards compatibility with DS and DSi. ‘Nuff said.
- I’m slightly interested in the DS online store, but don’t want to buy a DSi. They haven’t specifically stated that it’s going to be able to access the DSi store, but I’m confident it’ll be there.
- No glasses required for the 3D effects
Things I’m not excited about
- 3D gaming. I’ve been playing Chrono Trigger (both on DS and SNES9X), and the 2D atmosphere is quite fun. I love the innocent feeling of this generation of games, and even though I love my 360 (I’m nearly done w/ Assassin’s Creed 2 — AMAZING game), I don’t feel like I need a new gaming feature. There’s going to be an inevitable growth period in 3D gaming where developers try out new & different techniques, many of which are going to be ridiculous and will add no real fun to their game. Imagine the 3D effects in the Friday the 13th movies where an axe is tossed into the audience — that’s what I’m talking about.
- It’s coming out in Japan in March 2011-ish, but there’s no mention of a US release date
- Nintendo’s history with 3D gaming. Anyone remember the Virtual Boy? Oh, you don’t? I knew you didn’t.