The Next DS is Coming…in 3D!

Right now, Nintendo of America wants consumers to be solely paying attention to the recently released DSi XL, basically the DSi with bigger screens and a new pen stylus for your arthritic, farsighted grandparents with a Brain Age addiction. But for those who find the XL to be as unnecessary as the Game Boy Micro, aka anyone reading this site, there is hope. A recent, and poorly timed, press release from Nintendo of Japan has revealed the existence of the true successor to the Nintendo DS. Sometime In the next twelve months get ready to experience the Nintendo 3DS.

The only confirmed details are that the system will have 3D graphical effects without the need for special glasses, it will be backwards compatible with existing DS software and it will be fully unveiled at E3 in June. However, there are plenty of fun rumors to speculate on. The Japanese newspapers that blew the lid of the DSi features are saying the 3D will be powered by a parallax screen developed by frequent Nintendo partner, Sharp.

While not ideal for televisions, the limited viewing angle of handhelds allows this type of 3D to be feasible which is good since having to wear glasses might turn off some of 150 million DS owners who find 3D to be kind of dumb (like me). Other rumors include two touch screens, a smaller gap between the two screens, rumble, two analogs sticks, motion sensing, longer battery life and specs similar to the Gamecube thanks to nVidia’s Tegra chip. 

In Japan, there is already a DSi game that uses the internal camera to track the players head movement in order to simulate 3D. Objects appear to be inside the screen instead of popping out. Perhaps 3DS games will look similar. Just imagine staring at all 698 Pokemon for all angles in three glorious dimensions. Let’s just hope that all games are not black and red unlike Nintendo’s first foray into 3D, the spectacular, career-ending, child-blinding abomination known as the virtual boy.

- Jordan Minor

Posted by admin on 03/31 at 10:14 AM
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