Nintendo Announces 3D Successor of Nintendo DS

An anonymous reader writes "Nintendo has posted a press release (PDF) titled 'Launch of New Portable Game Machine,' promoting a new, upcoming handheld game console temporarily named the 'Nintendo 3DS,' which will feature 3D graphics without the need for any sort of special glasses. It will be backward-compatible with DS and DSi games." An article at Kotaku speculates on how the 3D tech will work. The launch window is vague — sometime between April 2010 and March 2011. More details will be revealed at E3 in June.

Homebrew has drawbacks

[tepples]

Nintendo and Apple have been fighting homebrew on their respective platforms in at least two ways:

• The platform requires all code to be digitally signed. If homebrewers find an exploit, the platform owner can push out a firmware patch. Then it can deny users of old firmware access to online gaming and Wii Shop/DSi Shop/App Store. In Nintendo's case, it can also put the new firmware on new disc or cartridge games and show the updater instead of the game's title screen.
• Nintendo can encourage authorized developers to do background checks so that they don't hire anybody who has been recently active in homebrew. Apple has already been revoking the credentials of developers that rank high in the jailbreak scene.

Fad

[pegasustonans]

I hope this 3D fad is over soon. It's just another excuse to distract people with eye-candy instead of creating something more compelling.

When will it end?

[soupforare]

I was hoping 3D would kind of peter out in a couple years but it's getting ridiculous.
As a man-child who hates change, the Nintendo handhelds have been the last bastion of sprite-based gaming for me. As a cyclops who doesn't see in 3D anyway, I have no interest in the gimmick. Don't you do this to me Nintendo! :(

Closed platform

[tepples]

Don't make another gimmicky console overflowing with copious amounts of shovelware.

Nintendo doesn't release shovelware, except possibly the WarioWare franchise which is a well-executed satire of shovelware. As for third-party shovelware, the developer criteria are already significantly more restrictive than those for iPhone. If Nintendo does anything to rein in third parties' shovelware, it will draw criticism that its platform is too closed and that there is no way for a third party to make money from the platform.

And no, first-party shouldn't be the sole source of quality games.

You can't have it both ways.

Re:Head tracking

[Whalou]

That sounds like what Apple patented in 2008: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/12/apple-patents-automated-3d-point-of-view-displays-more.ars [arstechnica.com]

Re:3D is overrated

[proxima]

That's more than likely a function of your age, not the intrinsic fun of the game. Many people seem to have an age where video game enjoyment is at a peak. Afterwards we're nostalgic for the fun we had at the time. There seems to be similar effects with some genres of movie (especially sci-fi) and music.

Re:Head tracking

[Cicada7]

Oh Apple, you and your patents. Use it or lose it!

Re:Head tracking

[DarKnyht]

Here is an article that has an embedded YouTube video of the 3D game from Japan http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/03/with-the-nintendo-dsi-xl.ars [arstechnica.com]. Looks interesting.

However, I do not think it is enough for me to buy yet another DS product.

Like Walt Disney's Kill Bill?

[tepples]

Nintendo doesn't appreciate online gaming enough and is still too stuck on maintaining its "Disney clean" image.

Then Nintendo could do something that Disney did long ago to maintain its "Disney clean" image: release edgier stuff through subsidiary labels like Touchstone and Miramax.

You need a DSi and a DS Lite to run HB on DSi

[tepples]

It's hard to start homebrew on a DSi. In order to start a program even in DS mode, you have to first dump a licensed DS game using a DS or DS Lite and then copy that to your DSi-compatible homebrew card so that it will pull the equivalent of a PS1 swap trick when the DSi tries to check the digital signature. DSi homebrew, on the other hand, requires one of several specific DSi Game Cards with a hacked save, much like Twilight Hack and Indiana Pwns on Wii or the 007 Agent Under Fire and MechAssault exploits on the original Xbox, except 1. you need a DS or DS Lite and a normal DS homebrew card to write the save using something like RAC, and 2. the maximum size of an app is tiny because they haven't yet figured out how to load a .elf from the SD card.

Head Tracking tech demo

[Yuioup]

I wonder if it's going to look like the tech demo shown in this Youtube video:
Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the WiiRemote [youtube.com]
Y

Re:Head tracking

[Tacvek]

I think Kotaku's speculation may well be wrong. There is a technology to do 3d without special glasses. Unfortunately it sucks. The technology is based on lenticular lenses.

But that is the only known way (of which I am aware) to do stereographic 3d without glasses on something that is remotely like a standard display.

Re:Virtual Boy 2?

[brkello]

I don't know, have they really done anything all that original with Mario lately? Just feels like sequel after sequel. It actually seems a bit lazy to me since they just reuse the same characters for everything. They drive cars, play tennis, beat the crap out of each other, etc. Just seems like an excuse for Nintendo not to do anything interesting as far as developing new characters.

Yeah, I grew up with Mario, but it is hard for me to get excited about him at this point. Nintendo needs to innovate a little more as far as its characters go.

Re:Virtual Boy 2?

[Idiomatick]

Like what?

The innovative GUI was bought. Innovation of the PDA wasn't innovative, there were many others. Innovative mp3 player was 'bigger hdd'.

Likewise, their innovative 1 button mouse is stupid. Their innovative integration of screen and computer is stupid. Their innovative drm is evil, and based on veridisk drm. Their TV sucked, pipin sucked.

The apple II was a good idea though. Props to steve Woz in 1977. Looks like pretty much every time they have innovated they've sucked horribly at it. So could you give some examples of Apple innovation? I'd be interested to hear. I'm not trolling, I'm just trying to lower the distortion field.

Re:Betting against Nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought the power glove was just a gimmick and would never catch on, but it changed gaming as we know it.
I thought the virtual boy was silly and just for headaches, but it went on to be the best selling console ever made.

Nintendo Is Like Other Japanese Tech Companies

[EXTomar]

Nintendo survived the N64/Gamecube era stuff, which is something Sega didn't, due to their strong hand hold market position. GBA and Pokemon carried Nintendo through some dark times.

Nintendo isn't fault less. Like other Japanese tech companies they tend to make wild, custom built technology that may fly or crash. Conveniently forgetting stuff like Virtual Boy or the weak "successes" provided by Nintendo by Disk System, N64 and GameCube to praise their recent success is kind of naivety. In particular, a big thing that will ruin the 3Ds is the price tag or increased software production costs.

Parallax barrier

[TheSync]

Gizmodo [gizmodo.com] says "The Japanese publication Asahi is claiming it'll use one of Sharp's parallax barrier LCDs."

Parallax barrier have been used in cell phones before, although recently people have been getting excited about the 3M system that uses frame-sequential alternating directional light emission (such as in the viewfinder of the Fuji FinePix Real 3D).