Nintendo 3DS To Be Released In February/March

angry tapir writes "Nintendo's 3DS, the first portable game device with 3D graphic technology, will go on sale in Japan on Feb. 26 next year. The 3DS will cost ¥25,000 (US$298), Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's president, told a packed news conference in Chiba, Japan. It will launch in Europe, Australia and the US in March." Nintendo also detailed a number of games that will launch at or near the same time, and they said the online shop would get some improvements

Not first.

[pecosdave]

The Virtual Boy was portable.

Also a friend of mine had a game that looked like a pair of binoculars far older than the Virtual Boy. It had a passive back light, meaning it was best played outside or under a lamp. It was from the late 70's or early 80's, it was akin to an LCD game though it was 3D.

Re:3DS screen on cell phone?

[sqrt(2)]

Other than being cool what does it add? What advantage does it provide over the 2D screen? Is it really just more pleasurable to use and that's it? I guess that's as good of a reason as any to want it but I have a hard time believing it's going to be all that impressive.

Re:3DS screen on cell phone?

[DrXym]

I expect it will not be long before smart phones get 3D displays. Sharp has been touting them recently at smaller sizes which suggests they're after that market. I have no issue with the concept of a 3D display as long as it toggles back to a decent 2D display and doesn't affect the screen in high sunlight and so on. A phone which expects users to exactly hold it in the horizontal at a fixed distance to see the effect is going to suck unless it has a decent display for the 99% of other times when 3D is not required.

3D is still a gimmick. I expect sooner or later someone will produce a decent 3D display that works from a wide viewing angle from any orientation. Until that time, devices that hype 3D should really be treated with a grain of salt.

re: Gimmick

[Rydia]

In response to the multitude of comments referring to 3D as a gimmick, maybe you should take a step back and realize that pretty much everything about a video game is a "gimmick." Nothing about a video game serves a useful purpose. 3D presentation? gimmick, 2D worked fine. HD graphics? Gimmick, plenty of game showed that SD could give us pretty games.

Everything about video games is a gimmick. I think what you're aiming for is "I'm not interested in this." That's fine, but not a basis for a value judgment.