Louvre Museum In Paris to Discontinue Nintendo 3DS Audio Guides (nintendosoup.com) 16
The Louvre Museum will discontinue its use of Nintendo 3DS XL consoles as audio guides by September 2025, replacing them with a new system. NintendoSoup reports: For several years the Louvre has been using specially dedicated New Nintendo 3DS XL consoles to give visitors an audio guided tour of the famous museum. According to the museum's official website however, it seems that the program will be discontinued in September 2025, to be replaced by a new system.
Presumably, this is due to Nintendo slowly phasing out the Nintendo 3DS line in general, having stopped supporting repairs for the console in a few countries. The consoles used by the Louvre would have broken down sooner or later, necessitating a change if they could no longer be sent in for repairs. At the time of this writing, it is not known what will become of the unique special edition consoles that were being used for this purpose.
Presumably, this is due to Nintendo slowly phasing out the Nintendo 3DS line in general, having stopped supporting repairs for the console in a few countries. The consoles used by the Louvre would have broken down sooner or later, necessitating a change if they could no longer be sent in for repairs. At the time of this writing, it is not known what will become of the unique special edition consoles that were being used for this purpose.
Good - It's a HORRIBLY OUTDATED system (Score:4, Interesting)
Was just at the Louvre a few weeks ago and wasted a bunch of money on these stupid 3DS for the family.
These might have been state of the art at the time, but nowadays they are SO OUTDATED compared to what people expect from an app. The navigation IS HORRIBLE AND INACCURATE and it just results in a super confusing mess. You want to throw the thing in the trash after about 5 minutes.
Re: (Score:2)
I remember using them at a gallery in Tokyo long ago, and they were fine. It seems to depend on how well they are programmed, not the concept itself.
These days they mostly seem to use QR codes that lead to a web page explaining what you are looking at in whatever language your browser is set to.
Good Run (Score:4, Insightful)
For several years
Since 2012. That's a pretty good run, even by Nintendo standards.
Is 3D really beneficial? (Score:2)
The art is in 3D, except when it isn't, but you're not there to stare at a device are you? Pretty much any Android tablet has AR features now, so there's tons of hardware that can do what you would expect a museum guide device to do.
Looks like a job for the Switch 2! (Score:2)
Phone? (Score:3)
Pay to download the app to your phone (Score:2)
Saves on the hardware costs and a much higher profit margin. That's what I got in in a lot locations in Italy and Spain.
Re: (Score:2)
Why wouldn't they use a phone for this?
Because over a decade ago when they introduced this not everyone had a smartphone for every family member.
Re: (Score:2)
And there are many who still do not for various reasons.
Re:BeauHD, drooling mouthbreather (Score:4, Insightful)
Probably education-grade tablets. (Score:2)
I'm not trying to be sarcastic either, saying they'll probably go with the cheapest tablets they can that have somewhat non-sucky displays. This is actually the right market for them: this is more edutainment than pure education, but the requirements are pretty similar.
Spent days in the Louvre (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed. Also it's wise to spend the shortest possible time at the "insane crowd around the Mona Lisa" exhibit.
I can't remember what I ordered at about 9am in the Louvre cafeteria, but they served me a beer. I'm pretty sure my French isn't that bad. Anyway, quite an unexpected treat.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, there's still humans, (Score:2)
engaging, bright enthusiastic people who can usher a group of people together through the art, They used to be called docents.