Is the 3D in the Nintendo 3DS worth it?

[Animan]

For myself, I usually look at a game in 3D mode to see what its like, but the vast majority of the time I just turn the 3D off while actually playing the game. So far, the 3D in the games hasn't impressed me a whole lot as nothing I've played was more enjoyable or enhanced by the 3D effects being displayed. Probably Ocarina of Time was the best use of the 3D.

 

As for the video's that Nintendo releases, again I'm not very impressed as most of it is just some depth.

 

What ever happened to Nintendo's promise of releasing movies on cartridge for the 3DS? I thought for sure we'd see some 3D movie releases by now, but I'm heard or read nothing about cartridge based movies since the buildup to the launch of the system.

 

 

Mendon

 

Movies on cartridge? I don't ever remember reading about that. Source?

[+Gemintronic]

3D is a gimmick. Building a hardware or gaming device on a gimmick will lead to failure. The 3DS will rise or fall on the quality of the games.

 

See the "Virtual Boy" for details.

 

The flaw was in the all red display and headaches. I haven't heard of the 3DS having either (though some FUD about too much 3D exists). Sadly, Nintendo itself sees 3D as a fad. In all reality 3D would be the only thing to get me to purchase another locked-down console.

 

To be fair not many people have taken the 3D plunge. I happen to have a pair and have used them on Vice City and the newer Might & Magic games. It's easy to be a naysayer when one hasn't experienced owning 3D display technology.

Edited July 31, 2012 by theloon

[Pixelboy]

The way I see it, Nintendo created the 3DS because they saw the storm coming with the smartphones. They wanted to provide something (namely a 3D display) that smartphones could not. In the end, all Nintendo is really proving is how little 3D matters to most people. The 3DS cannot escape the logic of this industry: The games make the system.

[roland p]

I just saw the 3ds-xl and it looked absolutely stunning. The screen size compared to the casing is better too, the bezel is smaller.

 

Is 3d worth it? I think it's a nice effect and, from what I saw, it looks better (more natural) on the 3ds-xl. So yes, I think it is worth it.

 

I played Zelda mostly with 3d on. When I turned it off, everything looked rather flat and I had less sense of depth and distance of objects.

[Tickled_Pink]

Thanks guys! Think I'll get the XL instead.

 

JR

Good move. My daughter has owned several DS systems, ever since she stole mine from me as a 3 year old. She never has the 3D on and still uses her DSi XL because she can use her R4 card on it. That's another reason for sticking with the older machines. If you're that way inclined, nobody has yet managed to hack the 3DS successfully.

 

Having said that, she now wants the 3DS XL to add to her collection, so wife has offered to get her one for Christmas. Bit of a waste really, although we can get one for £80 if we trade in her 8 month old 3DS.

 

The only thing with the DSi I would say is that because the 3DS is harder to hack, and that the 3DS XL is due out, it will soon make more sense for developers to concentrate on 3DS only. But there's such a big back catalogue of decent games for the DSi that unless you're planning on keeping up with Nintendo's handheld game releases, it'll keep you busy for a long time.

 

 

Oh ... and as for the 3D itself - it isn't as great as some (Nintendo) like to make out. To stop the 3D effect from warping or drifting, you have to be absolutely perfect with the way you're holding the DS on some games (Mario Kart being one). It can be a bit off-putting.

[Schizophretard]

I got the 3DS for my last birthday(9/12/11). The first thing I did was play with the augmented reality card that has the question mark on it. I placed it on my parents table. It had a little mini game with targets to shoot, a hole formed in the table, and a dragon busted out of a hole on the table. I was impressed that they appeared on my parents table. I did like Roddy Piper did on They Live when he kept taking off the sun glasses to see the world as he knows it and how the world really is with the glasses on. I would look at the table through the 3DS and then look behind the 3DS to see how the table really looks. I knew that obviously what I was seeing was only on the screen but it was like I was still expecting to see the game happening on the table. I have never seen anything like that before. It wasn't just 3D. It tricked my eyes into thinking that the 3DS was a window to a game that was happening on the table. As I walked around the table, I could see the targets at different angles. I could even angle it over the hole and look "into" the table. I thought it was awesome when the dragon popped out. When he jumped out at the screen to bite it, I jumped back like I was expecting him to hit and break my 3DS.

 

For me that was definitely more than a gimmick because it did add to the game play. It put the game "outside" of the 3DS and "onto" the table. Also, I could walk around the table and angle the 3DS to aim for the targets and the dragon. It brought the game "outside" like I was playing with action figures. The 3D in the carts don't have the outside effect but still works the same. You have to turn and move around to look at everything at different angles. Instead of an outside effect it is more like looking into an aquarium, a box, or TV without a screen. To use an analogy, with the 3D off it is like watching a movie on TV and with it on it is like watching a play.

 

I wish they would do a lot more with augmented reality though. Not just with the 3DS but in general because I can tell it is a good idea and has a lot of potential. This started about an hour long conversation with a friend at work. We were imagining a future where everything is augmented reality.

 

One thing we thought of was if kids want to play G.I. Joe then they get out their G.I. Joe card collection, place the cards on the floor, put on their augmented reality glasses, and they would see their G.I. Joe action figures "alive". They could talk to them to give orders to attack, they could watch them go to war in their living room, they could watch them blow each other into plastic pieces, they could watch them shoot holes in the furniture,....

 

Another thing was augmented reality light sabers. They look like just the sabers when they aren't turned on but when you put on the glasses you could push the button and a light saber would shoot out. You could see them, hear them, watch them cut through things, watch them cut through you, when they make contact there could be vibration feedback,.... It would look, feel, and sound like a real light saber battle.

 

Another one is laser tag. You wear a vibrating suit to know when you are hit and the augmented reality glasses would make it look like real lasers blasting holes through your friends. Also, Duck Hunt goes in this category.

 

Another thing we were thinking about is just changing the way things look in general like in your house for an example. You could walk into your living room and everything would look plain. You could start changing how you want it to look. You could say,"Change that old brown couch to blue, put a TV on that wall, add a puppy, make me look 18 again,..." And when friends come over with their glasses on they can see the design.

 

We were thinking about all these potential things that could be done and we came to the conclusion that someday virtual reality, cyberspace, the Matrix,... won't be inside computers. It will all be going on outside. That would make a cool movie.

 

Anyway, my point is if playing that card with my 3DS is able to get my imagination going and make me think ,"Could this work in augmented reality?" then I would say that the 3DS is worth it. It doesn't seem like a gimmick to me. It seems like an innovation that has all kinds of potential.

[Tickled_Pink]

AR is certainly an impressive selling point. I was blown away by it when I first saw it.

 

But I do wonder just how much developers can do with it.

[AtariLeaf]

I got the 3DS for my last birthday(9/12/11). The first thing I did was play with the augmented reality card that has the question mark on it. I placed it on my parents table. It had a little mini game with targets to shoot, a hole formed in the table, and a dragon busted out of a hole on the table. I was impressed that they appeared on my parents table. I did like Roddy Piper did on They Live when he kept taking off the sun glasses to see the world as he knows it and how the world really is with the glasses on. I would look at the table through the 3DS and then look behind the 3DS to see how the table really looks. I knew that obviously what I was seeing was only on the screen but it was like I was still expecting to see the game happening on the table. I have never seen anything like that before. It wasn't just 3D. It tricked my eyes into thinking that the 3DS was a window to a game that was happening on the table. As I walked around the table, I could see the targets at different angles. I could even angle it over the hole and look "into" the table. I thought it was awesome when the dragon popped out. When he jumped out at the screen to bite it, I jumped back like I was expecting him to hit and break my 3DS.

 

 

I will admit, that does sound pretty cool.

[Schizophretard]

AR is certainly an impressive selling point. I was blown away by it when I first saw it.

 

But I do wonder just how much developers can do with it.

 

Enough to entertain me. Imagine putting a card on your coffee table and it turned into a Warlords cocktail. I don't see why they couldn't.

[onmode-ky]

Just an off-topic game recommendation: Schizophretard, I think you would enjoy Invizimals. It's a 2009 (in Europe; 2010 for North America) PSP augmented reality game, using the PSP camera accessory, with which it was available bundled. As my first augmented reality experience, it was quite an eye-opener, even as someone not normally into that type of game (it plays sort of like a real-life Pokemon). The screencap feature was a particular highlight. Europe got a pair of sequels, as well, the first of which made it to North America. If you have a PSP, I think it's definitely worth checking out.

 

onmode-ky

[Schizophretard]

Just an off-topic game recommendation: Schizophretard, I think you would enjoy Invizimals. It's a 2009 (in Europe; 2010 for North America) PSP augmented reality game, using the PSP camera accessory, with which it was available bundled. As my first augmented reality experience, it was quite an eye-opener, even as someone not normally into that type of game (it plays sort of like a real-life Pokemon). The screencap feature was a particular highlight. Europe got a pair of sequels, as well, the first of which made it to North America. If you have a PSP, I think it's definitely worth checking out.

 

onmode-ky

 

I looked up the review for that game and it looks kind of interesting.

 

I can definitely see potential for augmented reality for the 3DS. It looks exactly like what I always expected holograms to look like. The only difference is that it uses a screen. That's a limitation but it makes it exciting because holograms always seemed either impossible or they would require technology way out of our reach. Now it seems simple to me. All that would be needed is some kind of video visor with two cameras in front to view the world and on the screens the "holograms" could be added. Imagine a visor that can project images of a keyboard and screen, a visor that can be your cell phone and make the person you are talking to "appear" in the room, a visor that allows you to transmit the Super Bowl that you are at to a friend on their couch, a visor that you can lay back in you hammock and watch a huge TV in the stars, imagine a visor that makes zombies appear to be breaking into your house and you shoot them with a toy gun that the visor makes "real",... The possibilities are endless. All that is needed is to add 3DS like technology to video visors and programmers start making the software. Instead of smart phones we can have smart glasses. I'm hoping for something that looks like Sony's video visors but with augmented reality.