3DS Console Discussion

[Serebii]

The 3DS is in an interesting space, many casual gamers have moved on to smartphones so Nintendo rally need to pull something out of their sleeves to get the 3DS moving so I'm expecting Zelda and Starfox really early and Mario Kart in time for Christmas, the former will attract Nintendo's fans while MK is sure to do the business in the more casual space.

You say that, but DSs are still selling very well. The thinking "oh, if there are smartphones then people wont buy new handhelds" is an archaic and ignorant one. Seriously.

[david.dakota]

You say that, but DSs are still selling very well. The thinking "oh, if there are smartphones then people wont buy new handhelds" is an archaic and ignorant one. Seriously.

 

I'm not proclaiming the death of Nintendo here or that the 3DS will fail, but its a serious consideration for Nintendo - they've already commented that 'Apple is the enemy of the future', Apple recently sung it has more 'gaming units' than both Nintendo and Sony together; Apple - and other Smartphone manufacturers - have entered the gaming market and along with traditional paid for titles, smartphones have free games, social spaces have free games all corroding the market share. That's not to say these titles are as engaging as the offerings on dedicated platforms but for ultra casual players that's enough, quick fire, time passing material; more options for these gamers to spend their finite money on, more demands on their finite free time; its all competition for Nintendo and they're right to consider that in their 3DS plans.

 

Those gamers who purchased Dr Kawashima are unlikely to buy this kind of title for £15.00 when they can get a similar product fr a couple of quid or even free, ad supported. That audience has gone, it was a flash in the pan for Nintendo (albiet a wise, revolutionary and extremely profitable flash in the pan); the 3DS offers very little for these ultra casual players. However, the bridge titles like Professor Layton and Mario Kart are what Nintendo should maximise - and seem to be doing. That's still a sizable market for Nintendo along with us core nuts whole buy anything from the Big N.

 

It all comes down to engaging content, that's what I'm saying. And Nintendo seems to be playing the right cards - we'll find out on January 19th... But it is interesting how the 3DS will play out against new new generation of autostereoscopic phones with games, apps and - heck - even phone calls. Not to say its doomsday, its just interesting.

[Fused King]

I present to you the line-up of Nintendo World on th 8th of January, 2011 in the Makuhari Messe Convention Center just outside Tokyo.

 

Playable games:

• Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D The Naked Sample (auto demo) (Konami)

• Pro Evolution Soccer 3D (Konami)

• Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition (Capcom)

• Resident Evil Revelations (Capcom)

• Samurai Warriors Chronicle (Tecmo Koei)[/i

]• Dead or Alive Dimensions (Tecmo Koei)

• Ridge Racer 3D (Namco Bandai)

• Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (Level-5)

• Nintendogs + Cats (Nintendo)

• Kid Icarus (Nintendo)

• The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo)

• Steel Diver (Nintendo)

• Pilot Wings Resort (Nintendo)

• Augmented Reality Games (Nintendo)

• Nintendo 3DS Camera (Nintendo)

 

Games present in videos or presentations:

• Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D The Naked Sample (auto demo) (Konami)

• Pro Evolution Soccer 3D (Konami)

• Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition (Capcom)

• Resident Evil Revelations (Capcom)

• Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D (Capcom)

• Samurai Warriors Chronicle (Tecmo Koei)

• Dead or Alive Dimensions (Tecmo Koei)

• Ridge Racer 3D (Namco Bandai)

• Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (Level-5)

• Super Monkey Ball 3D (Sega)

• Kingdom Hearts 3D (Square Enix)

• Gundam The 3D Battle (Namco Bandai)

• Tales of the Abyss (Namco Bandai)

• One Piece Unlimited Cruise SP (Namco Bandai)

• Cubic Ninja (AQ Interactive)

• Puzzle Bobble 3D (Square Enix)

• Pro Baseball Famisuta 2011 (Namco Bandai)

• Animal Resort (Marvelous Entertainment)

• Xevious (Namco Bandai/Nintendo)

• 3D Beauty Clock (Bijin Tokei)

• Nintendogs + Cats (Nintendo)• Kid Icarus (Nintendo)

• The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo)• Steel Diver (Nintendo)

• Pilot Wings Resort (Nintendo)

• Star Fox 64 3D (Nintendo)

• Paper Mario (Nintendo):yay::yay::awesome:

• Animal Crossing (Nintendo)

• Mario Kart (Nintendo)

• Augmented Reality Games (Nintendo)

• Mii Plaza (Nintendo)

 

What I don't get is why it just says 'nintendo' behind Paper Mario and doesn't inculde 'Intelligent Systems' ...

 

Sweet, I got a scoop:laughing:

 

source:Andriasang/Nintendo

[killer kirby]

Paper Mario only been shown and not playable scares me that it ain't going to be a 3DS launch game

[Fused King]

Paper Mario only been shown and not playable scares me that it ain't going to be a 3DS launch game

 

One must not rush that which is Paper.

[nekunando]

I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing some impressions after the event I am, however, a little concerned for my bank balance as I am interested in the vast majority of the games present on that list, Fused King.. not least your beloved Paper Mario

[david.dakota]

That's an impressive lineup.

 

I keep forgetting about these 'augmented reality games'. I can see these micro games being rolled out in magazines and posters - gaming advertising.

[Goron_3]

You say that, but DSs are still selling very well. The thinking "oh, if there are smartphones then people wont buy new handhelds" is an archaic and ignorant one. Seriously.

 

Smartphone have only really taken off this year so 'archaic' is a pretty dumb choice of words to use.

 

Also when you consider you can buy a game like Ghost Trick on the app store for a few quid whereas the DS version will retail for £30 you can see it makes a lot of sense for some people.

 

Hell, if i had a new iPhone I would be using that for gaming loads. A lot of people only brought DS because the only other option was a PSP. You can see a lot of casual gamers will be buying games off Smartphones as opposed to buying a handheld for brain training/Layton etc. When you consider that Smartphone WILL become to norm in a few years and processing power and battery life will increase with it, you can see why something like the PlayStation phone is a good investment. Hell, I'm hoping the 3DS will be the last handheld I'll have to buy; it's annoying to have a phone, an iPod and then a DS (which i don't take out with me).

[James McGeachie]

I notice Metal Gear says "Auto-Demo". Sounds like it's the exact same thing as before where there's only camera control.

 

Good to see SSIV is playable. Suggests development on it is proceeding pretty quickly since it was only something like 15% complete or whatever last time they mentioned it.

 

Mario Kart not playable? Bah. It better be 2011.

[Arnieboy]

I don't see handhelds dying out soon.

 

The iphone may be okay for the casual gaming market, but for hardcore gamers a dedicated gaming device is needed as well as buttons.

I recently bought FF1 and 2 for my iphone and they are too annoying to play for me.

I honestly can't see Nintendo losing it's handheld market lead anytime soon, but if handhelds eventually do merge into gaming on phones entirely, i for one will be quite annoyed.

 

The way i see it is that an iphone app is a quick 10 minute time waster, whilst a handheld is something that you can take over to your mate's or on holiday with you. I can sink hours into an rpg on my ds.

[Rowan]

Great to see Pro Evo as a playable demo, interested in how that shapes up. Having grown up on Game Boys I find it difficult to play mobile phone games for much longer than a few minutes, and I reckon that feeling is shared among other people too. Therefore, I still need my dose of proper handheld gaming from time to time. I hope the price point is low enough so that I can justify a purchase, since at the end of the day not only would I be investing in the console, but also for a good number of games.

 

I hope we see a new 3D Mario on the handheld, maybe Super Mario Galaxy 3D?

[Burny]

I hope we see a new 3D Mario on the handheld, maybe Super Mario Galaxy 3D?

 

If this was actually the third installment of the series, this would be a bad word play in the title as well as an outstanding J'n'R.

Somehow Nintendo has a knack for choosing console names, that can be integrated into game titles.

 

Hell, I'm hoping the 3DS will be the last handheld I'll have to buy; it's annoying to have a phone, an iPod and then a DS (which i don't take out with me).

I can see that smartphones will make a good portion of the handheld market in the future. In terms of the device people have always on them, gaming handhelds fight a losing battle unless "street pass" brings substantial functionality. If something like the Playstation phone proves successful, it might be an even more substantial portion, as games best played with buttons can be comfortably played on such hybrid smarthpones, too. Adventure games like Monkey Island etc. and some games designed to be played with a touch screen work even better on devices without buttons.

 

Yet, there are some things about mobile consoles, that smartphones might just not be able to replace.

 

For one thing, the gaming ergonomics of smartphones are limited by the fact, that they are still phones. That means no buttons on slick phones and in case of the rumored PS phone, I'd say it looks quite clumsy due to it's design as hybrid with buttons (might be wrong here, but it seems unproportionally bulky). Proportions of such hybrid phones might be improved over time, but with a dedicated gaming device such limits aren't there in the first place.

 

What might be harder to beat is the handheld gaming market. The most successful smartphone (+ tablet) gaming platforms are the iOS devices. From what I read, Android struggles as a commercial software platform and WP7 hasn't really taken of, yet. That leaves the App store were everything from free stuff to 15 buck games can sell really well. So it's the ideal platform for indi-developers or smaller scale productions, but there are hardly any original large game productions. It's mostly fire and forget games comparable to polished flash games.

In an environment where game prices are between 30-40 bucks, much larger investments should be possible for developers.

 

And then there are Nintendo games. Where those are, there are usually gamers around, too.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Burny

[Goron_3]

I don't see handhelds dying out soon.

 

The iphone may be okay for the casual gaming market, but for hardcore gamers a dedicated gaming device is needed as well as buttons.

I recently bought FF1 and 2 for my iphone and they are too annoying to play for me.

I honestly can't see Nintendo losing it's handheld market lead anytime soon, but if handhelds eventually do merge into gaming on phones entirely, i for one will be quite annoyed.

The way i see it is that an iphone app is a quick 10 minute time waster, whilst a handheld is something that you can take over to your mate's or on holiday with you. I can sink hours into an rpg on my ds.

 

Yeah this is definately true, i've wasted countless hours on my DS (probs my most played console ever!). That said, where was most of my playing done? Indoors. Hell, the 3 castlevania games, PW, Mario Kart etc are games i played either in bed or at school during frees. I never exactly whipped out my DS waiting for the bus or in a lecture for example.

 

If this was actually the third installment of the series, this would be a bad word play in the title as well as an outstanding J'n'R.

Somehow Nintendo has a knack for choosing console names, that can be integrated into game titles.

 

 

I can see that smartphones will make a good portion of the handheld market in the future. In terms of the device people have always on them, gaming handhelds fight a losing battle unless "street pass" brings substantial functionality. If something like the Playstation phone proves successful, it might be an even more substantial portion, as games best played with buttons can be comfortably played on such hybrid smarthpones, too. Adventure games like Monkey Island etc. and some games designed to be played with a touch screen work even better on devices without buttons.

 

Yet, there are some things about mobile consoles, that smartphones might just not be able to replace.

 

For one thing, the gaming ergonomics of smartphones are limited by the fact, that they are still phones. That means no buttons on slick phones and in case of the rumored PS phone, I'd say it looks quite clumsy due to it's design as hybrid with buttons (might be wrong here, but it seems unproportionally bulky). Proportions of such hybrid phones might be improved over time, but with a dedicated gaming device such limits aren't there in the first place.

 

What might be harder to beat is the handheld gaming market. The most successful smartphone (+ tablet) gaming platforms are the iOS devices. From what I read, Android struggles as a commercial software platform and WP7 hasn't really taken of, yet. That leaves the App store were everything from free stuff to 15 buck games can sell really well. So it's the ideal platform for indi-developers or smaller scale productions, but there are hardly any original large game productions. It's mostly fire and forget games comparable to polished flash games. In an environment where game prices are between 30-40 bucks, much larger investments should be possible for developers.

 

And then there are Nintendo games. Where those are, there are usually gamers around, too.

 

You make some really good points here, would have to agree with most of them. I think the point is is that smartphones won't overtake handhelds for a LONG time but they will certainly begin to take more and more of a chunk out of the market.

 

Hell, on my phone I currently have Angry Birds, Pokemon Red, Pokemon Ruby, Oracle of Ages and Sonic 3&K. Now, I know someone who has a PS emulator fully running on their android phone and I played MGS on it, was fantastic. Only problem is ofc, lack on buttons. However, if you look at the Playstation phone, i really think it could take off, especially after a few years when it's 3rd iteration or so is out and we have phones able to churn out decent battery life with good games consistantly.

 

Yes, you might miss out on a game like OoT 3D or a full adventure like that on a smartphone but only the core gamers will really care for that. If you get a game like Nintendogs, Layton or something along that line on a phone (nothing control wise to say you cant) it'll sell loads and negate the need of having the shell out for a handheld console. My DS has provided me with Phoenix Wright (all 3 of em) and 2 Hotel Dusk games and together these 5 are the games I've played the most on the system. If they were all available for a phone (like Ghost Trick will be) then in hindsight was there really a need for me to buy a DS? Apart from maybe Mario Kart probably not. Yes i'd miss out on full adventure games but hell i've got an xbox!

[Burny]

Hell, the 3 castlevania games, PW, Mario Kart etc are games i played either in bed or at school during frees. I never exactly whipped out my DS waiting for the bus or in a lecture for example.

I've seen very few people ever playing outdoors actually, neither on a handheld nor on a smartphone. I've mostly played my DS in bed, I believe. It seems to me, that this isn't related to a specific platform.

 

If they were all available for a phone (like Ghost Trick will be) then in hindsight was there really a need for me to buy a DS? Apart from maybe Mario Kart probably not.

They were not. As were Nintendogs, Mario Kart, Pokemon (I won't count emulators (The gaming industry hasn't become what it is today by supporting emulators, and neither have emulators replaced the gaming industry, so...). Nintendo have succeeded in turning generations into gamers with their games. You might say, Nintendo "were there first" with a lot of things.

 

If I'm not mistaken, new Layton games are still exclusively developed for Nintendo handhelds? All those games made people buy Gameboys and DSs. Despite the impressive Unreal Engine and a wealth of small gems on the iPhone, I don't see any such games that make people buy iPhones to such an extent. It's rather the smartphones that make people buy the games (or not, if you're on Android ).

 

Many people will be satisfied with a bird-flinging-game and their XBoxes (or PSs) for stationary gaming, but Nintendo has made a living out of making people (not necessarily the "core") care for things that were only on their systems. And now they are first with a 3D gaming handheld and a lot of support for it.

 

It's much more interesting what they will do with online stuff, because that's were Nintendo is undeniably last with everything. That's also were Nintendo will (or won't, depending on how much they mess it up) mostly compete with smartphones. There is precious little on smartphones to replace Nintendo's large retail games.

 

 

It'll be interesting to see how this has developed in say, six years. I don't think that smartphones will "take" a large chunk of the market, but suspect they might rather "create" that chunk. I don't think that chunk will come from Nintendo's part of the market. Retail 3DS puzzle games at full price might never appear on the 3DS the way they did with the DS, as they're easily replaced by 1-buck games on smartphones, but overall it seems to me that smartphones mostly expand the mobile gaming market into new territory.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Burny

[Ronnie]

Still can't believe how impressive that line-up is.

 

Zelda OOT, Kid Icarus, Monkey Ball, Paper Mario, Lylat Wars, Mario Kart, oh and Pilotwings Resort!! As long as it's more like SNES Pilotwings and not the bloated 64 version.

[daftada]

You say that, but DSs are still selling very well. The thinking "oh, if there are smartphones then people wont buy new handhelds" is an archaic and ignorant one. Seriously.

 

I don't think Nintendo will have any trouble shifting hardware to the masses, the 3DS is going to be a huge seller just on the back of being 'the next big thing' (well that and having an awesome software lineup...)

 

But selling games to the casual market may be tougher now that apps and facebook have taken such a big chunk of the (casual) market. It's not just cash they've sapped from potential buyers, but free-time too (I've lost count of the number of hours my family have spent on farmville instead of their DS games...)

 

Whatever happens, Nintendo will still makes tonnes of money, at least until Sony, Apple and MS bring out their own 3D touch screen devices.

[Rowan]

Let's not under-estimate the idea of 3D TV and film content being on the handheld providing Nintendo get more agreements with other companies. I think so far that area hasn't been talked about much, but is another reason why the 3DS will probably sell out.

Edited December 31, 2010 by Rowan

[Tellyn]

If they can get a regular, iTunes-like system of 3D films being released for download on the 3DS at the same time as 3D Blu-Rays, I can see it steadily destroying the iPhone/iPad. However, much as I'd love to see this, I don't think Nintendo have it in them to integrate such a system.

 

Prove me wrong!

[david.dakota]

I cannot see Nintendo managing their own film library. At the most they'll be looking for a third party, say Netflix or Amazon VOD to supply the software and services.

 

I am not entirely sure portable 3D content is that much of a killer app, do people really watch films on-the-go?

[Burny]

I am not entirely sure portable 3D content is that much of a killer app, do people really watch films on-the-go?

 

Haven't seen anyone doing it so far. I certainly wouldn't watch videos on the bus, no matter what device. Even less anywhere else in public. Extended train travels might be an exception. That said, most people don't actually use their gaming handhelds on-the-go, but in bed, on vacation, at relatives etc.

 

Can't see the 3DS becoming much of a film-device either. Nintendo are unlikely to provide a good way for film distribution themselves, and for people to watch films on a 3.2(?)'' display, the 3D hype had to be enormous. At the end of the day, a larger display with higher resolution should always beat out the tiny 3D one on the 3DS for non-video game content.

 

If someone provided a good 3D video service for the 3DS, it might be a bit like games on smartphones. If it is easy to use and available anyway, people might pick it up, but it won't be the reason they buy a 3DS in the first place.

Edited December 31, 2010 by Burny

[Hero-of-Time]

Monster Hunter on the 3DS? Yes please!!!

 

Capcom's CEO Haruhiro Tsujimoto has made a statement that's rather confusing. It's quite hard to see what his intent was. Long story short, Mr. Tsujimoto was talking about the Monster Hunter series and the 3DS within the same interview, and a statement he made has people wondering if Monster Hunter is going to land on 3DS.

 

'3DS is releasing, too, so (it seems like) the time to switch to a new platform is coming'

 

Does he just mean switching game development to a new platform in general, or was this a specific comment about Monster Hunter? Either way, continued 3DS support from Capcom is a given!

 

[Diageo]

I've watched many films and played many games on buses, trains, waiting for transport and the like. Mostly though I watch episodes of whatever series I like at the time.

[Debug Mode]

Nintendo 3DS Stolen From Chinese Factory

 

A worker at a Chinese manufacturing facility claims to have smuggled out a production model of Nintendo's latest handheld. As proof, he offers these lovely photos.

 

There are no blurry, rushed shots here; instead, the guy has sat down with the console, switched it on, taken his time and given us a good look at the thing. There are even comparison shots showing the 3DS alongside other Nintendo handhelds.

 

It appears that the 3DS is on the useless side, since he can't even access a system menu let alone play anything, but hey, if it's real, it'll sure look nice on his mantelpiece for the next few months until the handheld's official release!

 

We've contacted Nintendo for comment/confirmation, and will update if we hear back.

 

Looks like it's the real deal. With less than 2 months away from it's initial launch in Japan, there's bound to be some final units flying around. Intrigued about the CTR-003 label though, I'm sure the actual hardware base units were always XXX-001? DSi is TWL-001, I'm sure the original was NTR-001 and I haven't a clue about the DS lite as I don't have one handy.

 

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Edited January 3, 2011 by Debug Mode

[darksnowman]

This guy is dead when Nintendo track him down.

[nekunando]

In all honesty, I'm not sure I'm entirely fond of the aesthetics I hope the final model is a little more pleasing on the eye..