E3 Nintendo 3DS

Written on July 06, 2010 by GADG

Overall, we're pretty impressed with what Nintendo had to show, both in hardware and in software.

The main thing with the system is that if you aren’t looking straight on at the screen, you’ll lose the 3D effect. There’s a slight blip in image when you cross over that plane, but it’s pretty easy to get back into the 3D range. We’d like to see what it’s like on a bumpy subway ride, but the jostles of gaming aren’t enough to knock us out too frequently. The screen itself is very high quality, and while it’s just the slightest bit brighter and cleaner with 3D turned off (that 3D depth slider comes in handy for customizing the experience) it takes nowhere near the hit in brightness that you get with 3D glasses. Our one other qualm might be the tendency of blacks to get a bit metallic at slightly off angles. Oh, and a note on our shots of the device: Nintendo fought hard to keep us from taking direct pictures of the screen, because it doesn’t photograph well at all, so if you’re concerned about the screen due to some of the shots you’ve seen, don’t be: it’s fine, possibly even great.

The bottom screen looks just like a slightly sharper DS screen, and we found ourselves not thrilled about flipping our eyes between the two screens when the top one had 3D on. Luckily, most of the gameplay didn’t require more than our peripheral vision for the lower screen.

Nintendo 3DS Features and Specs

Size (when closed):

Approximately 5.3 inches wide, 2.9 inches long, 0.8 inches tall.

Weight:

Approximately 8 ounces.

Look:

Final design is TBA.

Top Screen:

3.53-inch widescreen LCD display, enabling 3D view without the need for special glasses; with 800×240 pixel resolution (400 pixels are allocated for each eye to enable 3D viewing).

Touch Screen:

3.02-inch LCD with 320×240 pixel resolution with a touch screen.

Cameras:

One inner camera and two outer cameras with 640×480 (0.3 Mega) pixel resolution.

Pre-Installed Software:

TBA

Nintendo 3DS Game Card:

2 GB Max. at launch.

Wireless Communication:

Can communicate in the 2.4 GHz band. Multiple Nintendo 3DS systems can connect via a local wireless connection to let users communicate or enjoy competitive game play. Systems also can connect to LAN access points to access the Internet and allow people to enjoy games with others. Will support IEEE 802.11 with enhanced security (WPA/WPA2). Nintendo 3DS hardware is designed so that even when not in use, it can automatically exchange data with other Nintendo 3DS systems or receive data via the Internet while in sleep mode.

Game Controls:
Touch screen, embedded microphone, A/B/X/Y face buttons, + Control Pad, L/R buttons, Start and Select buttons, “Slide Pad” that allows 360-degree analog input, one inner camera, two outer cameras, motion sensor and a gyro sensor.

Other Input Controls:
3D Depth Slider to adjust level of 3D effect (can be scaled back or turned off completely depending on the preference of the user), Home button to call system function, Wireless switch to turn off wireless communications (even during game play), Power button. The telescoping stylus is approximately 4 inches when fully extended.

Input/Output:
A port that accepts both Nintendo 3DS game cards and game cards for the Nintendo DS™ family of systems, an SD memory card slot, an AC adapter connector, a charging cradle terminal and a stereo headphone output jack.

Sound:
Stereo speakers positioned to the left and right of the top screen.

Battery:
Lithium ion battery details TBA.

Languages:
TBA

Parental Controls:
Parental controls similar to the Nintendo DSi system will be included.

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