New Handheld: Nintendo 3DS Confirmed

[Firestorm]

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2010/100323e.pdf

- New portable hardware
- To be announced at E3
- Uses 3D
- Release before March 2011
- Backward compatible with Nintendo DS and DSi
- Prints money

Sauce: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390930

Update: English PR:

March 23, 2010

To Whom It May Concern:
Re: Launch of New Portable Game Machine

Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Minami-ward of Kyoto-city, President Satoru Iwata) will launch "Nintendo 3DS"(temp) during the fiscal year ending March 2011, on which games can be enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses.

"Nintendo 3DS"(temp) is going to be the new portable game machine to succeed "Nintendo DS series", whose cumulative consolidated sales from Nintendo amounted to 125million units as of the end of December 2009, and will include backward compatibility so that the software for Nintendo DS series, including the ones for Nintendo DSi, can also be enjoyed.

We are planning to announce additional details at E3 show, which is scheduled to be held from June 15, 2010 at Los Angeles in the U.S.

 

[Thorns]

nice find man, can't wait to see more news

 

[Firestorm]

The 3D does not require glasses. It is built into the screens.

 

[Steeler]

so basically it's going to release before or at the same time as the 5th generation of Pokemon...:| hope they move development to the 3DS

 

[Thorns]

well i said in #stark that i would prefer 5th gen to be the last big game of the ds...it would go out with a bang so to speak

 

[Firestorm]

The following are rumours:

1) Two screens, with virtually no seam between them when open
2) Screens are larger and higher resolution, but exact resolution is unknown
3) Powered by nVidia Tegra
4) Roughly as powerful as a Gamecube, and apparently similar to program for
5) Uses carts - believed to be same physical size as DS/DSi carts, only with different guts
6) Due out in 2010 in at least one territory
7) Accelerometer for motion control
​

Also, I think Pokemon will stay DS. Maybe 3DS enhancements.

 

[cim]

And I was like, a month away from getting a DSi. Awesome!

Now how do you play games in 3D, and well?

 

[Firestorm]

Well, most PC games have been 3D enabled for the past year or so, but require glasses and some pretty beefy hardware as you're rendering twice the frames. I tried Resident Evil 5 in 3D at PAX last year and it was interesting. I also saw video of Motorstorm running in 3D on the PS3 at the Sony Store which was cool. I'm iffy on 3D for games right now. It works when done right.

Here's an example of a DSiWare game that uses the built-in camera to do head tracking / 3D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWAg1s7xfz0

 

[Obsessed]

Fuck me I got a DSi only a few months ago. Hopefully Gamestop will do some trade-in deal.

 

[MrIndigo]

I don't think 3D will do much. For a start, the movies don't even use it much and it falls apart with heavy movement. Which games have a lot of.

3D gaming, 3D movies and 3D TV is all a fad.

 

[Atlas]

it just sounds like this thing is going to be virtual boy ds

 

[Havak]

I was thinking about getting a DSi XL for Christmas this year if nothing else came up, but I think I'll maybe hold out for now if we can expect it sometime in 2011.

 

[Wichu]

I'm curious as to how they're planning glasses-less 3D. I hope we won't all have to cross our eyes while playing games :P

 

[Stagnant]

Didn't GameFreak higher a 3D Model Artist? 5th gen is probably going to be on 3DS.

 

[Naxte]

Didn't GameFreak higher a 3D Model Artist? 5th gen is probably going to be on 3DS.

Doesn't seem that way--the official Japanese Pokemon site has always said "Nintendo DS" since the games were first announced. If it really was for the 3DS, it would have said "TBA" if anything, as the 3DS is not a member of the DS family--it's an actual, new platform. Plus, Game Freak only seems to have gotten the dev kits for it relatively recently, or rather just short enough ago that it's extremely doubtufl that they've had time to mess around with it and develop a pair of games on it. Pretty much, all signs just point to no on this right now.

Edit: On how the 3DS might show 3D:
http://kotaku.com/5499823/

How will the newly-announced Nintendo 3DS show 3D graphics without requiring 3D glasses? One solid theory involves cameras (but wouldn't require a new machine). Another, here, involves a motion sensor in a portable, a trick the iPhone already does. As you can see in the video, iPhone game WordFu, which we wrote about a year ago, simulates 3D with the help of the iPhone/iPod Touch's motion sensor. 3D graphics. No glasses. Exactly the effect Nintendo is now promising with the 3DS. Could a motion sensor be Nintendo's means to pull this off?
Since 2004 at least, Nintendo has been on-record about wanting a motion sensor in its portable game systems. In the past few months it's been trying to explain how its CEO was quoted in a leading Japanese newspaper about a new handheld needing to have a way to detect motion. And now, even though there is already a method — using the DSi's cameras — to show 3D graphics to players without requiring the use of glasses, it is announcing that a new DS successor, new hardware, will be the thing to bring us no-glasses 3D to portable gaming.
The motion-sensor approach would also answer many of the good questions people are now bringing up about how to do touch-screen DS gaming with graphics that appear to have 3D depth.
Nintendo has not said how the 3DS will provide glasses-free 3D. You see the theory above. It could be motion. According to Nintendo, we'll find out more by mid-June at E3.

 

[cantab]

Wow. I looked at the videos and the motion sensor trick does look really cool.

It's like you're looking into a 'box' - as opposed to being immersive or having the images 'jump out' at you. That means it will probably work better for some games than for others.

Hopefully the use of the sensors will be flexible, allowing other things than the 3d effect. For example, in a driving game, to look sideways you could simply swing the console sideways. You could even use it as a 'window' on a 360 degree virtual world - though I expect this will feel gimmicky, not least because most people don't play DS sitting on swivel chairs.

My only reservation: if games require it and it cannot be disabled, those games may play very poorly in moving vehicles. Even if you filter out high-frequency vibration, you can't do anything about acceleration, braking, or cornering registering identical to tilting the console.

'Drift' may also be an issue - given enough tilting and time, I reckon there's a good chance the position the console considers 'neutral' will change. Though using the cameras could combat that.

A loose hinge might cause trouble, making the two screens out of alignment - and that's liable to happen with normal wear and tear. It'd be a bit like how the N64 analog sticks got 'wobbly' with age - only on a £100+ console rather than a £15 controller. I think it's the sort of thing that could result in ill-feeling towards Nintendo if it's a big problem. (Obviously any company would be tempted to make a console that wears out and thus needs replacing, but it could backfire badly.)

Certainly I think this approach may be far better than the idea of using special screens that show each eye a different image - they tend to have a very narrow effective viewing angle as well as causing eye strain. And I don't think Nintendo would ever consider the crossing/diverging eyes method, as used in magic eye pictures.

 

[Firestorm]

Reports that it might use technology from Sharp:

UPDATE: More reports and analysis have emerged regarding the Nintendo 3DS since its announcement last night.

Japanese reports from the Nikkei business publication and Asahi (via Engadget) said the 3DS will achieve naked eye 3D by using a parallax barrier technique from electronics manufacturer Sharp. Some cell phones in Japan already use the technology.

The 3DS screen, according to Nikkei, would have screens smaller than four inches diagonally, making it smaller than the DSi LL, which has a 4.2 inch screen. Other features may include vibration and control sticks, but none of this has been confirmed by Nintendo.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27779/Nintendo_Announces_New_Nintendo_3DS_Portable_System.php

Nintendo has been using Sharp screens in all their handhelds afaik so this makes sense.

 

[Golden Sun]

Looks awesome. Can the graphic's stand up to PSP?

 

[Sixonesix]

it just sounds like this thing is going to be virtual boy ds

I was thinking the exact same thing.

 

[John Mellor]

This entire 3D craze is so insipid that it's making James Cameron lose his lifetime pass that he got from Terminator.

 

[Slyguy46]

I have seen actual 3D TV's, and, while they're not exactly revolutionary, I can see the technology being adapted perfectly for the DS. Seems like this is gonna be a good fit ... except that the 3DS is probably gonna have to cost an absurd amount of money, as the only 3D TV's currently being made are made BY HAND, individually created. Unless they can mass produce the tech, I imagine the price being $400+.
And yes, it prints money

 

[Firestorm]

I really hope people don't mean "Virtual Boy DS" in terms of success.

And Slyguy46, 3D TVs are not made "by hand" =/ They are mass produced and some are already on the market. Nintendo does not launch products that aren't at a mass product price. This new handheld will be <$200 without doubt.

 

[Veedrock]

God damn, Nintendo isn't giving any breathing room in the handheld department. This will be very neat, though I'm not sure how the touch screen will utilize 3D effectively. Display aside, I'm curious as to what the other features will be (assuming it differentiates from the DSi).

 

[VKCA]

God damn, Nintendo isn't giving any breathing room in the handheld department. This will be very neat, though I'm not sure how the touch screen will utilize 3D effectively. Display aside, I'm curious as to what the other features will be (assuming it differentiates from the DSi).

Jesus how many do we have now?
ds
ds lite
dsi
dsi xl (or ll or whatever)
3ds
For fucks sake I still have a regular ds (although I was looking at a lite for a little bit..)

 

[THE_IRON_...KENYAN?]

fink thats not that bad when you think about:

gameboy advanced
gameboy advanced sp
gameboy player
gameboy advanced micro