3DS: The Future of Gaming

Many gamers will be neither here nor there about the 3DS and that’s understandable. The DS has been revolutionary both in its popularity and the way developers have conquered its limitation with creative flair. It’s not however a technical masterpiece in and of itself. Long time gamers out there will own a DS with a screen so scratched from overuse you can barely see what you’re doing, the chances are though that you’ve used your DS less and less over the last couple of years. So why should you upgrade to another DS, with a bit of a gimmick and a hefty price tag? My knee jerk reaction to the £230 price tag was “But I could buy a proper console for that!” Having now been to the 3DS preview event I know that buying the 3DS is buying the future. It. Is. Amazing.

I went along genuinely not that bothered. I assumed the 3D element would be a bit hazy and annoying and with a fear that the graphics would still be around the normal quality for a DS despite the increased memory and processing speed. These fears were compounded by the lack of hands on time Nintendo have given the public so close to launch. Why was I heading up an alleyway in town to an invite only, over 18 event just over a month from launch? Once I got there my cynicism went into overdrive. Nintendo are known for putting on a bit of a show with their products but I was being given a talk in a room, then shown Nintendo handhelds through the ages then there was some performance art with two blokes dressed as Ryu and Ken beating the crap out of each other on a stage with Street Fighter music playing. I mean they were brilliant and I of course had my photo taken with them but why did I not have a 3DS in my hand yet, if it was so great? Next I was dragged screaming through a zombie filled dark pit with Chris Redfield poking a gun on my face and his sister, Claire shouting at me the whole way. Something grabbed at my legs and I kicked it as I was spat out the other end of the pit into a nice white room. I considered asking the Redfield siblings where my 3DS was as they pushed me through the curtain but I think they’d have pistol whipped me. Next I watched a 2D video of footage of games I was about to be allowed to play in 3D and Jonathan Ross told me how wadical this new console was. In reality the whole presentation was only about 15 minutes and I must admit the whole thing made me feel quite jolly heading in to finally get my hands on the console, so they did a good job but me being the cynical type I wondered why it was necessary. I can categorically state that it wasn’t. They could have flung a 3DS at me in a manure filled tent and spat on me while I played it and I’d have still known that this… this IS the future.

	As I maneuvered my airplane through rings in Pilotwings Resort I looked up at the pretty smiling lady, stood there waiting to be of assistance and I said “I… I can’t believe this is happening!” She looked confused and giggled. She didn’t understand. It was 3D and I wasn’t wearing glasses. My eyes didn’t hurt and it it wasn’t all up in my face like when you go to see a 3D movie. It was just 3D. The controls were great and I felt like it was a different game than if I had been doing the exact same thing but in 2D, which I could if I wanted with the slide of a button.
	Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition really was a different game. In dynamic mode you have an over the shoulder view point while still playing what is essentially a 2D style fighter. I know that doesn’t make sense but it does in 3D. It also looked like SSFIV does on the 360. The graphics are incredible.
	LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars could be the definitive example of how good the 3DS is. The rooms pop in away from you and as you wonder around you can turn the DS physically a little left or right to see sort of round the corner. There is no real gimmick here. The graphics are much improved and I just couldn’t see how anyone would ever want to play a Lego game again where it was… flat.
	Ridge Racer 3D made my eyes hurt for a few seconds. I slid the 3D button down from full to about three quarters full. It was like focusing a camera. Suddenly it worked perfectly. It was still 3D and I was drifting around corners like a drifty thing but it was at the exactly right perspective for my eyes.
	Super Monkey Ball 3D makes more sense in 3D than 2D. Flat Super Monkey Ball seems kinda stupid to me now. Another smiley lady smiled at me. I said ” This is it, isn’t it? This is the actual future!” Her eyes darted around while the grin remained. Another lady came over and asked if I needed help with something. I said no.
	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D looks absolutely beautiful and like the Lego Star Wars game it’s here that I see the future not just for the 3DS but for gaming in general. It’s not a gimmick. You don’t need stuff poking out at you for it to be worth it. The extra depth in any three dimensional terrain within minutes becomes your benchmark for what a 3D game should look like and by 3D, in this case, I mean any game that isn’t on a 2D plane. I don’t want to play flat games any more. I asked another smiley lady hovering around if it was made out of magic. She said without a moment’s hesitation that yes, yes it was.

Having screenshots of the games is a bit pointless as there is nothing about the images, this website, your computer or your monitor that can convey what playing games on the 3DS is really like. For that you’ll have to buy one on Friday 25th of March and it retails for between £200 and £230.
The full launch line up is:

Pilotwings Resort
nintendogs + cats
Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition
The Sims 3
Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D
Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
Ridge Racer 3D
Super Monkey Ball 3D
Samurai Warriors: Chronicles
Asphalt 3D
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3D
Rayman 3D