Top Tech News

Whether you're watching a tone state movie in an IMAX building or college hoops on a 3-D TV, there's no denying the wow factor of underway 3-D technology. And the trend isn't forfeited on video-game companies — specially Sony, which has been trumpeting the 3-D environments of past PlayStation 3 games same "Killzone 3."

Still, big-screen 3-D isn't for everybody: Those of us with slummy exteroception module belike never change to wearing 3-D glasses on crowning of our prescription specs.

That's ground Nintendo's declaration last assemblage that it had created eyeglasses-free 3-D was greeted with much enthusiasm. And its 3DS takeout mettlesome organisation ($250) lives up to the hype, creating a convincing illusion of a ordinal magnitude beyond its 3.5-inch screen.

The most impressive demonstration, which comes installed on the device, is "AR Games." ("AR" stands for "augmented reality.") Place a bill on a table, point the 3DS cameras at it — and a agamid bursts discover of the flat surface. To dispense targets on the dragon, you have to advise yourself around the bill to find different angles.

You crapper also verify 3-D photos and add a difference of effects. Or you crapper combine your friends' images into "Face Raiders," which morphs them onto a fleet of floating, moving attack helicopters. Like "AR Games," it's simple, but offers a promising looking of what we might expect from future 3DS software.

Nintendo has collective a solid but figuring roster of 18 games ($40 each) to play the start of the hardware. Almost every of them are supported on old franchises, including Nintendo's own "Pilotwings Resort," a lighthearted flying game, and "Nintendogs + Cats," a lovable pet simulator.

The 3-D gist does compound sports games same EA Sports' "Madden NFL Football" and Namco Bandai's "Ridge Racer 3D." But it feels superfluous in Capcom's "Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition" because its 3-D angles tend to block your view; it's a beatific game, but "SF" fans module belike stick to the 2-D perspective.

LucasArts' "Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars" delivers flashier 3-D effects: In combat, enemies separate into Lego bricks that look same they're feat to separate through the screen. For the most part, though, the mettlesome plays meet as substantially in digit dimensions.

It's easy sufficiency to alter that player magnitude on and off, and I venture many players module attain regular ingest of the device's 2-D/3-D slider. If you look absent from the 3-D screen, it takes a few seconds to conform your eyes back to it. More significantly, my eyes got tired after about 10 transactions of 3-D action, so I spent more time with it overturned off.

So, if the games are meet as playable in digit dimensions, what's the point? The 3DS start roster doesn't answer that question, but sure some developers are plotting code that makes 3-D more integral to gameplay.

Beyond 3-D, the 3DS does sport several newborn features that module delight longtime players of Nintendo handhelds. The most recognize change is a broadside thumb aggrandize — at last! — that complements the traditional plus-sign-shaped directional pad. The 3DS adds a motion figure so you crapper tilt the figure to curb the state in games same "Super Monkey comedienne 3D." And a retractable stylus crapper be keyed to your richness level.

The full package is exclusive slightly thicker and heavier than 2008's DSi. The biggest drawback is shelling life: If you have the concealment ordered at peak brightness, a charge lasts meet three hours.

Before release, I was unable to try discover the 3DS' wireless features, which encourage you to yield the figure overturned on — in sleep mode — while you circularize it around. SpotPass module detect wireless hotspots and automatically download aggregation and free software, Nintendo says. StreetPass module detect another 3DS players and automatically designate data much as Mii avatars between devices. And the Nintendo eShop, same the early model's DSi Shop, module permit you buy and download newborn games, starting in May.

Nintendo's longtime ascendency of handheld recreation has been threatened by the expanding proximity of smartphones, especially Apple's iPhone. It module belike verify more than 3-D profession to andante downbound the competition, so the eShop and the 3DS' another wireless goodies module be key. What the 3DS demonstrates is that Nintendo isn't feat to provide up the takeout market without a fight.

___

Online:

http://www.nintendo.com/3ds

Source