A New 3DS?!

It has been a while but I have to say thing have been busy. Anyway, on to the topic at hand. After recently watching a video from GameXplain (check them out) it has been announced that a new handheld console will be released from Nintendo as a better, updated version of the 3DS. Now what do I think about this? WHAT IN THE WORLD NINTENDO?!?? That was basically my first reaction, not to mention that i had only recently purchased a 3DS of my own. Well, before going on I should at least mention the changes they have added to the new console. It's as standard as standard gets for the hardware, a better CPU and GPU so games run smoother (hopefully Pokemon will run at 60 fps with 3D on), load time are faster and, well and overall better experience for the user.

I'm just wondering why'd they move the start and select button

(courtesy of wikipedia)

In the video they also hinted that the new 3DS will have better 3D. Now, this raised a few questions in my head. How did they improve the 3D? Did they add the eye detection technology I first saw implemented in the Toshiba Qosmio F755? If they had added this technology, then playing with 3D on will almost never result in double images or at least if the system can detect your eyes. Aside from that, some of the bigger changes would be the repositioned "Start" and "Select" button, an additional circle pad but smaller, and 2 extra buttons, ZR and ZL. This highly suggests that they are opening up the console to wider variety of games, especially shooters, since a single analog stick isn't exactly optimal. But where does that leave the older 3DS and 3DS XL? Nintendo does seem to be very careful about allowing their consoles to be backwards compatible, but after just recently releasing the 2DS, I seriously thought the 3DS would not be getting a hardware improvement any time soon.

Watch the video first before continuing.

Done? Ok, my main concern about this is, since they have the newly added buttons, most new games will utilize those buttons, leaving them unplayable on the older 3DS. A similar case happened during the transition from the DS to the DSi. A little back story, the original Nintendo DS was launched in late 2004. While the Nintendo DS lite was released about a year later, no major change in hardware was made, it was merely a thinner, lighter and mostly less bulky DS. It was only after 3 years that the DSi was launched, with new hardware such as the camera and also internal storage in the form of an SD card. Most games utilized the camera and the added storage in the system. Sure they still released games for the original DS but only a fraction of the total games, and what developer would go for weaker hardware? Well, what I have mentioned are just a few of the features added. Other features are, NFC (near field communication), storage slots for both SD and microSD, and if you see the picture up top, coloured A,B,X,Y buttons, but I'm not going to cover them all.

Basically the point of my post (rant) is has the 3DS reached its limit? I mean the DSi had 2 solid years before the 3DS was released, and Nintendo had just released the 2DS. And if so, why not make this out to be a complete new one, not just updated hardware and a few extra buttons. Replace that resistive touch screen with a capacitive one, a 3 MP camera at least, I mean phones for less than RM 500 have cameras with better quality (compared to those 0.3 MP ones on the 3DS).

It has barely been a year for the 2DS

(courtesy of wikipedia)

I have to admit, and maybe you have noticed, that even though I am angry at the decision to launch a new version of the console after the 2DS, I like the new features added. Faster loading times and a better CPU and GPU, I'll accept them with open arms, but not this early. I seriously thought that this would have at least a year and a half left before the announcement. And like the points mentioned in Rich of ReviewTechUSA's video, it does seem like Nintendo is doubting their decision of the 3DS' hardware in the first place. Lastly, its sad that eventually, I'm going to have to buy the new 3DS if I want to keep up with the games, so my 3DS XL won't have the as long as I thought it would.

Farid :(