Topic: Nintendo Announces Nintendo 3DS

[GoldenPhoenix]

Now that we know that this system will be as powerful as the GC, will PSP2 be two PS2s taped together?

[MegaByte]

How do you do multitouch with a stylus?  Do you put the DS down and use a stylus in each hand like a knife and fork?  So you wear little styli on your fingers like finger picks for a guitar?  Or do you use your... fingers and smudge up the screen?  Nuts to that idea.

The touchscreen is more or less like a mouse for a portable.  How often are you using a PC and think "damn I wish I had two mice right now"?

It comes across as an idea that sounds cool but no one can really think of a useful idea for it.  The most common idea is one where people suggest you just put the buttons on the screen and then you can have whatever layout you want.  But think about how hard it would be to tell what button you're on when everything is a flat screen.

Nobody said you had to multitouch with styli.  Modern screen coatings make it very easy to remove smudges.

Viewing a touchscreen as a mouse is exactly the kind of thinking that's held back the technology.  But actually, there have been a number of times that I've wanted multiple mice.

[BlackNMild2k1]

How do you do multitouch with a stylus?  Do you put the DS down and use a stylus in each hand like a knife and fork?  So you wear little styli on your fingers like finger picks for a guitar?  Or do you use your... fingers and smudge up the screen?  Nuts to that idea.

The touchscreen is more or less like a mouse for a portable.  How often are you using a PC and think "damn I wish I had two mice right now"?

It comes across as an idea that sounds cool but no one can really think of a useful idea for it.  The most common idea is one where people suggest you just put the buttons on the screen and then you can have whatever layout you want.  But think about how hard it would be to tell what button you're on when everything is a flat screen.

Please tell me you are joking. Ummmm, maybe you would use multi-touch with your thumbs or maybe with your thumb and pointer finger on the same hand. Who in their right minds first thought is to grab a second stylus and use it like a fork and knife? I mean it's not like an iPhone (the most popular usage of multi-touch) uses a stylus.

There could be some gameplay concepts that require you to use the stylus in one hand and use your other thumb on the screen at the same time, but to compare the concept to using a second mouse on my computer at the same time is just not well thought out.

multi-touch is more like using your hand to do with out a mouse since you don't have any buttons to click.
touch is like having a mouse for our portable, multi-touch is like also having buttons to click.

[Ian Sane]

It also doesn't hurt to achieve feature parity with the iPhone, which Nintendo should be smart enough to realize is going to be the primary competitor to this thing.

So it needs to be a phone?  iPhones are a lot more expensive then any price point I imagine Nintendo's going for.  Maybe having some elite 3DS model that has all the extra non-gaming features would be nice but I personally would want a games-only focused 3DS for a reasonable price.  I won't pay iPhone money for ANY portable console.
 

 Please tell me you are joking. Ummmm, maybe you would use multi-touch with your thumbs or maybe with your thumb and pointer finger on the same hand. Who in their right minds first thought is to grab a second stylus and use it like a fork and knife?

Well I'm thinking "how do I do this without using my oily fingers?"  The fork and knife example is pointing out the futility of that.  I don't want to smudge my screen to ****, I don't care if I can clean it off easily.  Fingers are also a lot thicker than a stylus.  There's some precision in using a stylus.
 

 Viewing a touchscreen as a mouse is exactly the kind of thinking that's held back the technology.

Do you mean touchscreen technology in general or specifically the DS touchscreen?  Because the DS touchscreen is basically a one button mouse.  You point to a locations on the screen and "click" on it.

[ThePerm]

heheh i gots to make a mockup before they release screens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWlZJ8g_I5I

3ds mockup, time spent 2 hrs

[MegaByte]

So it needs to be a phone?  iPhones are a lot more expensive then any price point I imagine Nintendo's going for.  Maybe having some elite 3DS model that has all the extra non-gaming features would be nice but I personally would want a games-only focused 3DS for a reasonable price.  I won't pay iPhone money for ANY portable console.

I would hope for feature parity minus the phone since the components are so cheap now.  iPhone just ate a huge chuck of game software sales last year.  The iPod Touch is a lot cheaper than the iPhone, and we're about to see a wave of Android devices with feature parity.  People start thinking that you have to use all of these technologies, but you don't.  Just having them available is important in order to provide transition opportunities for phone devs, and they provide more innovation potential in general.  Isolating a subset of technology between DS and Wii doesn't make sense.

Do you mean touchscreen technology in general or specifically the DS touchscreen?  Because the DS touchscreen is basically a one button mouse.  You point to a locations on the screen and "click" on it.

I mean in general.  Stylus touch and multitouch are complimentary technologies.  Right now, phones are failing the former.

[BlackNMild2k1]

It also doesn't hurt to achieve feature parity with the iPhone, which Nintendo should be smart enough to realize is going to be the primary competitor to this thing.

So it needs to be a phone?  iPhones are a lot more expensive then any price point I imagine Nintendo's going for.  Maybe having some elite 3DS model that has all the extra non-gaming features would be nice but I personally would want a games-only focused 3DS for a reasonable price.  I won't pay iPhone money for ANY portable console.

iPhone has a HUGE mark up and the components inside are not nearly as expensive as they would want you to believe. Apple has premium pricing on all their hardware, but that is no secret.
 

 Please tell me you are joking. Ummmm, maybe you would use multi-touch with your thumbs or maybe with your thumb and pointer finger on the same hand. Who in their right minds first thought is to grab a second stylus and use it like a fork and knife?

Well I'm thinking "how do I do this without using my oily fingers?"  The fork and knife example is pointing out the futility of that.  I don't want to smudge my screen to ****, I don't care if I can clean it off easily.  Fingers are also a lot thicker than a stylus.  There's some precision in using a stylus.

You should also know that the current rumors (incase you don't keep up with those) is that the 3DS is larger than a DSi but not quite as large as a DSi XL. Rumor actually has it that the screen is 4" instead of the 4.2" of the DSi XL, so there should be more space to use your thumbs on the screen since it should be similar in size to a iPhone screen.

[BlackNMild2k1]

More similar tech for those that are interested

Announced by Hitachi last year
http://k-tai.hitachi.jp/h001/

previewed by The Inquirer this month
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1597252/hitachi-3d-mobile-tips

I'm also sure Nintendo got a sweet deal from which ever manufacturer is providing these screens just for the fact that their screen will easily be the most widely used for a 3D portable(125+M DS's sold to date and over 30M sold in Japan alone) and if they also have a phone division or contract, then that would allow them to provide their screens at the best cost, with the best support and become the industry standard.

[BranDonk Kong]

So, basically I just **** my pants.

[ShyGuy]

I like Perm's mockup. Needs a camera though.

[Shaymin]

So does it make me a bad Nintendo fan if I wait for the inevitable 2nd rev, like I did with the DS and should've done with the GBA?

[BlackNMild2k1]

No it doesn't, but I know I will be there on day 1 as long as it looks as slick as the current DS model and the Wii. Otherwise I see no reason to wait for a revision that might not come for years.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I also have some specualtion as to why the megaton was dropped today instead held for E3.
Apparently a magazine called Coro Coro has a Pokemon Gen 5 reveal that was going to announce some more details about the game. It could be that the reveal would have shown the 3D capabilities of the game and Nintendo decided to steal that thunder for themselves ahead of the magazine release.

[NWR_insanolord]

Nintendo announced the original DS about this time of year instead of waiting for E3 as well.

[ThePerm]

still frames of my mockup..there is a camera, its just under the top screen




a 10 second video is coming in about 20 minutes...ah technology
edit: not as long as i thought

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw9aarAjdyk

lol the goal is to be so right, to force Nintendo to release pictures..it worked for the new Zelda game
also my classically naive original DS mockup back in the nitro days

http://www.tetrametrics.com/theperm/Renders/stingray.jpg

[Kairon]

So does it make me a bad Nintendo fan if I wait for the inevitable 2nd rev, like I did with the DS and should've done with the GBA?

Not at ALL. My brother and I both still own launch DS Phats exclusively, going 5+ years without giving Nintendo any more money for new form factors of hardware we already own, and we both consider ourselves pretty big Nintendo fans. In fact, I'm more likely to buy a new DS system (DSi XL) for my Mom before I upgrade for myself... though I do plan on getting a DSi sometime this year... hmmm.

[Jonnyboy117]

Perm, I like your mockup, but I think the screens will be even closer together, with that hinge camera/mic moved up to the top edge to reduce space between the screens.

[ThePerm]

i still only have a DSphat too, im not sure if i want to be an early adopter or wait till the second iteration

[BlackNMild2k1]

what are you expecting out of a 2nd iteration?

What if it looks perfect from the get-go? would you still wait and see?

[ThePerm]

that the thing, when DS came out i thought the screen was phenomenol..then DSlite came out....I can't even fathom how awesome the second iteration will be.
like imagine if i buy some dull gray 3ds and then 8 months later they come out with a spectacular ruby red 3DS

[Stogi]

LOL at Ian thinking multi-touch means using a knife and fork. Never used chopsticks before?

I hope both screens use multi-touch just to make Ian **** his pants at the thought of such a conundrum.

[Kairon]

that the thing, when DS came out i thought the screen was phenomenol..then DSlite came out....I can't even fathom how awesome the second iteration will be.
like imagine if i buy some dull gray 3ds and then 8 months later they come out with a spectacular ruby red 3DS

I'm thinking I won't hold out for a second iteration of the 3DS, I'll hold out for a color of the first iteration that's awesome. Sort of a compromise.

[ThePerm]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

better video on head tracking tech

[BlackNMild2k1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

better video on head tracking tech

That guy got hired at MS to work on Natal tech.

but according to reports around the net, it looks like Nintendo is paired up with Sharp and are using Parallax Barrier Method for the screen which does good 3D and can be turned off to handle 2D just like a normal screen.

source: Engadget via Asahi Shimbun

edit: This is what Sharp was working on 7.25 years ago
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040-978499.html

Nintendo & Sharp have had quite a lot of time to perfect this tech and get it down to a price that Nintendo is willing to work with.

[Spak-Spang]

So are we positive that the system will be as powerful as a Gamecube or is that just still rumor?