I was the envy of the pediatrics wing.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blog/25937
As the Newscast listeners among you are probably aware, I had joined co-host Nathan Mustafa in universally panning the launch lineup and feature list of Nintendo’s newest handheld, so much so that I was dead-set against buying one until June or when Resident Evil: Revelations came out, whichever was sooner. Well, Dead or Alive: Dimensions might’ve also forced my hand. Anyway, two or three weeks before launch, Andy Goergen revealed that he had broken down and pre-ordered the system. Neal’s rampant site coverage of his review system (and its games) had me beginning to shudder under the weight of peer pressure and awesomeness. The straw that broke the Titanotylopus’ back was playing a demo unit at Best Buy. It was my first time with the system. The 3D effect really sold me, and the Circle Pad was so precise and wonderful that I couldn’t help but love Pilotwings Resort.
My resolve shattered, I decided to trade in many games for store credit at Best Buy (which I guess you can do now). The process for selecting sacrificial software was pretty simple: would I rather play MadWorld or 3DS? Bayonetta on PS3 or 3DS? I took a good-sized stack of boxes to Best Buy and left $75 richer. I fully intended be in line on Sunday morning.
Unfortunately, that was not able to occur.
As some of you readers may know, I have the “good luck” of being a Cystic Fibrosis patient. Over the last year and a half, I’ve been fighting off a nasty respiratory infection via oral antibiotics. Unfortunately, the pills never completely knock the infection out—within months, it’s back to full strength. Recently, additional complications (collapsed lobe, abrasion on the outer surface of the lung) led my doctor to declare it was time for I.V. antibiotics, a method I hadn’t entertained in almost a decade. I was checked into the hospital on Saturday morning and forced to stay through the weekend, leaving on Monday morning after my doctor was sure I was actually recovering significantly.
My angelic wife, who is probably fit for sainthood at this point, took it upon herself to go to Best Buy on Sunday morning to grab a system for me. She even got there when the place opened at 11 a.m., and stood in (a very short) line to get one. We went with the Aqua Blue system, since my DSi is black. She came to the hospital right afterward, and I grasped the system with shaking hands—excitement! The arrival of the system somewhat buoyed my disappointment that the Jayhawks were so handily defeated by…VCU. My friend Nelson and I spent the afternoon raiding faces, creating Miis, and taking 3D pictures. I messed around with the AR Cards after everyone left, and was disappointed to find that the hospital’s ambient Wi-Fi signal was so crappy that the 3DS wouldn’t even connect to it.
After graciously returning home on Monday morning, I set about setting up my shiny new blue system. I got a kick out of the charge cradle and chuckled at the thought of lugging a surprisingly heavy system around as a pedometer. On the other hand, the online features are (or should I say, “will be”) nice. After synching it up with my wireless router, I went about adding colleagues and readers to my Friends list, and smiled gleefully when the 3DS told me when somebody was online and what they were playing—it’s where Nintendo should’ve been five years ago, no doubt, but it’s exciting to see them implement what appears to be a competent online infrastructure. Of course, it’s not actually going to be completely functional until May, but the foundation seems solid.
I have a love/hate relationship with the new stylus: I like that it’s telescopic and metal, but it wiggles by a miniscule but noticeable degree when fully extended—this makes me worry that it will soften up over time, just as a DS stylus does after being inserted and removed from the DS dozens of times. I’ve just been using those awesome Power A Pokemon styluses.
I fully intend to nab a copy of Pilotwings Resort this weekend and take lots of 3D pictures of my girlie statues. It’s just too bad there’s no “wallpaper” function on the 3DS…or maybe that’s a good thing.
Topic: Procuring the 3DS in an Unusual Manner (Read 2268 times)
