Topic: Nintendo 3DS Potentially Hazardous for Children

[NWR_pap64]

Prolongued 3D play might affect vision in young children.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/24612

Nintendo advised that children under the age of 6 shouldn't play the 3DS using its 3D settings as they confirmed the lineup of games for Nintendo World 2011, an event in Japan from January 8 to 10 where the 3DS will be playable by the public for the first time.

Since 3D causes more eye strain and fatigue and  might affect vision development in children, Nintendo is advising for kids under that age to not play it. The warning doesn't just apply to the 3DS, though. This is a general warning towards 3D entertainment, including movies, due to potential negative effects of 3D, such as motion sickness.

Nintendo recommends a break after 30 minutes of play, and stated that "If your physical condition worsens or you become ill, please stop playing at once." They also explained that 3D effects vary from person to person, hence they included the 3D slider on the system so a wider variety of players could enjoy the handheld.

In addition, the 3DS will include a parental 3D lock in order to prevent extend periods of play using the 3D settings.

[AV]

Nintendo is covering there ass from lawsuits when little timmy goes blind from playing 3DS for 5 hours strait.


I totally expect those annoying warning messages to appear within the game that was on Wii to be on 3DS.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Didn't Nintendo make this announcement 8-9 months ago after the 3DS was first announced to the public?

I could've sworn it was already posted here a long time ago.

[NWR_Neal]

I believe this is the first time they've actually produced a written warning. Before, it was just informally talked about, something along the lines of Reggie saying "Like seriously, are you guys stupid? Little kids will screw up their eyes with 3D effects!"

[Kytim89]

After watching Resident Evil: Afterlife I had trouble with my vision and I felt a little nauseated for about an hour. I had never seen a 3D movie before and this has me a little worried about what kind of affect the 3DS will have on me if I play it. Although I am not buying the 3DS so much for the 3D as the more powerful graphics and features.

[Adrock]

You can turn 3D off so no need to be worried. And you probably felt nauseous after watching Resident Evil: Afterlife because it was a shitty movie that you paid money to see. I'd feel sick too.

[nhaines]

This isn't the first time they produced a warning.  The Virtual Boy came with the same warning (and Red Alarm had pause screen between levels), and if I recall correctly, the recommended age limit was 7 or 8 and up back then.  This is just Nintendo being responsible as usual.

[pololmejor]

I have fear that Nintendo will be criticized about this. Maybe there will be people who think this is unfair.

[TJ Spyke]

Criticized for what? Nobody really cared when they started putting the health warning on their games back in the GCN era. I am sure some idiots out there will complain, even though it won't effect the game and is more of just way to protect them in case something like Vega says happens. Of coarse, someone under 6 should not be playing video games that much anyways.

[yoshi1001]

You can turn 3D off so no need to be worried.

You could turn off 3D on the Virtual Boy too-close one eye. 

[MaryJane]

In flipping through channels I came upon MSNBC and a report they were doing on Nintendo's issuance of the 3D warning.
While they did a good job covering the story, (giving the 3DS praise for being glasses-free and saying that other manufacturers of 3D gadgets give similar warnings) the "industry expert" they had on said that while the 3DS has a physical slider to turn 3D off a child could just turn it back on it at will, and that Nintendo should have included some way to bypass the slider.

The people on these forums should know that Nintenso has indeed made such a bypass possible with parental controls but apparently Nintendo has not done a good enough job at telling people about it. I wonder if this will hurt sales...

[BlackNMild2k1]

The Parental controls can bypass the slider?
I had no idea.

[TJ Spyke]

I have to agree, I don't recall seeing that mentioned before. Not that it will matter to me since I will be the only one using my 3DS.

[MaryJane]

It's in the NWR article:

"In addition, the 3DS will include a parental 3D lock to prevent extend(sic) periods of play using the 3D settings."

Unless I'm misreading the sentence and there will only be a lock on how long a child can play per day. But, being able to turn off the 3D for children 6 and under through parental controls along with limiting playtime for older children, makes much more sense... to me at least.

[Shorty McNostril]

Well, the sentence you quoted says "extend(sic) periods of play using the 3D settings."

To me this says that the unit can still be played, but the 3D slider will indeed be disabled.

Which makes me think.  If it is a shared unit and the adult wants the 3D settings on, I wonder how much mucking around will be required to turn off the parental controls, lest it jumps back to 2D through the gaming session.  Unless it is hinting at account based settings, rather than system based.  But that is probably a bit much to expect from a handheld.  Unless I have missed something that is.