Topic: 3DS Details Begin To Surface

[NWR_DrewMG]

The new handheld will support the DSi charger.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/24755

Nintendo has updated their Japanese Nintendo 3DS hardware page with more new details regarding their upcoming handheld. Andriasang has posted a translation of those details. Among them are the following:

The Nintendo 3DS will be compatible with the DSi and DSi LL charger. The DSi used a different charger than the DS Lite, which used a different charger from the original Nintendo DS.

Originally shown at E3 2010, Nintendo has confirmed the cartridge shape for the 3DS. The 3DS cartridges include an extra tab to prevent their insertion into DS systems. Below, you can see how the new cartridges will look in comparison to Nintendo DS cartridges.

Although it was already known that the 3DS would have increased graphical fidelity in comparison to the original family of DS systems, new screenshots released have given a metric for just how far the new system has come. Below are screenshots of Nintendogs from both the 3DS game, and the original DS game. While the top screen on the 3DS is 800x240 in resolution, half of the 800 pixels will be split for the left and right eyes, leading to a working resolution of 400x240.

Nintendo has confirmed that original DS games will not have any upgraded visuals when playing on the 3DS.

The Street Pass mode will support up to 12 games at any given time, without any of the games needing to be loaded for the feature to function. The transfers can be managed along with the parental controls. A game must have been booted at least once on the system for the Street Pass functionality to work.

Much like with the Wii, the Home menu can be accessed at almost any time (except when the system is using the wireless or camera features), which will pause the game.

[TJ Spyke]

How much you wanna bet that some people will still try and crap a 3DS card into a DS system?

[Adrock]

How much you wanna bet that some people will still try and crap a 3DS card into a DS system?

Jesus.... that sounds painful.

[MaryJane]

What does it mean that you can't use the home button when using the wireless features? I can understand that when the system is doing something with StreetPass, having content pushed to it, or doing multiplayer you can't use it, but what about just browsing the web?

The fact that the 3DS can use a DSi charger is good news, for playing while charging, but no upscaling old games is a little lame, even if expected. StreetPass for only 12 games is also a little weak, but then again, I suppose that'll depend on how many games support the feature.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I wonder if this means the 1st revision of 3DS will use a different charger that is not compatible with the original.

Didn't the DSPhat use the same charger as the GBASP and then the DSL used something different. and now the 3DS uses the same as the DSi, but the 3DSXL probably won't/

Also as for how nice Nintendogs & Cats looks in comparison to the original on DS, some of the things the 3rd parties have been doing on the 3DS make Nintendo's freshman effort look like the DS original. Nintendo is not taxing the system in any significant way, as evidenced by OoT & SF3D

[sambskn]

I'm pretty happy that at least the DSi and 3DS share a charger. It's been a little bit irritating how Nintendo couldn't just choose one charger and stick with it. I'm also really impressed with how nice that screenshot looks. Looks a little like the Sony Eyepet thing, maybe a little less on the cartoonish side.

[Kytim89]

Any news on the 3DS virtual console?

[AV]

I was hoping it would use the MICRO USB adapter that almost everything has nowadays. :-(

[WrathOfSamus777]

Nintendogs 3DS will have to be a much deeper and fleshed out game for me to get it.  The first Nintendogs was OK, but pretty shallow ultimately.  There just wasn't enough to do.  There's only so many times I can walk my dog.

[Ian Sane]

I'm looking at that cat in that screenshot and that's pretty damn cute.  But then I realize I have a cat so there is not much point in a virtual one.  Caring for my real pet would always be more satisfying.

When I think about it I actually feel sorry for the target demo for this game.  You can't have a real pet?  Man, that sucks.  If someone had to resort to a virtual family, virtual friends or a virtual spouse, I would pity them.  Virtual pets is really only a step below that.

[Chozo Ghost]

Also as for how nice Nintendogs & Cats looks in comparison to the original on DS, some of the things the 3rd parties have been doing on the 3DS make Nintendo's freshman effort look like the DS original. Nintendo is not taxing the system in any significant way, as evidenced by OoT & SF3D

There will probably be much better looking stuff another year or two down the road. The first stuff a new system gets is often rush jobs and ports, so you have to wait awhile for the good stuff to show up in force. The original DS's launch titles were like that too, as I recall. Same with the Wii with Red Steel and so on.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Everyone is telling Nintendo to delay their games another year to add shade bumping, is that it?

Are people confusing pretty 3rd Party non-launch games with the launch games?

[Ian Sane]

In regards to Nintendo not taxing the system, I have pretty much come to terms that such things are not a priority for Nintendo at all anymore.  The days of Donkey Kong Country pushing the SNES to its limits are over.  But I'm fine as long as these are entirely self-imposed restrictions and that third parties are not limited.  I've voiced my displeasure with the Wii's design.  The hardware itself was restrictive.  The 3DS does not have that so it should be fine.

[Chozo Ghost]

In regards to Nintendo not taxing the system, I have pretty much come to terms that such things are not a priority for Nintendo at all anymore.  The days of Donkey Kong Country pushing the SNES to its limits are over.

But that came at the tail end of the SNES's lifecycle. It isn't fair to compare the graphical quality of games at the end of one console's life with the graphical quality of launch titles on another system. Let's wait until the capabilities of the 3DS are fully utilized before we can worry about those limits being pushed. So far we aren't at that point yet.

Another thing you have to consider is that DKC was a core/traditional title. Nintendo seems to put more effort into the graphical quality of those kinds of games than they do with casual games like Wii Sports. I'm not sure if Nintendo's policies towards graphics have really changed. Its just that now they are making the kinds of games where graphics matter much less than the gameplay but that's just the casual games, and it doesn't mean they are going to be making their core games with similarly shitty graphics.

[Ian Sane]

DKC is a later title so maybe that was not the best example.  There was a time where I really felt Nintendo had cutting edge graphics.  They made games that for their time were some of the best looking games around and it improved as time went on so the last NES, SNES or N64 games dwarfed the earlier efforts.  But the earlier efforts looked great for the time.  I have noticed that for ALL types of games, not just stuff like Wii Sports, Nintendo has a very half-assed bare minimum approach to graphics now.  They do not make pretty games very often anymore.  There are too many Wii games that would not even stand out graphically as Gamecube games.  This is not a priority for them anymore.  It's like they had a standard in mind and once they met it they were content.  On the earlier systems this standard was beyond the hardware capabilities of the systems but on the Gamecube or so they found that standard and have rarely gone beyond it since.

The standard seems to be the standard Mario model found in most Cube Mario games.  I'd argue Super Mario Galaxy tops that standard (barely) and the SSB games do but aside from a few exceptions Nintendo seems quite content with that level of graphics.  Does Mario Kart Wii look any better than Mario Kart: Double Dash?  Or any of those Mario sports games?  It's like Mario now looks like what one expects him to without looking blurry or blocky so that's good enough.  Twilight Princess is probably one of the best looking Wii games still and it is LITERALLY a Gamecube game.  Metroid: Other M's graphics are less impressive than the FIRST Metroid Prime game.  These games don't look like **** but there is no real effort to push the hardware and improve with each game.

I fully expect Nintendo to make 3DS games that don't look bad but I don't really expect them to make games that specifically look great all that often.  Devs like Good Feel and Retro will do it but I don't expect much graphically from the EAD teams.

[KDR_11k]

I was hoping it would use the MICRO USB adapter that almost everything has nowadays. :-(

I guess the 3DS does not fall under the EU law that forces them to use the same charger for all cellphones...

[BlackNMild2k1]

I wish there was a law like that for all portable devices. I really only have so many outlets and power strips and I don't need to be switching cords around all the time just to charge this device or that device.

Or if they really insist on a proprietary charging port, then the cable that plugs into it should have a detachable USB connector on the power plug side.
that way I can plug my 3DS or other portable device directly into my computer ands manage/backup the internal storage and charge it or plug it into the outlet adapter without having to search for a new outlet. Its a very simple solution that everyone should adapt.