Topic: Nintendo 3DS Discussion

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm gonna guess it launches at $179.99.  It's got to be less than that new iPhone.

$200 is still less than the iPhone when you factor in that the iPhone is only $200 because of the subsidy you get for signing a 2 year contract that will cost you hundreds more over the life of the device.

[Mannypon]

dam for some reason i thought the ds launched at a higher price. in light of this new info, i guess 200 is the sweet spot.  giving it further thought i cant see Nintendo having a handheld thats more expensive than thier home console. sorry for the lack of capitals in my sentences. i'm on my cell and hate typing on this thing.

[UncleBob]

I'm gonna guess it launches at $179.99.  It's got to be less than that new iPhone.

$200 is still less than the iPhone when you factor in that the iPhone is only $200 because of the subsidy you get for signing a 2 year contract that will cost you hundreds more over the life of the device.

As opposed to the 3DS that will get tons of use without buying more games for it over the life of the device?

[BlackNMild2k1]

My 3DS will get most of it's use while watching Netflix3D movies on it.

One of my friends will laugh at my puny screen and then direct me to watch on his 60" Sony 3D TV and even offer me a pair of glasses, but I will simply ask him how much it cost him for us both to enjoy this one viewing of Avatar in 3D.
Then I will laugh and he will kick me out of his house.
But it's ok, because I will watch Avatar in 3D as I walk out of his house(Streaming from Netflix) and the only glasses I will be wearing is the stunna shades I put on because I feel so cool.... especially because it was at night.

[Kytim89]

My 3DS will get most of it's use while watching Netflix3D movies on it.

One of my friends will laugh at my puny screen and then direct me to watch on his 60" Sony 3D TV and even offer me a pair of glasses, but I will simply ask him how much it cost him for us both to enjoy this one viewing of Avatar in 3D.
Then I will laugh and he will kick me out of his house.
But it's ok, because I will watch Avatar in 3D as I walk out of his house(Streaming from Netflix) and the only glasses I will be wearing is the stunna shades I put on because I feel so cool.... especially because it was at night.

That is actually cool and funny at the same time. But I waoild like to be able to save movies from netflix or some other source onto my SD card and then I could watch the movies any time and any where I want. Something like itunes and the iphone come to mind.

[TJ Spyke]

Netflix will never allow that (partly because I don't think movie studios would be willing, Netflix has a hard enough time getting them to agree to streaming movies). With iTunes you are buying or renting video, not streaming it.

[NWR_insanolord]

Why wouldn't they allow it?

[MaryJane]

Seriously... Netflix is in the movie renting business why wouldn't they allow you to rent(stream) movies from them? If you want to rent or own the movie on an SD card though, you could get it from another source, or Netflix could use their (assumed) app on the 3DS to recognize when you have transfered a (DRM protected) movie to an SD card and not allow you to even stream another until the one you transferred is reinserted into the 3DS to be deleted by the app.

Also mobile TV is HUGE in Japan; with Nintendo being the first mobile with a 3D display they could easily also be the first to provide 3D mobile TV. With the mobile TV market in its infancy in the US this is another big chance for Nintendo as channels like ESPN have already launched 3D channels, and would definitely love to expand their new channels into the mobile market, getting them more viewers and thus more ad revenue. The 3DS, with enough internal storage could even offer DVR capabilities--although I imagine storing 3D programs would need a lot of space, so you would probably only be able to record 2D shows. I know that's asking a lot but when you look at how much companies like HTC and Apple are able to pack into really thin phones I'm expecting a lot from the clamshell 3DS which can afford to be thicker for ergonomic reasons and thus have more space for storage, processors, radios, etc. 

[Spak-Spang]

Why is 5 first party games really pushing it?  The Gamecube had 4 out at or near launch.

I think the Wii had a pretty strong lineup as well of first party games at launch...or near launch. 

5 is not unheard of...specially if 1 is installed on the system, and 1 comes 2 months later.  Sure you could say then you are asking for 3-4...but is it impossible, no.

[TJ Spyke]

They are a subscription service, not rental service. You don't pay to rent individual movies, you pay for access to their service. Movie studios don't want to allow anything that would make it easier for people to copy their movies. So while it's technically possible for Netflix to do it, I don't see movie studios letting them (if any did, it would be only some of them).

[NWR_insanolord]

Assuming the DS has the always-connected 3G that the RFN crew predicts, it wouldn't be a problem to copy the movie (with DRM) to an SD card, but still require the user to check in with Netflix before playing it. Netflix sends out DVDs as part of its subscriptions, and those are ridiculously easy to pirate; this system would be pretty hard to crack, and no one would bother because they could just get a pirated movie somewhere else and copy the file to the SD card to play in the media player the system will have. If anything, this system would reduce movie piracy.

[Kytim89]

Assuming the DS has the always-connected 3G that the RFN crew predicts, it wouldn't be a problem to copy the movie (with DRM) to an SD card, but still require the user to check in with Netflix before playing it. Netflix sends out DVDs as part of its subscriptions, and those are ridiculously easy to pirate; this system would be pretty hard to crack, and no one would bother because they could just get a pirated movie somewhere else and copy the file to the SD card to play in the media player the system will have. If anything, this system would reduce movie piracy.

I have software on my computer that can take a DVD movie and break it down into files which I then run through another software program program to put those files into what ever format I want them to be played in. That is why I would like to know what kind of format the 3DS movie player, if any, will play downloaded movies. For example, the iphone plays movies in the M-PEG 4 video form with DRM.
 
The only problem with this is the amount of space available on an SD card. You have to have a lot of space on your SD card, or one with a lot of disposable such as a 16 GB or 32 GB SD card. For example, I have an 8 GB card for my wii which I use for playing movies on my wii and and one episode of Family Guy cost me atleast 1 GB a piece for each episode. Bigger flash cards are very expensive and this is why I want an external hard drive for my wii so that I can have a lot of space of store movies.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Why in the world would a 24 minute episode of Famliy Guy @ 480p resolution take up 1GB of space?

that should take up maybe 200MB & even that is really high.

I can download 40+minute shows @ 720p and those take up about 1GB, you are doing something wrong if you are compressing 30min TV shows to play on Wii (480p) and it takes up that much space.

[Kytim89]

[Kytim89]

Why in the world would a 24 minute episode of Famliy Guy @ 480p resolution take up 1GB of space?

that should take up maybe 200MB & even that is really high.

I can download 40+minute shows @ 720p and those take up about 1GB, you are doing something wrong if you are compressing 30min TV shows to play on Wii (480p) and it takes up that much space.

I just checked and the family guy episodes are about 300 MB a piece. I had not looked into the file size for a while and I was thinking of the HD itunes video podcasts that I converted over to my SD card. Those things went as high as 500 MB to 1 GB. I am using wii video 9 if you want to know. All I know is that these video files add up in regards to size.

[Kytim89]

[MaryJane]

I prefer the first mock-up for it's single joystick(pretty much confirmed by FCC filing and developer 'rumors') the two camera's, and speaker placement. I imagine the ones in the second pic would get blocked by big hands such as mine. I also imagined the top screens bezel to be wider so buttons are not hitting the screen, and depressed slightly for the joystick.

I say all that to say: Great job on the mock-up looks awesome!

[Spak-Spang]

Actually the second mock up shows why 2 analog sticks wouldn't work so well on a handheld.  You would easily hit analog controller moving from the buttons, and my thumbs are going to be put in very uncomfortable positions moving from buttons to the analog.

I dislike the design a lot.

[UncleBob]

Put the thumb sticks above the buttons/D-Pad.

[Spak-Spang]

Above might work on the left side, but I don't think it will will on the right.

I am actually hoping for a good hybrid analog-D-pad to keep the left side clutter free, but I know some games treat the D-pad as a button which would make that impossible. 

Hmmm...  I dunno what the solution is, except one may be better than two.

[Spinnzilla]

the 3DS has to have good processing abilities to display the renders twice, right?  Does that means games that don't use 3D could possibly look even better?

[Louieturkey]

Good mock ups Kytim.  I thank you for those. Both look sweet.  If it did have 2 analog sticks, it'd be hard to play without hitting the right one I would think.

[Louieturkey]

the 3DS has to have go processing abilities to display the renders twice, right?  Does that means games that don't use 3D could possibly look even better?

I think there is a chance, but probably not likely.  There may be a way that Nintendo built it so that if you are not creating a 3D game, it loses some of the processor power.  If the 3D games were inferior to 2D games, that would discourage companies from making 3D games and the 3DS would lose its biggest selling point.  You'll have to wait for homebrew to crack the system and pull full power on a 2D game I think.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Latest rumor is that Ubisoft is bringing all their HEAVY HITTERS to the 3DS. All the AAA titles are supposedly on the way.


.....I wonder if this is where Beyond Good & Evil 2 ended up?

Imagine a Red Steel 3DS though. Could be good fun.

[Spinnzilla]

you gotta link BNM?  i'm not doubting you, i just want to read more. :]

I'm ready for the hype train take off.