Nintendo 3DS
(Note: I work for company that could be considered a competitor for this device. I have avoided any direct comparisons, and these opinions are my own as an interested geek and video game player.)
I bought a Nintendo Gameboy 3DS recently. I'd been very curious about the device since I'd first read (and could hardly believe) that it had a real 3D display without the need for glasses. I decided to preorder one, since I'd been slow to move on the previous major Nintendo release, the Wii. Was it worth it?
In short, no. It has three major flaws, especially when compared to the competition: the display, the game selection, and the battery life. And, while it has a few novel features, they don't really add enough to the experience to outweigh the downsides.
Display: the 3D display is the main attraction. So what's not to love? The washed out colors and low resolution, for starters. The tiny size, for another. The 3DS itself is fairly bulky, and yet the display itself is smaller than on most phones. Yes, the 3D is glasses free, as advertised, but it must be held within a fairly specific zone in front of your head, or the illusion shatters. A personal nitpick is that I can't hold it very close to my face, which is my preference when I remove my glasses. Even if you are holding it in the right zone, however, 3D feels gimmicky, much like it does in a movie theater. The 3D relationships between objects do not adjust as you move your head or rotate the device, leaving the fake world feeling brittle.
All of these factors: small screen, low resolution, washed out colors, and fussy positioning end up making the prospect of watching a movie on the screen deeply unappealing, and make games like Super Street Fighter feel cramped and noisy.
Game Selection: this one is easy. There ain't much. But it'll get better, so it's hard to ding for this too much. Honestly, I felt more concerned after I revisited the DS games available and realized they were all $40 equivalents of $2 games available on other platforms. I'm also distressed that my favorite game to date, Ghost Recon, keeps crashing partway through the current mission.
Battery Life: another easy one. Three hours? Really? I can live with that on a laptop that I'm willing to lug somewhere and then plug in, but a gaming device must do better. The PSP got twice that with a better looking screen, years ago.
There are some interesting features, to be sure. The 3D camera is a cute gimmick, although it suffers because there is no obvious way to share (let me at least tweet the picture as a dual image somebody can stare at cross-eyed!). The ambient social networking is an unabashedly cool idea: devices swap info while sleeping when they are physically proximate, AND you get bribed for using the device as a pedometer. Unfortunately, despite carrying the device from Austin to Silicon Valley and back, I apparently encountered exactly zero other users.
In the end, the whole thing feels like a relic. Too bulky, too little battery, too much reliance on a previous device's aging repertoire. And a big failed bet placed on an idea that wasn't even that cool back it was called ViewMaster. This was pretty much the death knell for me for the current stab at 3D displays.
I bought a Nintendo Gameboy 3DS recently. I'd been very curious about the device since I'd first read (and could hardly believe) that it had a real 3D display without the need for glasses. I decided to preorder one, since I'd been slow to move on the previous major Nintendo release, the Wii. Was it worth it?
In short, no. It has three major flaws, especially when compared to the competition: the display, the game selection, and the battery life. And, while it has a few novel features, they don't really add enough to the experience to outweigh the downsides.
Display: the 3D display is the main attraction. So what's not to love? The washed out colors and low resolution, for starters. The tiny size, for another. The 3DS itself is fairly bulky, and yet the display itself is smaller than on most phones. Yes, the 3D is glasses free, as advertised, but it must be held within a fairly specific zone in front of your head, or the illusion shatters. A personal nitpick is that I can't hold it very close to my face, which is my preference when I remove my glasses. Even if you are holding it in the right zone, however, 3D feels gimmicky, much like it does in a movie theater. The 3D relationships between objects do not adjust as you move your head or rotate the device, leaving the fake world feeling brittle.
All of these factors: small screen, low resolution, washed out colors, and fussy positioning end up making the prospect of watching a movie on the screen deeply unappealing, and make games like Super Street Fighter feel cramped and noisy.
Game Selection: this one is easy. There ain't much. But it'll get better, so it's hard to ding for this too much. Honestly, I felt more concerned after I revisited the DS games available and realized they were all $40 equivalents of $2 games available on other platforms. I'm also distressed that my favorite game to date, Ghost Recon, keeps crashing partway through the current mission.
Battery Life: another easy one. Three hours? Really? I can live with that on a laptop that I'm willing to lug somewhere and then plug in, but a gaming device must do better. The PSP got twice that with a better looking screen, years ago.
There are some interesting features, to be sure. The 3D camera is a cute gimmick, although it suffers because there is no obvious way to share (let me at least tweet the picture as a dual image somebody can stare at cross-eyed!). The ambient social networking is an unabashedly cool idea: devices swap info while sleeping when they are physically proximate, AND you get bribed for using the device as a pedometer. Unfortunately, despite carrying the device from Austin to Silicon Valley and back, I apparently encountered exactly zero other users.
In the end, the whole thing feels like a relic. Too bulky, too little battery, too much reliance on a previous device's aging repertoire. And a big failed bet placed on an idea that wasn't even that cool back it was called ViewMaster. This was pretty much the death knell for me for the current stab at 3D displays.