Nintendo 3DS

1242527293037

Comments

  • edited August 2011
    I've listed my Soundtrack/box on eBay. Contributions would be welcome. :cool:

    Now that I'm done being cheeky, I persuaded my sister to grab a 3DS today, and scored a tenner to boot to lend her Zelda, and my services as a zelda veteran to offer help as and when it is needed.
  • edited August 2011
    It's not a "comparison", not in the same way you mean it, anyway. It's a reason not to take advantage of the many DS trade-in programs that could chop off a large portion of the system's price. If it played DS games perfectly, the trade-in(or trade-up) could POSSIBLY be justified. As it is, keeping a hold of the DS is a good idea if you want to actually have some satisfactory gameplay time with a dual screen Nintendo handheld made in the past decade.

    Yeah, but that's not what I was on about at all squire. You were saying how the 3DS has a poor library compared to the DS, which was when I came in guns a-blazin' saying it hadn't even been out even six months and blah blah blah. Not this backwards compatability debacle.

    I still have my DS Lite and I play my DS games on that because I don't like the black bars if I can avoid them, it feels akin to playing an old PC game that won't scale up to new fangled resolutions.

    To go off on a bit of a tangent, I think what camp you sit in for the handheld affair depends on what kind of games you wanna play. I don't really wanna play Deus Ex* or something at the airport, i'd rather something that's easy to consume in small bites in my downtime when i'm out and about is just the ticket. If you want the full on console experience in yo' hot little hands then it's Sony for you. It's my fond hope that with the improved hardware the 3Ds can sorta do a bit of both, but it's all up to the developers to make the console worth your while really.

    *everything at the moment is Deus Ex with me, I compared Mrs. Doubtfire to Deus Ex earlier
  • edited August 2011
    Rawr wrote: »
    If that is indeed the case, I would have complained just as much to be honest, infact I'd have taken it back to the store and just used my DS lite! The problem is, it is a significant difference in quality between the ds lite and 3ds, having lined up both consoles side by side running the same game. You either have massive black bars, or blur and washed out colours on the 3DS. Fantastic. Both of which you don't get on the DS lite. So yeah, I think I'll stick to using my DS Lite for playing Ds games, thank you very much.

    Also, isn't the used portion of the screen area smaller than the screen of the DS Lite when you use "black bars mode"?
  • edited August 2011
    Also, isn't the used portion of the screen area smaller than the screen of the DS Lite when you use "black bars mode"?

    That's actually because the DS Lite increased the screen size a bit when going from phat, more so in the width department.

    @Rawr
    I've used the function. Oh my god the colors were blurred out and washed to hell. There was obvious model problems and many more errors.Especially with PS1, it still even happened with PS2(not to the extreme of PS1 however). So, I disabled full screen use since it was terrible. Like, this way would actually affect gameplay for me when it came down to non-rpgs. It also got worse when you put smoothing on. The 3DS one hasn't yet affected any of my games gameplay like the PS3 one did.
    Plus the XL was worse since it also stretched the touch screen. Try playing Trauma Center on that.
  • edited August 2011
    Also, isn't the used portion of the screen area smaller than the screen of the DS Lite when you use "black bars mode"?
    It is, yeah, due to the resolution difference.
    LuigiHann wrote: »
    Who cares about black bars? The 3DS screen has more pixels on it than the DS Lite screen. Either the image is going to be stretched out, or the image is going to be letterboxed. There are literally no other options, given the hardware.

    It would have been really nice if Nintendo had built the 3DS with a resolution that was exactly twice the resolution of the original DS, so it could have perfect pixel scaling with no blurring whatsoever, but then I'd bet dollars to donuts that people would still complain because the DS games look "blocky" or "pixelly." The only way to avoid any change whatsoever would have been to make the 3DS screens exactly the same resolution as the DS's, and that would have been a huge waste of potential.

    Aside from the scaling, there may be some merit to the complaints about the colors being duller, but I feel like that effect has been exaggerated, since I haven't really noticed it in my experience. I just loaded up Ouendan on both my DS Lite and my 3DS in the default scaling mode, with brightness on the highest setting on both devices, and the title screen picture looks pretty much identical on both systems. It does seem like the DS Lite's backlight is slightly brighter overall, so that may skew impressions. Also, the 3DS's brightness settings have a "power saver mode" that you can turn off and on, and that mode makes colors a bit duller across the board. I'd have to check more games to have any real certainty, but my current very unscientific side-by-side test is not picking up any substantial differences.

    Edit: Checking out Mario Kart DS now, since it's a more colorful game. Differences between the systems are still pretty negligible in the large screen mode, and the differences are almost completely nonexistent in letterboxed mode. The only thing I'm noticing is that colors that are already grayish on the DS Lite tend to become ever-so-slightly grayer on the 3DS, like the purplish-blue-gray BG on Mario Kart's menus are becoming a bit more of a regular-blue-gray, especially on the bottom screen. But the bright colors stay bright pretty consistently. I think it might just be the difference in the screen brightness.
    Even on black bar mode I notice it quite a bit. It's possible it's due to the brightness difference, but either way, it seems to bug me far more than it does you, or the other people complaining at me for complaining.

    To be honest I didn't even want to make a big deal out of this, I just mentioned it was my only disappointment(And that I'd solve it myself by using my DS lite) and everyone jumped on me like raving fanboys.
  • edited August 2011
    It's because this has been thrown around as another top reason to not buy a 3DS(from obvious people). It gets to be an annoying argument. There are solutions to it, which for some reason people tend to ignore or bitch about, despite every other console doing the same thing.
  • edited August 2011
    Why can't they just make the 3DS run a regular DS game in the same resolution as a 3DS game? I mean, they're both 3D (as in 3D graphics API). It's not like any scaling is required. They could preserve the aspect ratio (without stretching) but still increase the resolution. For that matter they could also add anti-aliasing filters to the textures.
  • edited August 2011
    they do allow for a DS game to run in the 3DS resolution. Also when you add those filters you'll still notice stretching errors aswell. The problem here is people seem to complain about the 3DS running DS games in the 3DS resolution because it stretches them. However people complain about the DS games being run natively because it adds "those annoying blackbars".
  • edited August 2011
    Why can't they just make the 3DS run a regular DS game in the same resolution as a 3DS game? I mean, they're both 3D (as in 3D graphics API). It's not like any scaling is required. They could preserve the aspect ratio (without stretching) but still increase the resolution. For that matter they could also add anti-aliasing filters to the textures.

    Even the DS games that are all in polygon-based 3D tend to use massive amounts of 2D sprites that would look weird and blurry if upscaled. Probably something similar to the N64 games on the Wii virtual console, which isn't too bad I suppose.
  • edited August 2011
    Elvenmonk wrote: »
    they do allow for a DS game to run in the 3DS resolution. Also when you add those filters you'll still notice stretching errors aswell. The problem here is people seem to complain about the 3DS running DS games in the 3DS resolution because it stretches them. However people complain about the DS games being run natively because it adds "those annoying blackbars".

    But if I was to, say, emulate a game on my PC, it wouldn't look bad. In fact, as a friend showed me once, the games often look much better. He was running Mario 64 in HD. Given that HD resolutions most certainly weren't programmed into the original game, that upscaling was done by the Emulation software.

    The same software also allowed the creation of save states, which is why I don't understand why the GBA games we're getting for free don't have those. Afterall, the VC is just an emulator, right?
  • edited August 2011
    YAY I got my Zelda soundtrack!
  • edited August 2011
    Elvenmonk wrote: »
    they do allow for a DS game to run in the 3DS resolution. Also when you add those filters you'll still notice stretching errors aswell. The problem here is people seem to complain about the 3DS running DS games in the 3DS resolution because it stretches them. However people complain about the DS games being run natively because it adds "those annoying blackbars".

    As I understand it, the 3DS merely stretches the regular DS resolution to fill the 3DS screen. That's not running it in the 3DS's native resolution like I suggested, which would avoid blurring AND blockiness. What you're saying is mere upscaling. I'm not talking about that.
  • edited August 2011
    Friar wrote: »
    But if I was to, say, emulate a game on my PC, it wouldn't look bad. In fact, as a friend showed me once, the games often look much better. He was running Mario 64 in HD. Given that HD resolutions most certainly weren't programmed into the original game, that upscaling was done by the Emulation software.

    The up-scaling is indeed done by the emulation software, but it does that on a case by case basis. Super Mario 64 is the best or worst example you could give (depending on what you want to show) for the up-scaling, because all N64 emulators are optimized for that particular game, so saying that THAT runs great in HD doesn't mean much. Take a fairly unknown game, and see how that runs in HD.

    Of course you can probably run a game and just tell it that the screen is now larger, and it might give you results, but due to limitations, the assumption that these games will never run on differently sized screens anyway and the attempt to get the most out of the hardware, there is also hard coded shading etc. in this which would lead to ugly results for a lot of games.

    From what I heard, e.g. Wind Waker on the GameCube uses hard-coded pixel for pixel shading for the awesome depth-of-field effect, which would result in a visible grid if you'd simply up-scale it.

    So pretty much the only choice they have is to up-scale the final image, or have black bars, or write an emulator that fixes these issues for every single game that ever existed on the DS, and that's in many ways not worth the effort.

    You could also read this post as an argument why PC games are technically superior to console games, because those ARE designed with such things in mind, at least if programmed well.

    PS:
    A similar argument goes for the savestate problem you mentioned. And another reason is that a company like Nintendo wants to do their things professional and not just hack stuff in their games, which could lead to potential errors or security leaks for the sake of satisfying a few people.
  • edited August 2011
    I figured there would be a reasoning as such for the lack of upscaling. I think processing power has something to do with it too, with DS games probably being run by an inbuilt DS rather than an emulator, as emulators consume more resources.

    Meh, it's a relative non-issue for me. Playing with the bars makes it clearer than it was on the DS anyway, so I don't mind. The load times are longer though, which is a bit of a pain. And not being able to switch between screen sizes at will (like you could on the GBA, by pressing l/r). It would have been nice to have the home button do this (seeing as currently it's only purpose with DS games is to close the software. Which can be done by pressing the powerbutton anyway...)

    As for save states, that is essentially what the game suspension feature is in the VC games. In addition to the quicksave from the wii, you have the ability to create savepoints anywhere, which you can load anytime. Although, you are limited to one at a time. Meh, the game's are free (or £80 depending on your point of view), so I can't really complain but it would have been very nice to have them fully fleshed out like other VC titles.
  • edited August 2011
    So 3DS sales are up 726% since the price drop. I shoulda went and bought some shares when they hit the floor last month like I said I would *grumble mumble*
  • edited August 2011
    Friar wrote: »
    with DS games probably being run by an inbuilt DS rather than an emulator, as emulators consume more resources.

    This is confirme true because that's the reason why R4 carts work on the 3DS, because they're running an inbuilt 3DS. However the R4 carts can't run any 3DS games, VC, or anything new to the 3DS. Even the special R4 3DS is the same as an R4/R4i.
  • edited August 2011
    JedExodus wrote: »
    So 3DS sales are up 726% since the price drop. I shoulda went and bought some shares when they hit the floor last month like I said I would *grumble mumble*

    The stock is still pretty cheap right now. I wish I bought mine for this low. >_>
  • edited August 2011
    Full ambassador NES titles are:

    Super Mario Bros.
    Donkey Kong Jr.
    Balloon Fight
    Ice Climber
    The Legend of Zelda
    Wrecking Crew
    Mario Open Golf
    Yoshi
    Metroid
    Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

    A very solid lineup there.
    Hopefully those other 5 GBA titles will be good.

    Also apparently they go live 1st September and you have to re-download them via the Account Activity section.

    (Its in the option screen on the 3DS store. Far left one)
  • edited August 2011
    what're the 5 announced GBA games?
  • edited August 2011
    Elvenmonk wrote: »
    what're the 5 announced GBA games?

    So far, Metroid Fusion, Mario Kart Super Circuit, Mario vs Donkey Kong, Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, and WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$.

    I really am glad I bought my 3DS. I just hope that the rumors of a new iteration of the design that adds another analog slider and tones down the 3D are just rumors. I think that would be a terrible move on Nintendo's part, especially after already lowering the price.
  • edited August 2011
    Elvenmonk wrote: »
    what're the 5 announced GBA games?

    So far on the GBA front we have:

    •Yoshi's Island™: Super Mario™ Advance 3
    •Mario Kart™: Super Circuit
    •Metroid™ Fusion
    •WarioWare™, Inc.: Mega Microgame$
    •Mario vs. Donkey Kong™

    With the other 5 being announced later.

    Still no exact date on the GBA releases, still by the end of 2011.#

    EDIT: Ninja'd HAHA! XD

    On the subject of a redesign, I don't think the 3DS needs changing really.
    The 3D is fine, you can calibrate it to something confortable.
    (Usually half-way does me good).

    Maybe a few years down the line, yeah why not.

    Gotta give the console a chance to teeth ya know.
  • edited August 2011
    I think perhaps the second hardware revision they'll fix up the 3D some more to be more forgiving and then improve the battery obviously. Other then that I see no reason for a revision.

    Also there's no way of Nintendo toning down the 3D for the console and adding a second stick. That'd effectively kill their developer support and customer loyalty. See what Sega did with the Genisis to it's death. Then if you're confused go to G4tv.com (I know, trust me on this) and go to their videos and watch the episode of Game Makers (a documentry about video games) on sega. You can see how a lot of developers felt about Sega in that documentry.
  • edited August 2011
    Finally, a decent game being announced rather than cancelled!
  • edited August 2011
    I dunno what you're talking about. I've about 7 games I own and play. Plus my DSiWare and then the Virtual console games.
  • edited August 2011
    Saw that a few days ago. I almost died of happiness.
  • edited August 2011
    Friar wrote: »
    Finally, a decent game being announced rather than cancelled!

    F**K YEAH! I remember getting the "worst park ever" award and I think that was the last time I ever played the game.

    Lets see if Ive improved :D

    And I got my 10 games.
    Ice Climber, and Wrecking Crew arent the best, Mario and Zelda are duh great, NES Golf is ok I guess, it took me a long time to actually figure out how to play, and Ballon Fighter was surprisngly good:D
  • edited August 2011
    Elvenmonk wrote: »
    I dunno what you're talking about. I've about 7 games I own and play. Plus my DSiWare and then the Virtual console games.

    I wasn't implying that there wasn't games out already or on the way, just that it makes a change to see a game being announced for the thing rather than cancelled or delayed.

    I'm really looking forward to this. I loved the first two games, an I just hope this has a sandbox mode, because it was a pain having to create my own sandbox park in RCT2.
  • edited September 2011
    Ah, I misread. eh, there's been a few more announced games, but they've been announced with TBAs.
  • edited September 2011
    I wish the estore had more 3DS stuff. Seems to be mostly re-releases and dsiware games.
  • edited September 2011
    Rawr wrote: »
    I wish the estore had more 3DS stuff. Seems to be mostly re-releases and dsiware games.

    True, true.

    Then again, don't forget that people actually have to make the stuff first, which is not always as simple as it seems.
    (I'm not sure, but I'm fairly sure that Nintendo still don't really do patching, even for the 3DS)

    There are a few things coming out on the store later in the year. Actual 3DS stuff, but its still a bit off.

    EDIT: Found a release list here from IGN. Main highlight there being Mighty Switch Force, and Four Swords, (which to be fair there have only been two of those, one on the gamecube and one bundled with A Link to the Past on GBA, and it was never exactly easy to set those games up, so a DSiWare version makes things much easier and cheaper!).
    Also don't forget that Cave Story has a retail 3DS remake as well, and I think the DSiWare version would likely be based on the Wiiware version.
    (I myself am going to get the 3DS version. It looks so prettyful)

    3D Classics Urban Champion (3DSWare, Nintendo, 18th August)
    Gargoyle’s Quest (VC, Capcom, 25th August )
    Mega Man: Dr. Wily’s Revenge (VC, Capcom, 15th September)
    3D Classics TwinBee (3DSWare, Nintendo, 22nd September)
    Pyramids (3DSWare, Enjoy Gaming, September)
    Zelda: Four Swords (DSiWare, Nintendo, September)
    Mutant Mudds (3DSWare, Renegade Kid, December)
    Mighty Switch Force (3DSWare, WayForward, Autumn)
    Zen Pinball 3D (3DSWare, Zen Studios, Q4)
    Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (VC, Nintendo, Q4)
    Metroid II – Return of Samus (VC, Nintendo, Q4)
    Bionic Commando (VC, Capcom, Q4)
    Cave Story (DSiWare, Nicalis, Q4)
  • edited September 2011
    I realise that, but it's been out a while now. I just would have expected something more than just a 3D golf game and a few 3D re-releases.

    Only thing I own from the store is Zenonia which is DSiWare. I bought my 3DS the day the price drop started, so no free games for me.
  • edited September 2011
    Rawr wrote: »
    I realise that, but it's been out a while now. I just would have expected something more than just a 3D golf game and a few 3D re-releases.

    Only thing I own from the store is Zenonia which is DSiWare. I bought my 3DS the day the price drop started, so no free games for me.

    You're not missing much. (Quite a few portables out there that can do NES and GBA. Though not legally of course! XD)

    That being said though, I think its mostly due to Nintendo rushing the 3DS' release.

    A late August release would have fixed that, plus they would have known more about the Vita to gauge a better price, but eh, its something people have talked about to death so lets not go into too much detail.

    I think once the core Nintendo software is out there, the system is going to pick up a lot better on all fronts.
    (From what I've read on various place, many people are like "I'll get it when X comes out", and I think the Nintendo games announced got a lot of people's attention)

    I still think the 3DS could be as successful as the DS was. Its all about the software in the end, and most of the time, thats a long-term game.
  • edited September 2011
    So we now have the "Nintendo show" on the eshop for the US
    NOT the Nintendo Video app where it freaking belongs!
    EDIT:And it having the same problem with Nintendo week where I have no clue how far it is loaded and have to guess on if it has or not, another reason why it needed to be on nintnedo week.
  • edited September 2011
    I'm getting annoyed by the video app alone. It just downloaded a Glee 3D movie trailer. I don't even like Glee! Should just have a list and allow you to download them in the background by choice. Especially when it replaces perfectly good videos. It replaced one of the OKgo videos. I like OK go.
  • edited September 2011
    I wanted to keep the dinosaur office video.
  • edited September 2011
    Im not particularly a fan of snowboarding but that Snowboarding one was amazing.
  • edited September 2011
    So, it turns out that there's going to be an analog stick addon for the 3DS...

    http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/09/07/monhan3g_update/

    I'm personally not quite sure what to think, other than that it'll be rather uncomfortable.
  • edited September 2011
    I'm confused. Doesn't it already have an analogue "stick"?
  • edited September 2011
    The add-on would attach another analog stick on the right side to conform to the modern duel-analog standard, to make it somewhat consistent with the last couple generations of home consoles.

    Seems a bit obnoxious to me, though I'd probably rather play Luigi's Mansion 2 that way than use motion controls, and making the base grip bigger would probably be more comfortable overall for a big-handed guy like me.

    http://www.infendo.com/this-is-what-your-3ds-will-look-like-after-nintendo-gets-a-hold-of-it/

    Seems kind of like it'd get in the way of reaching the face buttons, but maybe that wouldn't be a problem. I suppose you don't often use both at the same time within a given game
  • edited September 2011
    So rumor has it now that the Minish cap will be making an apperance later in the year.
Sign in to comment in this discussion.