Nintendo confirms 3D handheld console coming
No special glasses needed, firm pledges
Nintendo is working on a version of its DS handheld console with the ability to display 3D content, the videogames pioneer has said.
And it won't need special glasses, the company promised.
Nintendo didn't say much more, beyond indicating a launch date before April 2011, the end of Nintendo's next financial year. A release that missed Christmas 2010 would be bonkers, we'd say, so expect it in time for that.
It will also play existing DS titles, Nintendo noted.
The company is calling the device the "Nintendo 3DS", but it stressed that this is a "temporary" moniker.
More details will be announced during June's videogame industry shindig, E3.
It's five years since Nintendo first launched the DS, during which time it has been revamped as the DS Lite, evolved into the DSi and been joined by a larger, e-book oriented model, the DS XL. By the end of December 2009, Nintendo had shipped more than 125 million of these models worldwide.
Still, it has its work cut out. A recent survey of games developers working on mobile platforms showed the majority were more keen on the iPhone than the likes of the DS and Sony PSP. ®
COMMENTS
It ain't the only one, silly!
The PSP Go manages to do most of that as well. And you can buy real games, not some cheap knockoff on popular titles as well!
As long as they don't pull up a Virtual Boy again...
That one could actually do 3D, if you consider an AutoCAD-ish wireframe image a "3D experience".
On other matters, I wonder how many of those "mobile developers" are actually games developers. Namco? SquareEnix? Capcom? id Software? Valve? Irrational? Konami? Somehow I doubt Street Fighter 4 is available for the iBone/iTouch, or Pokemon or <insert best-selling game here>. Real mobile gamers already have a DS or a PSP. N-Gage tried to do this and failed, and that one had fairly proper game controls.
And so late.
It is rather simple to do a one person 3d display without glasses; came out a couple of laptops ago.
Where was this when I could still see using my right eye?
(I am saving that one for a cyber implant giving me realtime Po . . . information on traffic and weather conditions. Yes, really I am.)
Virtualboy? Erm, not quite.
No-glasses 3D is already here and has been for many years. It's been on novelty prints and "special edition" DVD covers for a long time. Also known as "lenticular" stereoscopic 3D, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenticular_printing for more details.
I imagine with a bit of hackery, most/all 3D games for the DS could be engineered to work with it. How they get it to work with the bottom touch screen might be a bit tougher, but if they say they've cracked it.. could be worth a look. Plus, the lenticular system means you could use it for 3D, or for presenting different images depending on the viewing angle. Dunno how well that would translate into games, but fuck it. Is an idea.
