Game-Teched

The highly anticipated new console from Nintendo has finally hit the shelves on Sunday morning, or Saturday night, whatever you call midnight of that night/morning. Nintendo has been teasing us with the concept of a 3D handheld for about two years now, and when they released the official details of the 3DS at E3 earlier last year, the entire world let out a cumulative scream of excitement. The main reason for this excitement? NO GLASSES REQUIRED. While this may not seem like a big deal, for gamers it really is. For too long we have been subjected to trying to wear clanking apparatus or flimsy pieces of crap that slip off you nose every 5 seconds that you decide to look down at the device.

All in all the 3DS looks great so far, and is probably the biggest release of the year, and one that will set a high standard for the next set of handheld releases that are on the block for the next few years with Sony unveiling a new 3D PSP model, at least we expect them too, or else we plan on them dropping out of the handheld race, after the PSP Go’s disastrous turn out. While I don’t own one yet, I got a chance to play on a prototype that one of my friends had acquired through is work, and even in early development, this thing was just plain amazing. Compared to the typical real3d movie or television set, this would be seen as equal or greater, primarily because of the fact that you don’t have to wear glasses, but also because they have made the screen much better than I expected and it ended up looking very nice.
The only real downside I can see to the 3DS is the lack of exciting launch titles. While there are going to be some original games released for it in the coming weeks, and many more to follow I’m sure, the only thing I’m truly excited about is ocarina of time’s release, but since that is just a re-do of an older game (but a true classic), I can’t be sure that this is really all that exciting because if you’re not a fan boy like me, you probably don’t find this remake all that impressive. One thing I can say that I am looking forward too however is the street fighter handheld games that are on the docket. With a current version of IV out right now, this really excites me from seeing the game play. Obviously playing/watching something in 3D gives it a new level of experience and depth, putting you deeper into the virtual world, but with these great starters, while they are not new, I think with the coming of future titles this will be one of the most formidable consoles for a long time.