Nintendo 3DS

Your eyes will hurt if you play it for too long. But that’s a small price for this 3D console

It is finally here—the Nintendo 3DS. Persuading somebody that the 3DS is revolutionary takes less than a minute. After adjusting the screen inclination, distance and 3D slider, the content just pops up. I spent a whole night playing Asphalt 3D.

So what has Nintendo done this time? First, it got rid of those 3D glasses. Yes, you don’t need to wear clumsy glasses to see 3D. However, after about two hours of game play, the 3D can start to seem a bit blurry. But hey, for those two hours… imagine the football jumping out of the screen and scoreboard floating in your hands.

Sadly, the 3DS was launched with only eight titles in 3D. But, if you ever get to play just one game, even on a demo unit, you’ll be lining up for it.

The 3DS, like the earlier Nintendo DS handhelds, features two screens. The bottom screen is touch sensitive and shows game data such as layouts and maps. This screen is not 3D. It is the screen on top that is 3D enabled. And, if the images get blurry or you want to play an old DS game, just move the slider and you are back to the familiar 2D gaming world.

The console also has a camera that clicks pictures in 3D (so you can also see a birthday party in 3D). An interesting feature is the Mii Maker, with which you can make game characters out of your image and those of your friends, ahem, etcetera. You can play Face Raiders and beat up who you want to—not just a machine avatar called Jack or Michael.

Street Pass is another great technology. Once you turn it on, the 3DS will link up with any 3DS in the vicinity and you can have a game. You can turn on this feature and put the 3DS in standby mode. Street Pass will automatically detect another 3DS and you can play games as an anonymous player with another anonymous player. It’s a bit like toothing, really.

Sadly, this 3D wonder has not been launched in India yet.

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