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Nintendo 3DS - What we know

All the scoops on Nintendo's new handheld

Nintendo 3DS - What we know
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3DS

E3 kicks off tonight.

Well, it started yesterday for all you non-pocket gamers, but Microsoft's conference only referred to Windows Phone 7 for about six seconds between (what felt like) five hours of dancing geeks, gyrating goons, and little girls tickling invisible predators.

But with Nintendo's keynote kicking off at 5PM GMT, our beloved handhelds will finally get a chance to shine as the Big N will be unveiling its latest portable gadget, the 3DS. This baffling box of tech will apparently chuck out 3D visuals, true retina scraping 3D stuff, without those silly cinema specs.

Take that, James Cameron and your troupe of weird blue cat things.

How will Nintendo achieve it? We have no idea. What games will the publisher show off? Not a clue. Will we even be able to see the 3D technology in online videos? Presumably not.

But here's some snippets of stuff we actually do know, culled from months of reporting on this phantom device we haven't seen hide nor hair of.

System specs

The 3DS (not the final name) was announced back in March with a ridiculously short press release from Nintendo to let us know that the system exists, it kicks out glasses-less 3D, and it'll be out before March 2011 in Japan.

It'll be backwards compatible with your old DS games, and the DSiWare games available on the store. And, if you're feeling a little queasy and not really up to being attacked by thre- dimensional plumbers, you can jam a switch to shut off the 3D visuals.

Here's everything we knew about the device back in March, when the system was first announced.

Rumour mill

As powerful as an Xbox 360, the 3DS features a widescreen display up top and a standard screen down below, all powered by parallax 3D LCD displays.

It'll also feature both an analogue stick and a D-pad, a vibration pack for shaky games and a tilt-sensor. It'll probably make the tea, too. Ah, and a 3D camera, so you can snap your buddies in three dimensions.

With just hours to go before Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata plucks this device from his jacket pocket, rumours aren't particularly interesting. But if they are all true, it will presumably be the most expensive device in the world and will run out of battery in twenty seconds.

What's the buzz?

Reactions from the gaming industry? Sony's John Koller questioned the marketability of 3D visuals for Nintendo's younger audience, saying "9 year-olds playing 3D is a little bit of a stretch". James Mielke from Q Entertainment slammed the console on Twitter, saying it will be "impossible for anyone other than Nintendo to make money on."

But other than those outliers, reaction has been pretty positive. We asked a bunch of DS developers, including Dementium II developer Renegade Kid and Big Bang Mini designer Arkedo Studio, for their impressions, and they all thought the new device sounded pretty sweet. Renegade's Jools Watsham enthused, "I think it will be the best handheld system to date."

Here's a run down of people who have expressed a desire to make a 3DS game: No More Heroes auteur Suda 51, LostWinds creator David Braben and SEGA. EA's John Riccitiello hasn't said anything about making a game for the device, but he's seen the thing and think it's "cool."

Not wicked awesome or amazing or game changing. But cool. He was under a strict Non-Disclosure Agreement though, so we'll let him off for using such a weak exclamation.

What else?

Nintendo has registered patents on names like 3DSWare and 3DSPlay. So even though the Japanese gaming behemoth says 3DS won't be the handheld's formal name, Nintendo's patent office actions suggest otherwise.

We've also got a collection of Photoshops from the community, all showing off exactly what they think the new console will look like. A fair warning, the wobbly dinosaur GIF makes me feel nauseous, so grab a bucket.

And finally, a Top 10 list of Nintendo franchises we'd like to see in eye-popping, cornea-tickling three dimensions, from Mario to Pokemon.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown spent several years slaving away at the Steel Media furnace, finally serving as editor at large of Pocket Gamer before moving on to doing some sort of youtube thing.