Nintendo should just say sorry for the 3DS

Did you know Nintendo has released a new handheld? Well they did back in early 2011, called the 3DS, you know that DS which does 3D. What you never knew that it was a new system? You thought it was just an upgrade? Oh my. Well while this missguideded fact is thrown around through the publics mind thanks to Nintendos way of advertising it, and similar effect happened for the Wii U- the system itself has managed to sang a good amount of sales. The thing is though despite that, I’ve never seen or heard of someone owning a 3DS besides me. Now I know your about to say “but trinest, your a hermit”, however I have to retaliate with the simple observation that I do go outside sometimes, and even then all I see is people with Lites and the i series of consoles.

Now you probably read my blog for the laughs, or the misspelled words and horrible grammar. I don’t blame you, that does give a few laughs- but listen closely my dear subscriber, as I’m about to bring a point to this article. Especially with such a degrading and controversial title such as the one this article has.

The 3DS might be selling a good number of consoles, and it might have a few more games since launch, however the simple fact is these games are not been picked up by gamers and the system is left alone in many peoples minds once it has been bought. It’s like the Wii again, without the horrible “dusting off our Wii” puns. At the end of the day there are not many titles so far which can be given the “dusting off the 3DS” tag line. With 2012 showing some promise in good games arriving finally for the system, it lacks the great games which will define the system for generations to come.

Let’s look at when the original DS launched. Lots of gamers seem to be forgetting some facts, that there were games. Many people have slammed the originals lineup has worse then the 3DS and that people who think otherwise are misguided. In fact it is the opposite in this case, the 3DS line up was poor and even when games did start coming out, like Steel Diver and Pilotwings at the end of the day they where just tech demos. Then the remanding year of 2011 was quite weak and filled with ports and at the end of the year Mario Kart finally came out. However Mario Karts problem was that it was a mixture of the Wii and DS games, which in theory should be good however presented major problems when they took the bad stuff from each game instead of the good stuff. However if we look to the original DS, yes the lineup at launch was weak, but it was enjoyable, titles such as Project Rub (Feel The Magic) brought dare I say- a little magic to the systems launch. There was also big hitter ports such as Mario 64 DS at launch. Even the chat game Ping Pals got some love by some gamers. With the year (2005 for those playing at home was the AUS launch) just getting better, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Another Code to name a few. Yes you heard me right, Another Code the game which inspired me to make serious websites instead of playing around in Geocities, was a 2005 game. No game so far for the 3DS could be said as inspiring or magical, and titles which come close such as Good People Die and Layton vs Phoenix are miles off the first year of the system been out.

I don’t think the biggest problem is the lack of games, like I’ve said there are games, however the games are pretty b grade compared to previous generations. No I think the biggest issue would be the 3D. The 3D was meant to be the biggest selling point of the system, and probably is the reason why so many systems have been moved so far, the curiosity and ideas which 3D could be used for do sound like a great time. However the 3D was marketed too much as the systems focus instead of what else the system can do, it was also because of the difficulties on how to show 3D to gamers quite limited to how it could be approached. Before launch there was heaps of opportunities for gamers to try the system and experience the 3D. I didn’t go to any of these sort of events, however if I did I would of seriously reconsidered buying the system at launch. I would of had say the taste of what the system could do in my mouth and I would of been able to look with much clearer eyes towards the lineup and say “yes I can wait for that”, instead of “oh wow, new hardware I must have that to see what the fuss is”. You see 3D is horrible, for a few reasons. The main reason why I don’t like 3D comes down to it gives me headaches, I’m one of the few people in the world which isn’t bullshitting when it comes to saying that 3D gives me headaches and I know there must be heaps more then just me. In fact I can play with 3D on for a bit, but I do have to turn it off after awhile, my brother on the other hand can not look at 3D on the system for longer then a few seconds. It also isn’t because of poor setup, sliding the slider just changes it depending on the title from eye raping to eye murdering. Moving off from that fact which not many people will experience anyway, I think the biggest issue is how it is implemented and designed. Each title for one will have a different level of 3D as its base level, with most of the games having the highest level been double vision. Even then, just look at games which are meant to use the 3D great- Mario Kart for example was hyped before launch has been one of the titles which really make use of the 3D. Well if make use of the 3D means that the slider works properly instead of going from a little bit of 3D right into double vision 3D, then yes- Mario Kart uses 3D great. If using 3D to the best the system can offer however means sections which use 3D amazingly and want you to use it over just using 2D, then no- Mario Kart doesn’t have any of these. The main problem with 3D is that it when it works enhances the playing field so insignificantly, that without it, it doesn’t seem like a big deal.

My final dislikes with the 3D can easily be seen by anyone, which is how the eShop runs, the quality of applications and the general service etc. These problems are not an uphill battle to make people see the light that they exist, these problems are quite clearly there and that is just great.

Back to the title, it’s as clear as day “Nintendo should say Sorry for the 3DS”, you want to know why? Because it has no charm, no magic, no soul- it doesn’t sell the Nintendo brand to the mass market and isn’t the same level of design quality which made the Game Boy range and the original DS range win. This device is what I’d expect Sony to push out after seeing the success of the original DS and wanting to do better back when the original DS was out. It would of launched along side the original DS a year later and be rushed to the market with design faults and imperfections just so they can have a device which does what the competitions does. The 3D would be added just because it is a “one up” in their mind, as well as their high level of pushing 3D in many devices.
Gamers don’t want 3D and Nintendo learned that the hard way if it doesn’t pick up steam and make this puppy fly. There might be sales now, but that is only off the back bone that it is a Nintendo device and the inquisitive nature as to what 3D is and how it works. That will ware off and if Nintendo doesn’t have the marketing push and games to support the system it will end up failing in the next few years. However like I said before the system does have some games slowly popping up over the next year for the system, but none are from Nintendo (okay Animal Crossing is, but even then fans know to expect just Animal Crossing 64 upgraded for the 4th time).

These problems happened when the Wii U was revealed, but for different reasons, but are still the same core ideology which could result in failure with such a system. That is why Nintendo is consternating on a re-reveal, they need to make sure the market knows what their next console is, what it does and what makes it special but have the backing of quality games behind it, which the 3DS missed out on.

Personally I’d go back to the design of the Gameboy Micro, and make a speciality retro styled handheld. With all the big technology advancements which would benefit such a console, while retaining the charm the original generations of older handhelds brought to the table. Like it or not, I do believe that mobile phones will take over the handheld gaming space. However I also believe that the style of games which are currently on the devices and what gamers expect from handheld titles will change as well. I believe that the phones will end up getting more social interactive titles, which a title such as Animal Crossing would find a great home on. Along side the smaller quick and easy titles which currently exist on the phone platforms, I also believe that there will be some big hitters in the more traditional genres however these games if copied by others will not receive similar success due to the type of market and how it is evolving. Handheld consoles should take a few generational spaces back so they become much cheaper and disposable, and if there is a high quality of gaming, interaction and marketing behind the change it would be a viable change in industry policy.