Nintendo Gets Desperate, Slashes 3DS Price

Nintendo has had a rough couple of months. Its Wii home console is effectively dead, long abandoned by third party developers of any worth. The Wii’s replacement, the Wii U, is a long way out from release and still needs many questions answered to become appealing for consumers. Finally, Nintendo’s experimental sequel to the incredibly successful DS handheld, the 3DS, had a disappointing launch in most markets.

Now, in a desperate attempt to increase sales, Nintendo has dropped the price of their new handheld by $80, only four months after release. Originally released at $250, the 3DS was Nintendo’s most expensive handheld ever, matching the Wii’s launch price and dwarfing its current ticket price of $149. A lot of consumers, including myself, felt that was a lot to ask for a product with questionable 3D and an anemic launch catalog. Even after the launch of the 3DS remake of Ocarina of Time, I’ve had a hard time justifying this price tag. But this is a pretty staggering price drop that only shows how poorly the 3DS is selling. Most game systems see price drops a year after launch and even then only dips of fifty or so dollars.

So the question is, will consumers bite at $170? Maybe. At $170 I could now consider the 3DS if good software arrives, but that day is still off. The 3DS needs stronger games from third parties in order to compete. After this holiday season we may see that needed strength return but until then I can only sit and wait. I sold my DS Lite back in 2008 because I found myself never using it. Since then, the iPhone has reintroduced me to mobile gaming and having a high quality dedicated machine is something I would love, if the software was there.

For those of you who dropped the full $250, luck for you Nintendo is aware of your woes. You are now a Nintendo Ambassador — part of a new rewards program that recognizes you as an early adopter and entitles you to 20 free NES and Gameboy games from the 3DS eShop. It’s a good consolation I must admit.

Nintendo needs a win. The 3DS’s dwindled sales and desperate price drop are evidence of that sad fact.

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E3 2011: Nintendo

It’s a shame that I’m following this standard format in my titles for all the E3 press conferences because they lack a bit of creativity that I’d like to have in my titles. It’s even worse for this post in particular because I’m not able to convey my enthusiasm for the showing by Nintendo this afternoon. Nintendo has this great way of constantly kicking ass at E3. Even if later on we complain about the products they show, the is this weird aura of hype and wonder after a Nintendo press event. Last year it was the 3DS that stole the show and this year Nintendo dropped their next major console and great new games. Let’s run through what we saw.

First up, Nintendo’s master game design Shigeru Miyamoto came on stage to talk about the evolution of the Zelda series in its 25 years. A full orchestra accompanied Miyamoto and his translator as they announced a series of concerts based around Zelda music. I’m very excited for that. Miyamoto also announced that 3 Legend of Zelda titles will be released this year: Link’s Awakening as downloadable title on the 3DS’s new Virtual Console; the Ocarina of Time 3DS remake with upgraded graphics and new features; and Skyward Sword for the Wii. There were no further demonstrations of these games (in fact there were no game demos at all during the conference), which is a shame because I want to see how Skyward Sword is coming along. Skyward Sword was the only Wii game discussed at the conference. Face it folks, the Wii is dead.

Checked out a 3DS Today

Finally got a chance to check out the 3DS for myself at a Best Buy today.  I must say the device is far more elegant and solid when you hold it in your hands.  As for the 3D display, I can say it does work after 2 seconds of adjustment and some fine-tuning of the 3D slider.  Playing a demo of Pilot Wings 3D showed off nice use of depth perception and the strong controls of the analog nub.  3D depth is less jumping out at you than more like depth into the screen, which is an important distinction.  While the 3D works, I really can’t say that it added much to the game, but maybe that’s because Pilot Wings 3D is just kind of boring.  Still, it’s a sharp looking piece of hardware and it works.  I’ll be keeping an eye on the 3DS for a bit longer.

So, About the 3DS…

In case you missed it, sunday our long journey to the US release of the Nintendo 3DS finally come to an end.  The system has launched, the games are out, the reviews are in, and predictably the lines are long.  Nintendo has had a pretty successful launch by all accounts.  No major problems, the system is working, a spatter of 16 launch titles of varying quality.  So why am I not excited?  Why don’t I really care?  It’s been such a long odyssey waiting for the damn system and I’ve posted at least 5 articles on the freaking thing, so why has my enthusiasm diminished?  I’ve been thinking long and hard about it and I think I’ve figured it out now.

Throughout reading reviews from a vast array of sites ranging from tech sites like ArsTechnica and Gizmodo, gaming sites like IGN and Joystiq, and even mainstream sources like The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, one thing has become quite clear: the 3D works….. sometimes.  The parallax barrier is designed as such that it does work as advertised, but some games don’t use the feature well at all and while the depth slider can allow for good adjustment on the fly, moving even a little bit messes up the illusion, causing headaches.  You CANT have the one feature that makes or breaks your device work sometimes.  It needs to be reliable or don’t have it at all.

You know, it’s strange because we often think about Nintendo as the company that moves slowly with technology, when that’s really not the case.  Nintendo was the first to usher in analog control, motion control, touch controls, and now stereoscopic 3D graphics.  Nintendo is a great company for innovating with new and interesting technology to enhance the way we play games.  That is most certainly and undeniably true: Nintendo has been one of the greatest innovating forces ever in the history of video games.  But they still miss the mark.  Because with every innovation the company makes, they completely miss what the rest of the market introduces and makes essential to gaming.  When Nintendo goes to analog control, Sony starts using CDs.  When Nintendo starts using touch controls, Apple revolutionizes how we access our content.  Nintendo introduces motion controls but completely misses the boat on HD graphics and the next generation of online infrastructures.  And now with the 3DS, Nintendo has brought 3D gaming but seems to have forgotten about the 5 years of software development in the mobile space.

For every great, generation-defining innovation makes, Nintendo forgets about meeting consumers with the features considered common place.  Friend codes is a great example.  Nintendo has thrown players a bone with finally giving you a single code for your machine, used across games.  That and assigning a Mii as your avatar is about it.  There’s no way to look up friends, no interactive plaza for finding friends, no way to look up players by name.  Linking to friends still requires you to get their friend code from them through other channels than Nintendo’s own system.  Why does Nintendo, as ArsTechnica put it, fear a social planet?  Why do they constantly provide a framework but fail to flesh it out?  In a world where mobile devices are capable of innumerable operations for our daily lives, why does Nintendo offer a pedometer and….uh…. Bueller?

The same goes for hardware.  Some choices from Nintendo seem frustratingly short-sighted.  In a post-iPhone world where multi-touch is ubiquitous, why is the 3DS touch screen still stylus-based, resistive affair?  Why are the cameras so god awful and the software nothing more than a quick diversion that will attract a toddler for an afternoon?  Why is the battery life so atrocious?

I think the problem is that Nintendo continues to try to out innovate themselves and now it has approached gimmick levels.  The 3DS has only proved that 3D gaming is possible, not that its necessary or inherently better.  The quality of a game should be in its design, narrative, content, and gameplay.  Not how it is presented or the type of input used.  Adam Sessler’s most recent “Sessler Soapbox” weighed the same issue because he too has had a serious loss of enthusiasm towards the 3DS.  In his belief – which I agree with – Nintendo has made the game industry think that it needs to change the way we play, but not what we play.  Move and Kinect and the Wiimote are just replacements for existing systems, but these controller types have at best proven marginally more immersive than a gamepad or at worst vastly underused and poorly executed.  We can’t have such a wild range of quality in the most basic way we interact with our games (the same is true for the 3DS display).  Why do we feel the need to change how we play when we continue to watch movies and read books the way we have for the past century?

Nintendo wants you to believe that they are placing the games before the technology, but that’s just not the case.  They still care about the hardware before the game, just not the processing silicon.  Nintendo is willing to recycle old games as long as you control it (or view it) differently.  Pilot Wings Resort is a barebones, phony flight simulator with nothing particularly exciting happening.  Ocarina of Time will be a remake of a great game, but that’s really it.  These games don’t feel even remotely as inspired in their design as Assassin’s Creed, Mass Effect or Minecraft.  These games push the medium forward in a variety of aspects, and they do it just fine with existing inputs and display technologies.

So the 3DS might be a good gaming machine and great games will most certainly arrive on the system.  But the 3DS sets a bad precedent of leveraging gimmicks before truly inspired game design and incomplete experiences.  Here’s hoping the 3DS Lite brings major software improvements and better battery life to boot.

Briefly: The Final Pieces of the 3DS Puzzle

I almost completely forgot that Nintendo had their 3DS event today, except for the fact that news has been coming from all angles.  So today Nintendo has announced the final launch date and price of the 3DS in North America.  So here’s the proverbial “skinny”: the 3DS will be yours on March 27th for $250.  For that you get the system, charging dock, and a 2GB SD card for storage.  Let’s talk price first.  At $250, this is the same launch price as the Nintendo Wii in 2006 – their home console.  As well, this is now the most expensive handheld ever released by Nintendo, beating the DSi XL by $60.  Still, this is the same launch price as Sony’s PSP, so this is not exorbitant.  And remember, in a year I guarantee there will be a 3DS Lite that will be available for less.

A few other pieces of information were disclosed today.  First off, all online gamers long plagued by the Wii’s abhorrent friend codes can rejoice that the 3DS has ONE friend code!!  Yes folks, unified friend codes are here!  It’s not a gamer tag or anything, but this is a vast improvement.  Mii integration would be nice (and could be coming).  In fact, I’ll give an entire shout out to the 3DS’s software stack.  SpotPass and StreetPass allows for instant wireless communication even while the systems are sleeping, trading data regardless of the game currently running.  The system is running a real OS, like a miniature version of the Wii Channels, that even supports multitasking and app switching.  This, in combination with DSWare, could lead to a micro App ecosystem in Nintendo plays their cards right.  Visually it still looks very basic, and the apps are going to be limited (nothing even close to modern smartphone standards) but this is a major step up from the DS and shows Nintendo has intentions of stepping their game up.

So this is the 3DS, expensive but very promising.  I’m hearing rumors that the 3D is not as reliable as once thought, but I imagine that differs by person.  I’ll have to try it for myself.  My only qualms remain that Nintendo may not have thought far enough ahead with the system, but I’m just a nerd.

3DS: New Info, Weak Battery Life

Over the past few weeks, we’ve started to see more and more information about Nintendo’s strongly anticipated sequel to the successful Nintendo DS.  Obviously the big pull on the new handheld is its use of autostereoscopic 3D for a new way to play games.  By all accounts, it works well and the games debuting with the system are strong (Ocarina of Time remake? Hells yeah!).  However, that is not my only interest in the device. Ever since the announcement and thorough dissection of the Wii, Nintendo’s last home console, I have become fixated with the transition Nintendo has made in terms of their hardware.  The Wii is, of course, the least powerful of the current generation console.  According to specifications that are still not confirmed by Nintendo, the Wii is only about 50% faster than the Gamecube.  Now, it has been over 4 years since the release of the Nintendo Wii, so complaining about its hardware now is nothing short of whining.  That said, I have forever felt that Nintendo was irresponsibly short-sighted in the development of their hardware.  Though they did not want to continue the graphics race with Sony and Microsoft, they still delivered a system that was marginally more powerful than their old console and endlessly limiting for developers.  So the question remains: has Nintendo righted its previous wrongs?

The 3DS was a positive sign.  The adoption of 3D technology meant that the device would need to render two images at once, thus needing stronger hardware.  The graphics shown at E3 were a major jump from the DS into PSP and even last generation console quality.  While there were few technical details, the use of DMP’s Pica200 GPU core showed that Nintendo now had a modern GPU running the show.  Besides from that, all technical details remained silent.  At least raw hardware specs.  Tons of news on the system’s advanced networking software and OS stack have come to light, we’ve seen the product over and over, and the games themselves speak for the power of the system.  So what remains?

Right before around New Years, a production version of the 3DS was stolen from a chinese factory and a video made its way online.  While the video of the device has been removed, the information we have gleaned remains.  Most of the video showed comparisons of the 3DS to contemporaries and predecessors, most notably the past iterations of the DS, in terms of dimensions and size.  Overall, while the device open looks great, with an excellent screen, nice shiny plastic and a contemporary style, I can’t help but notice its shear thickness.  At .83 inches, the system is as thick as the larger DSi XL and rather chunky compared to the more svelte .74 inch DSi.  Now I do understand that the 3DS packs far more gadgetry into its hull than the DSi, but 4/5ths of an inch seems like quite a bit for 2011.  By comparison, the EVO 4G – a massive 4.3 inch smartphone – weighs in at .5 inches.  The iPhone 3GS is .43″ and the iPhone 4 is only .37″.  Of course Nintendo should not be compared to the ultra-high end efforts of HTC or Apple, but those devices pack ridiculously powerful hardware in their frames – far more powerful than the 3DS.  Having dual screens on a hinge as well can add thickness, but again this seems like an area Nintendo could have worked on.  The screens on sliding phones like the T-Mobile G2 and Epic 4G still come in thinner than the 3DS’s design, and with higher resolution panels and capacitive touch layers.  Even the 3D-generating parallax barrier is not an excuse for not working over the design more thoroughly.  While the 3DS is a nice looking machine, when closed up it seems pretty big.  I feel Nintendo could have worked to refine the design more and trim off as much as .1″.

The 3DS makes the 3GS look downright miniscule.

Another part of the thickness in the 3DS comes from its battery, which the video of the stolen machine states carries a capacity of 1300mAh, a pretty good amount in line with many smartphones’ battery capacities.  By comparison, the original DS had a 850mAh battery.  Now here’s the bad part: 3-5 hours.  That’s the amount of time the 3DS’s battery is good for when playing 3DS games.  5-8 for DS games.  That is, in a word, unacceptable.  It is 2011.  High powered smartphones constantly connected to 3G networks, gaming, playing music and movies, pulling emails, and sending texts can still manage at least a day of battery power.  10 hours if totally devoted to games.  Even with two screens, one 3D, and more powerful hardware than the DS, you would think that a 65% larger battery would last as long as the original DS’s 6-10 hours.  Nintendo has done power optimizations before too!  The DSi brought four times the RAM and twice the processor speed of the original DS, flash memory to power and even had a smaller 840mAh battery and yet maintained a 9-14 hour advertised battery life.  Either the Pica200 is incredibly power/inefficient or the twin ARM11s are fabricated at 130nm instead of the 65nm they should be at (assuming the 3DS does use the rumored twin ARM11 set up).  No wonder it comes with a cradle for faster charging.

Well, besides from that major detraction, there is more good news to come out.  The leaked video has also identified what is believed to be a RAM chip with a capacity of 128MB, 96MB of which are accessible to developers and 32MB reserved for the OS.  At 96MB accessible, this is the highest RAM amount to ever grace a Nintendo system – the Wii clocks in at around 88MB.  As well as the leaked video, Nintendo has divulged a vast array of specs on their Japanese site ahead of their launch in February (though nothing particularly technical).  Of note to me is that the top display is now a full 24-bit color display, capable is displaying 16.7 Million colors, up from the DS’s 18-bit display.  Little things like that folks get me through the day.

Look, in the end the 3DS is gonna be a rock star system. That’s in bold because I want to make that clear.  But at the same time, I maintain trepidation over the hardware endeavors of the Japanese company and often wonder if the company needs a change of direction in its hardware arm.

3DS Hardware Specs Fully Revealed? An In-Depth Analysis

In case you haven’t figured it out through reading my multiple posts, I’m a sucker for specs.  I love having solid lists and clear-cut explanations of exactly what kind of hardware is running in the latest gizmos and gadgets.  Processor specs, memory amounts, and GPU features all make me smile, especially when they’re good and when I own the device that they act as components in.  Gaming machines have an even more special place in my heart for numerous reasons.  In part, it’s knowing that these components and specs come together to create art before my eyes, that they will build the world that I am about to enjoy and explore.  I also enjoy seeing what the limits of game machines are, given certain specs.  It’s wonderful to see the efforts of developers overcoming technical and physical hurdles that exist in limited hardware.  Developer efforts on the Nintendo Wii, a game machine that is by all accounts filled with antiquated hardware, really amaze me despite severe limitations in the design.  Or on the mobile front, the Nintendo DS remains the most successful handheld video game console in the world, despite remarkably simplistic hardware.

However, time never stands still and Moore’s Law trudges on to faster, smaller, and more capable hardware.  Eventually products become too old and need refreshes.  Nintendo was able to maintain the original DS’s hardware through several updates but the hardware has run its course.  Now, we are on the eve of the release of Nintendo’s next generation handheld, the 3DS, which most notably brings auto-stereoscopic 3D technology.  I’ve already gone through the basic features and design on the 3DS in a previous article, but now things are getting a bit more clear.  Apparently IGN has used their extensive sources to pin-point the exact specifications for the new hardware.  Before I get to that, indulge me as I refresh your memories (or introduce you all together) on the original DS’s specs so that we can make some relative comparisons.

E3 2010: Nintendo

I know, I know.  I’m late to this party by a few days, but I have a good excuse.  After all, I was at college orientation (George Washington University!!) and I already sacrificed a bit of socialized so that I could keep up with the news on my iPhone.  So I think I get a bit of a pass for not actually writing about it.  Suffice to say though, Nintendo really delivered this year.  While Microsoft and Sony were actually pretty boring as they tried to prove the advantages of their motion-based technology with pretty lame games, Nintendo dished up several new games, new hardware, and all in a pretty brief package.

The Japanese games company didn’t waste anytime Tuesday morning with the formalities.  After a few short words from Nintendo COO Reggie Fils-Aime, the show quickly turned to its first major announcement: a new, Wii-specific Zelda game, called The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  The big part of the new game is its use of the Wii Motionplus add-on for 1:1 sword motion control.  Link’s sword will mimic your exact movements, while the nunchuck will operate the shield.  This isn’t just waggle, this is direct control.  Well…. ideally.  The demo seemed to have some issues, which Nintendo mockingly suggested was due to Wi-Fi interference.  I’m worried that it’s something more sinister.  The game’s controls only use the accelerometer and gyroscope of the Motion Plus system, but don’t use the IR for aiming.  Nintendo suggests that it will make it easier for people to operate the game without having to worry about pointing with the Wii-mote, but I’m expecting they’ll have to change that back for more reliable control.  Graphically, the new game looks quite nice, certainly as good as Twilight Princess.  It uses a more stylized, cel-shaded like style that seems like a mid-way point between Twilight Princess and Wind Waker.  It still doesn’t look incredible, and nothing like Super Mario Galaxy. Granted, I’m spoiled on HD games from the 360, and the game is probably still in pre-alpha, so there could be a ton of polish before its 2011 release date.  Overall though, I’m not impressed with the art style, it’s just too much like Wind Waker. That said, it would be utterly stupid to judge a Zelda game on visuals alone.  Once we learn about the story, I’m sure I’ll be enthralled.