Eurogamer is reporting that Nintendo is aiming to launch this 3DS in at least one territory this year and believes the system will definitely see a worldwide release “by early next year.” While the company is looking to have the handheld in stores for the holiday season, it’s possible that the launch could be delayed until 2011. Nintendo declined to comment on the 3DS’ release date or price, though it has been said that it will be out before the fiscal year ending March 2011.
According to Nikkei, consumers will be able to copy 3DS titles directly to the system’s memory. Once copied, players will be able to choose which game to play through the handheld’s main menu. The obvious benefits of doing this is that there will be no need to continually swap cartridges. Nintendo has yet to officially confirm the news, but considering Nikkei’s track record, I think it’s safe to say that this feature will probably end up in the 3DS.
Thanks to Thomas N for the tip!
“If you display a 3D image, the image quality becomes extremely bad, so we’d probably do it with the next system. We’re thinking that the timing should be once the 3D television adoption rates crosses the 30% mark. We’re looking at the adoption trends.” – Satoru Iwata
“Absolutely not [Nintendo didn’t consider the 3D boom]. Nintendo had an eye the charms of immersive 3D for games and released a 3D game machine 15 years ago, but the technology was not ready. After that, we looked for a chance, and decided two years back that we finally had the technology and parts to make a satisfying product. In 3D, it’s easier to get a sense for position. In a game where the stages extend into the screen, it’s surprisingly easier to control [compared to non 3D]. This is functionality for making games more pleasant to play, not just for show. It [3D] allows us to realize images that are close to what you see in your daily life. In the future, 3D will become the mainstream of gaming.” – Satoru Iwata
You may remember that Iwata said that Nintendo had been experimenting with the “latest round” of 3D with the GameCube. So it sounds like Nintendo has been thinking about 3D gaming for quite some time. Right now, though, it seems like requiring glasses is the most effective way of seeing that type of effect on a television. I’m wondering what Nintendo will do about that with the Wii successor.
Thanks to Thomas N for the tip!
Red Dead Redemption – 9
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker 9
Blur – 8
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands – 6
Alpha Protocol = 5
Joe Danger – 7
Modnation Racers – 8
Chaos Rings – 8
Trauma Team – 8
Bit.Trip Runner – 5
Ivy the Kiwi? – 6
DodoGo! – 7
Rocket Knight – 5
Flipper – 4
1. [Wii] Xenoblade – 83,000 / NEW
2. [Wii] Super Mario Galaxy 2 – 73,000 / 519,000
3. [PS3] Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City – 22,000 / NEW
4. [DS] Mega Man Zero Collection – 20,000 / NEW
5. [DS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 – 20,000 / 1,142,000
6. [PS3] Just Cause 2 – 19,000 / NEW
7. [PSP] Fairy Tail Portable Guild – 14,000 / 49,000
8. [PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen – 13,000 / 106,000
9. [DS] Tomodachi Collection 12,000 / 3,263,000
10. [Wii] New Super Mario Bros. Wii – 12,000 / 3,885,000
11. [DS] Soccer Tsuku DS: World Challenge 2010
12. [PS3] Lost Planet 2
13. [Wii] Wii Fit Plus
14. [PSP] Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
15. [DS] Medarot DS
16. [Wii] Mario Kart Wii
17. [PSP] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen
18. [360] Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
19. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (PSP the Best)
20. [PSP] Hisshou Pachinko * Pachi-Slot Kouryaku Series Portable Vol. 1: Shinseiki Evangelion – Tamashii no Kiseki
21. [PS2] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen
22. [Wii] Wii Sports Resort
23. [DS] New Super Mario Bros.
24. [360] Just Cause 2
25. [PSP] Musou Tourou
26. [Wii] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen
27. [PSP] Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2010
28. [DS] Hisshou Pachinko * Pachi-Slot Kouryaku Series DS Vol. 5: Shinseiki Evangelion – Tamashii no Kiseki
29. [DS] Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Masou Kishin – The Lord of Elemental
30. [PS3] 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
This is an extremely insightful interview that covers pretty much everything you could possibly wonder about Zelda games. We already posted a snippet of the interview in our last post, but you can check out the entire discussion below.
Aonuma on the technical difficulties of Skyward Sword’s on-stage presentation…
“Well, really all it was was an accident in the presentation. I think Mr. Miyamoto did a great job following up with that. That being said, the best way to understand how the play controls are really implemented is to get hands-on time with it, and we hope that you’re able to do that and that you’ll follow up with an article explaining about how good the controls actually are.”
This information comes from Eiji Aonuma…
“We’ve talked about remixing Ocarina of Time for a long time, saying ‘should we remake Ocarina of Time for Wii?’ And, to be honest, I said no. I didn’t want to just re-release it on a different platform — I wanted to have a specific reason to remake Ocarina of Time. I didn’t want to just make a port. And so I was waiting for something to come along that would not only help us to retell the story, but improve upon it. Making it different, more unique in its own way. Now, with 3D, we’re able to take the environments of Hyrule and add depth — giving them a more expansive feeling, a more immersive feeling. In addition to that, now that we have the 3D we can looking forward to new ways to implement 3D into the gameplay and make it fresh and new. And we also have the motion sensors that are built-in to the Nintendo 3DS. So we’re looking at quite a few ways to make the gameplay more immersive, more natural, more accessible. So again, not just a port — but a retelling of the tale using new technologies to reinvent it.”
Even though the 3DS remake will take advantage of the system’s 3D graphics, it will also include new gameplay elements. Like Aonuma said, the developers are incorporating the handheld’s new features so that it will be fresh even after all these years. Looks like I’ll be buying yet another version of Ocarina of Time!
