What’s the catch? A cautious look at the 3DS and its upcoming launch

I don’t know how long I’ve been a Nintendo fan– it’s been for as long as I can remember– but it’s days like these that make me prouder than ever to be part of a company that’s doing so many innovative and technically astounding things with the gaming industry. In 2006 they flipped over the idea of gaming as a niche hobby with the release of the Wii, and now, 5 years later, the 3DS is on its way out and it’s setting itself up to be yet another ingenious release from this veteran of the gaming industry.

On the surface, everything about the 3DS looks like it’s prepped for success: A great launch line-up, an awesome gimmick, tons of pre-loaded things to do, and a huge potential to grow. No matter how much I want to believe that this will be the system to end all systems, however, there’s that little voice in the back of my head that reminds me of past let-downs– sure, the Wii was awesome, but it didn’t deliver on all its promises– and so I go into this launch with a very excited, but very cautious hand.

What could go wrong, you ask? Well, I’ve been thinking it over, and a lot more could go awry than you might think. The following list is not just conjecture either; each item on it has it’s factual evidence to back it up, and as much as I hope that none of it’s true, I think there’s a pretty good chance that at least one or two of these will end up becoming a reality. If all of them somehow turn out to be true, then we could really have a perfect storm of bad events and the 3DS could suffer from an extreme case of Molyneux syndrome.

Major frame rate drops with the 3D effect

Why it’s possible: Dead or Alive: Dimensions producer and Team Ninja head Yousuke Hayashi has revealed that Tecmo Koei’s upcoming fighting title will see a frame rate jump without 3D. When the effect is removed, Dimensions will run at 60 frames per second. However, the frame rate decreases to 30 when the 3D is enabled.

To a lot of gamers, frame rate does not mean too much, but to me it can be the difference between a game I like and a game I love, especially if it’s something that requires precise timing. I know, it’s a little shallow of me, but imagine having to play games on the 3DS at a frame rate below 30FPS and you’ll start to agree with me. Everything would feel jagged and unpolished, wouldn’t it?

The bright side? Well, Hayashi simply said that the frame rate would drop to 30FPS when the 3D effect was on, which is completely acceptable in and of itself. If developers are careful, we won’t have to worry about anything below that, but there is certainly a good chance that people will slip up and a full-on 3D effect will leave us with a very uncomfortable frame rate.

Too many remakes

Why it’s possible: Just look at the current line-up of 3DS games. We have Star Fox 64 3D, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Ocarina of Time 3D, Metal Gear Solid 3: The Naked Sample, and plenty more.

I don’t know about you, but I have a gut feeling that we may end up seeing way too many remakes and not enough new property on the 3DS. Call it a hunch or call it crazy; the fact of the matter is that we’re already seeing more remakes than I think we’d like, and while right now we’re all caught up in the “HOLY S**T IT’S OCARINA OF TIME AND STAR FOX IN 3D” mind-storm, think ahead to the future: Do we really want a system where Nintendo releases just as many remakes as they do new games? I sure don’t, and I know most of you probably don’t either.

The bright side? Looking ahead past the launch window, Nintendo hasn’t announced a single remake… yet. Let’s just cross our fingers and hope that they leave the past to the virtual console and move onto bigger and better things.

Significant Eye Fatigue

Why it’s possible: I don’t really need to re-iterate this, do I? There have been many accounts of the 3DS causing some eye fatigue if you play it for long periods of time.

When I get my 3DS I promise you, I will play that thing until the battery runs out, then play it with the charger attached for hours and hours. That is, if I’m not too tired from camping outside to get it! Unfortunately, many people are complaining that playing the system for more than half an hour or so at a time can result in a good bit of strain on your eyes. Nothing permanent, but aggravating nonetheless. If this is entirely true, there might be yet another barrier to entry for core gamers into the next Nintendo handheld. We like to play our games for hours and hours, and we will do so no matter what!

The bright side? The 3DS has a 3D slider that allows you to turn the effect off. While this is essentially a permanent solution to the eye fatigue, it’s also an unfortunate one; I don’t want to have to game without my 3D!

Short Battery Life

Why it’s possible: Nintendo has stated that the 3DS’ battery life is around 3-5 hours, compared to the DSi’s 5-7 hours.

Though it may be considered a blessing considering that the 3DS can apparently melt your eyes or something, the fact that the 3DS battery life is somewhere between 3 and 5 hours is simply awful. Enough said.

The bright side? Nintendo measures their battery life in a very specific way: They run the system on full brightness, with the full 3D effect on, at full volume, while using the wifi capabilities, so essentially they do the absolute maximum you can do to run the battery down as quickly as possible. Considering that the DSi’s battery life is clocked at 5-7, yet I manage to get way more than that out of it, I wouldn’t count this as an awful reading just yet.

Developers ignoring awesome features like they did with the Wii

Why it’s possible: They did it on the Wii, so who’s to prevent them from doing it on the 3DS?

Did you know that the Wiimote has an internal speaker? Or that the Wii can connect to the DS? Or that data can be exported to have non-realtime events occur between you and your friends? Or that the Wiimote can actually carry data on it?

You probably answered yes, because you’re a gamer, but apparently the developers don’t have any idea that these things exist because they NEVER USE THEM. Seriously, we got but two games that actually connected to the DS: Pokemon Battle Revolution and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time. Can anyone tell me why we didn’t see more of this? Or more innovative use of the speaker? Or the data-carrying abilities of the Wiimote? I’m worried that the 3DS may suffer the same fate; that StreetPass and SpotPass will go virtually unnoticed, or that cameras will only be used in a select few titles. I hope I’m wrong, but I really am not sure if I am.

The bright side? If anything, StreetPass and SpotPass are getting hyped up a lot, and the cameras are also being used extensively from what we’ve seen. This may just be a launch thing, but I’m hoping it extends well into the system’s lifetime.

The camera being as bad as the DSi

Why it’s possible: Here’s the real question: Why ISN’T it possible? A ha, got you there!

I was super excited to have a camera on my DSi. Hell, some would say I was blinded by the excitement that I never even realized how bad the thing actually was. If you did it right, the quality of the image was okay at best, but the real problem came when trying to use it for augmented reality type games. It was slow to refresh itself, and so the AR became totally unbelievable.

The bright side? The footage we’ve seen so far of the augmented reality on 3DS looks smooth as a bell and shiny as a whistle; this is a great sign, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods entirely!

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So, despite how unbelievably excited we may be for the system, we have to take a realistic step back and understand that there is still room for disappointment, despite what we’ve been lead to believe. I’m still sure that overall, the 3DS is going to rock our socks and blow our minds, but don’t set yourself up for disappointment by considering it a godsend. Even if it totally is a godsend.

~Austin