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Nintendo 3DS - first thread

Troublegum

By Troublegum
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Aphex Tim

Aphex Tim

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Maximum of 300 can't be right, surely? Where did you read that? There's pretty much zero chance of me getting any Miis via StreetPass here to use for the puzzle and quest, so once the coins run out that's that?

Seen it on a few websites. But I don't know what maximum means - assume it means 300 at one time, not you can only have 300 then that's it.

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Lorfarius

Lorfarius

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Seen it on a few websites. But I don't know what maximum means - assume it means 300 at one time, not you can only have 300 then that's it.

It's 300 at one time. Spend some nad you can still earn more there's no limit on the amount of coins you can have, only at once.

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supert3d

supert3d

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ah - yeap, mine are all on. I think its a great idea. I'm going to wander into a number of game shops at luncheon hour to see if I get any.

That's a good idea to go to GAME etc and see if the staff at least have streetpass running.

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McSpeed

McSpeed

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Got three StreetPass Miis walking on my way to work this morning!

Cool! I got some Ridge Racer 3D data the other day, although I'm not sure how it works out in the game.

Too bad I don't pass any really crowded spots on my daily travels to and from work. Bike ride through a quiet city, train ride to the airport (where I do hope to get some StreetPass data in), change, train ride to small village. Cycling and walking nets me all the daily coins though, which is nice.

We should organize a meet soon!

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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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I got my 3DS on Saturday morning (Amazon delivered a little late, but they gave me a postage refund) and have pretty much been playing with it non-stop all weekend, even though I only bought one game for it. I thought I'd post some impressions and general ramblings.

Out of the box, it looks lovely. It's very glossy, like a proper piece of electronics. I did notice, however, that all the surfaces were smeared, including the screens. Perhaps the box had been sitting in a cold, damp delivery van all night, I don't know. It wiped clean and it looked fine now, although it really picks up the fingerprints and smudges easily. I got the black one, by the way, which is not entirely black. It has the same three-layer sandwich effect of the blue one, only it goes black to grey. And the top surface has a gun metal half sprayed effect on it. It's subtle, but nice. The top flap opens quite loosely, which is I think is intentional - it's not wobbly, it just doesn't resist like the old DS does.

When you first turn it on and run the 3D setup, it's a sight to behold. I hadn't seen one in the flesh, so I was very surprised and delighted when the background seemed to separate from the logo. I played with the depth slider for a while. In fact, for quite a few hours I kept playing with the depth slider, in all the different apps, and I think it might have given me a bit of a headache. However, since then, my headache has gone and hasn't come back, so I think it just took some adjusting to. Except now I keep sort of seeing (or expecting) my 2D monitor here to be in 3D. Slightly weird after effect!

I played with the AR games, Face Raiders and the one with the cards. I was absolutely gobsmacked by the cards one, with the way it bends and warps the surface it's on. Magical stuff! I've known about AR tech for ages, but seeing it working, and so imaginitively, is something else entirely. And the face shooting game is just hilarious! However, the only problem with these moving types of games is that it messes up the 3D effect, so I tend to keep it off.

The 3D screen's viewing angle is incredibly narrow. I shouldn't find that surprising, because you have to realise that the 'borderline' between the images is between your eyes, so you've got maybe a couple of inches either way before one starts seeing what it shouldn't be seeing. If you're further away from the screen, that's an even smaller distance before you get unwanted overlap. I can see the screen technology isn't perfect yet, because I get crosstalk even when it's dead centre (ie. even with one eye closed I can occasionally see a bit of the other image), but it's not severe enough to be a dealbreaker, it's just occasionally distracting when I notice it in a game.

Re: the depth slider. There was a lot of confusion about what it actually does. It doesn't physically affect the screen, the viewing angle or anything else (it can't; that stuff is hardware, it's physically static). It is a software input and nothing more. All it does it increases the distance between the virtual 'cameras', further splitting the images to create a greater sense of depth. It's the equivalent of your eyes getting further apart, so the apparent result is that the game world is getting smaller but closer to your face. At maximum 'depth', it's like you're playing with toy cars really close to your face, while minimum depth would be a closer approximation of real sizes. But since it's just a videogame anyway, there's no such thin as 'real sizes', so you can just set it to whatever is most comfortable or most flashy. I've got it set to about 50-60% most of the time. I do keep fiddling with it, though. The depth slider doesn't affect any prerendered content, like game videos (or the 3D movie that came with the update) because there's nothing it can adjust. You can turn it right off, and it just switches to a single feed (left eye, I think).

To see what the switch is actually doing, find a static game screenshot (Ridge Racer works well if you pause it on a shot looking down a road into the distance), close one eye (either one) and then slide the depth slider back and forth. You'll see the road (or whatever background you're using) shifts left and right, like the camera's moving slightly side to side. Then close the other eye and do the same thing; you'll see it shift in the other direction - the background is converging and widening. Foreground objects will move further apart the other way, but I haven't seen a game with heavy foreground (out of the screen) action yet.

So... Ridge Racer. There might be a thread for it, but I didn't notice. Not much to say, really. It's Ridge Racer, again. It's the same sideways sliding, nitrous boosting game it's been since the sixth one, so if you're turned off by the silly way the cars stick to the track even when you're pointing the wrong way, this won't convince you to change your heathen ways. It is, of course, rather good! Very easy so far, but I'm still on the beginner GP. My preferred control setup (shoulder buttons for accel./brake) are a bit uncomfortable on the diddy little 3DS, however it's not too bad. The circle bad is nice and responsive, and I've been doing some fun slides. Word of advice, turn the voice volume OFF as soon as humanly possible, or you will wish to kill somebody.

Regarding the graphics: it's actually not too shabby. It's not quite as nice-looking as the PSP games, but it's hardly a million miles off either. It looks better than it did in the videos I originally watched anyway. It's not 60fps but it's not a juddery mess, either. In fact, I've not 'noticed' any performance issues when playing, and it's all rather fast and lovely. So, pretty pleased with that.

Then there's the 3D, which has this way of making it look much more solid and believable. Some of the flyover scenes before you start a race are just stunning, like little windows into real places you could reach into and touch through the screen. Replays, too, look great. But here's the thing: most of the time playing Ridge Racer, you'll be looking into the distance, at the road coming up. For that reason (unless you're using exterior view like a heathen (die in a fire!!)) the 3D effect is not really in-your-face. It's all just distance depth, which you sort of get used to and then stop thinking about it. So it doesn't really make much of a difference. I do like the fact that it occasionally chucks leaves, confetti and water droplets at you, though; they stick to your windscreen for a while, in the foreground. Gimmicky, but made me smile.

If anything, playing Ridge Racer has made me wish the screen was a higher res (oh noes, I've become Morrius, etc.!!). Distant objects suffer from aliasing, and 3D aliasing is not something you particularly want to see. Ah well.

SteetPass and other stuff: I went to a big shopping centre on Sunday, 3DS in my pocket. I managed to find two new Miis for my parade! It shows you their greeting phrase and most recently played game, plus whether they prefer cats or dogs. It's a very cool feature and I think I will be keeping my 3DS in sleep mode all the time, although I don't expect to meet too many others on a normal work day. For some reason, I couldn't get my new Miis to fight for me in the quest game. Not sure why, I didn't see an option.

The step-counter is cool. It doesn't just log your steps but tells you what time you walked and has graphs showing your activity. Very well done, and another reason to keep the sleep mode, at least until the novelty wears off!

Running out of brain excrement now... erm... other things that spring to mind: in case anyone was wondering, USB chargers DO work with the 3DS. I bought a DSi charger specifically for this reason, and it appears to charge it fine. It was doing a weird thing on Saturday where the charge light was constantly on and off, but that might have been because it had reached full charge and couldn't decide whether to keep charging or not (it was turned on). However, I will continue to use the USB charger and will report any further problems with it. Obviously the mains charger works perfectly, in and out of the cradle. I do find the cradle a little bit pointless, but I see why they included it (it drops in and out very easily, so it's handy for just 'putting it down').

Swapping cartridges: works whether it's on or off, doesn't seem to matter. I had it on the menu screen and it was happily accepting new carts, even old DS carts, without fuss. Impressive stuff!

Tried a DS game on it and it looks fine. Actually looks pretty good, even scaled to full size. I've been using a DS fat for the past two weeks, so I'm glad for the extra brightness!

That's all I can think of right now.

Overall, I really like the machine, but the fact that I've only got one (proper) game for it is making me want MOAR! Just so I can try out 3D in more genres. It's so good it makes me want to play all games like this, which is worrying. Perhaps I will have to get one of those 3D TVs sooner rather than later... or otherwise just buy all my multiplatform titles on the 3DS. Erk. Anyway, Nintendo, you've done it again, you clever bastards. Please take all my money, I won't be needing it anymore.

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Not Thread Owner

Not Thread Owner

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SteetPass and other stuff: I went to a big shopping centre on Sunday, 3DS in my pocket. I managed to find two new Miis for my parade! It shows you their greeting phrase and most recently played game, plus whether they prefer cats or dogs.

How does it know if I prefer cats or dogs? There's nowhere for me to tell it.

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SweatyTravolta

SweatyTravolta

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I bought Lego Star Wars and a nice case for my games at lunchtime. No streetpass hits though :(. LSW is ace however.

Yes it is, I was just about to reply to your previous post.

I'm not exactly sure why the game is getting so much negative criticism in the press. I guess it could be a case of Lego burnout as I've not played one since Star Wars: The Complete Saga and am having a blast with this one. The 3D cutscenes are wonderful and I'm ashamed to admit that I've blinked once or twice as the ships fly out of the screen. The 3D in the game is quite nice too, give a diorama style effect as you look in to this little Lego Star Wars play unfolding.

Should hold me over until Raving Rabids, which I believe is out this Friday, but I've heard very little hype.

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Ersatz Nihilist

Ersatz Nihilist

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I wandered into Gamestation today, and they're asking £40 for 3DS games! I understand that it's a 3D console (not just in terms of depth of field), but surely these games can't cost enough to need selling at the same price as the current crop of under-telly consoles. I see that Supermarkets are undercutting this quite significantly, but if the general highstreet price is that high, I can't help but feel it'll put people off the console.

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supert3d

supert3d

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This Streetpass thing, if I have SF4 in the system but not loaded will it still fight people it meets with the same game or does SF4 need to be sleeping?

Also, if street fighter is sleeping will it still swap Miis normally in street pass?

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CandyBob

CandyBob

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I got to see one of these today and I'm not sure what I was expecting (blur and ghosting I suppose) but Ridge Racer was crystal clear.

I was quite frankly amazed by what I was seeing. I've been very sceptical by the whole 3D thing so far with regards to films and games but the sense of depth was really something else and although you could argue that its only cosmetic (which it is), the effect on the overall experience is undeniable.

I had the slider on about half as full fat for me seemed to elongate the car until it looked stretched and unnatural. The viewing angles were not as bad as I have read. I could certainly move it about a bit and still see the 3D. It seemed solidly built and the analogue stick felt nice and responsive.

The demo pushed me from a maybe to a must have. The fact that it has a new Gollop game on is a lovely great big dollop of icing. Please, please, please do a version of UFO Mr G.

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