Nintendo 3DS

The Nintendo 3DS is a Nintendo video game handheld scheduled for release on February 26, 2011 in Japan, March 25, 2011 for Europe, March 27, 2011 in America, and March 31, 2011 in Australia. It will succeed the first Nintendo DS line of systems. One of the most noteworthy features of the handheld is the ability to display 3D without the need for glasses. It will be backwards compatible with Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi games. The system is motion and gyro enabled and features an analog stick, referred to by Nintendo as a 'Circle Pad', a first for a company handheld. As with the Nintendo DSi, the Nintendo 3DS has a camera function, however, there is an additional lens on the outside, enabling owners to take pictures and view them in 3D.

Hardware
The Nintendo 3DS, like its predecessor, features two screens. The top screen is widescreen and capable of displaying 3D graphics without the need for 3D glasses, while the bottom screen is a touch screen. The bottom screen is unable to display 3D graphics, a decision made by Nintendo due to the abundance of smudges that would obscure the images produced, as well as the fact that the hand of the player and a stylus would get in the way. While not confirmed, scratches may also have played a role in the omission of 3D on the bottom screen. The player is able to adjust the depth of the 3D via a 3D slider Nintendo implemented on the side of the handheld. The 3D slider was made in order for players to find their preferred 3D depth. Those who wish to turn it off completely are allowed to do so. Nintendo has made statements that the 3D technology allows long periods of play without eyestrain. Nevertheless, they have discussed the possibilities of implementing a feature in games that suggests that players take a break every once in a while and have reportedly suggested that third party developers do the same.

The 3DS contains several other enhancements over the previous Nintendo handhelds. The Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL both had a camera built on the inside and outside of the system. This returns with the 3DS, though this time there is an extra lens on the outside, with both of the lenses being only slightly separated so that, when the player takes a picture, it can be viewed in 3D. The inside camera is now stationed above the top screen rather than below it and can take 2D pictures. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has expressed his desire to eventually include a feature after the 3DS's release date that allows owners to record 3D video footage with the system's cameras.

New to the 3DS is the circle pad. Similar to a joystick, the circle pad is the first of its kind on a Nintendo handheld. The standard buttons present on the Nintendo DS are also on the 3DS, including the face buttons (a, b, x, y), start and select, the d-pad, and the shoulder buttons (L and R). A new home button, similar to the one featured on the Wii Remote, allows players to instantly go to the 3DS's home menu. Doing this will not stop the progress the player made in a video game as they are capable of going back to where they were by pressing the home button again.

Features
A new Nintendo 3DS Shop has been announced with its own Virtual Console and here, games can be downloaded via a 3DS Points Card. Two of the confirmed games for the Virtual Console are Super Mario Land and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX.

The 3DS will also feature a Mii Maker much like the Mii Channel on the Wii. The Mii Maker will have the option to take a picture of someone and let the system turn them into a Mii.

Technical specifications
Inputs

3D beginnings
On several occasions Nintendo has experimented with 3D technology. Overall, the several attempts had mixed results critically and commercially. Nintendo's first descent into 3D was as early as the Famicom era when they released the Famicom 3D System in Japan. A clunky accessory that players were required to place on their head, the 3D System was used in very few games. In fact, of the games released, Nintendo only published one title that made use of the accessory called Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally. Other titles released that were 3D System enabled include Highway Star (Rad Racer in Western countries) and Falsion. The device was ultimately a failure, with numerous consumers complaining about the motion sickness they experienced when wearing the goggles. This, in addition to the dismal support it received from developers including Nintendo, led to its cancellation. It was never released outside of Japan.

Not one to give up, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who always wanted the objects in video games to pop out at the player, continued investing money in 3D technology. Gunpei Yokoi was the lead designer in the next project, titled the Virtual Boy. The Virtual Boy was an interesting project but failed for several reasons. Yamauchi conclusively saw a larger chance of success in the Nintendo 64 and diverted most of his attention, manpower and money to that product while almost anticipating a certain doom for the less appealing, unsightly and awkward Virtual Boy. Despite a nice sized marketing campaign, the Virtual Boy was discontinued in less than a year. In anticipation of the 3DS launch, president Satoru Iwata surprisingly discussed the Virtual Boy with lead designer Shigeru Miyamoto. The two shared their thoughts on the device and Miyamoto concluded that one of the reasons the Virtual Boy failed was because it didn't share the same technology with the superior Nintendo 64. He said that the Nintendo 64 was meant to "confront 3D head-on", while the "Virtual Boy was using different technology to aim at enjoyment of 3D without rushing in the general direction 3D was headed at the time." He went on to say that the wire frames that the Virtual Boy employed "weren't terribly appealing", saying that he thought initially about using them for the Nintendo 64 but abandoned the idea when he realized that they didn't work well for video games. Iwata also recognized that the red-and-black visuals were also a detriment to the system.

Since then, Nintendo experimented with 3D in several instances but never released the products to the market. Every Nintendo GameCube is 3D ready, however no accessory was released or even announced that made use of the GameCube's capabilities. This fact was revealed years after the GameCube was discontinued, and it was also reported that Luigi's Mansion, a launch title for the system, actually was at one time working in 3D. It's interesting to note that Hideki Konno, the product producer of the 3DS, was also the director of Luigi's Mansion. Iwata noted that, had they released an accessory for the GameCube that took advantage of its potentiality, it would have been more expensive than the system itself. Soon after this, the designers of the Game Boy Advance SP merely examined the possibilities of 3D without special glasses for the handheld, but decided against the idea when they discovered that the resolution of LCD was too low at the time, which would have lessened the effect of the 3D stereoscopic visuals. More recently, Hiroshi Yamauchi enquired about the possibilities of adding some kind of 3D effects to Shigureden, a display focusing on Hyakunin Isshu playing cards that Nintendo assisted in the development of. Ultimately, the designers didn't have enough time when it came to creating such an effect for the exhibit and thus deserted the idea. Miyamoto, who was involved in the creation of the Shigureden, stated that even though they didn't manage to create something special for the exhibition, he and the rest of Nintendo managed to learn a lot about 3D in the process, which assisted in the development of the 3DS.

Development
Nintendo claims that they begin development on their next system before the current system has even been released. This is true with the 3DS, as the designers have claimed that they began performing research into the next product. At the time, the developers had no clue whether or not the Nintendo DS would be a success, and thus planned a successor with two screens in the event that it succeeds and another with one screen in the event that it fails. Clearly, with the unanticipated and unprecedented success of the Nintendo DS, Nintendo went on with their plans to develop a second two screened handheld.

In the summer of 2008, Hideki Konno came on board as the overall producer of the Nintendo 3DS. He's well known as the producer of such titles as Mario Kart and Nintendogs, and continued this role with the 3DS variations of these titles as well. He revealed that this occurred shortly after the completion of Mario Kart Wii on the Wii system. According to him, Shigeru Miyamoto approached him and asked him to be involved in the creation of Nintendo DSi Sound, a sound application built into the Nintendo DSi and subsequently the Nintendo DSi XL. Soon after Nintendo DSi Sound was completed, Miyamoto went up to him once more and offered him the role of producer on the new Nintendo 3DS. This would have been the first time that Konno was ever involved in an actual piece of hardware, though he notes that he has always been interested in handheld gadgets.