Since Nintendo announced the 3DS my thoughts on the handheld have ebbed a flowed more erratically than Nintendo’s fiscal projections (too soon?).
At the beginning, I’ll admit I was wowed by the illusion of 3D without the intrusiveness – and not to mention cost – of glasses. Then the price tag of $250 was announced and my excitement turned to pessimisms. I didn’t think the system was a big enough leap from the DSi to warrant such an expense.
Then the 3DS hit shelves and brought with it a dismal lineup of launch titles. My waning enthusiasm for a new Nintendo gadget fell even farther. A few months later, the once mighty Nintendo announced that the sales were so disappointing that they were dropping the price to $170, which in turn would drop the company’s projected profit by 70% for the next quarter. This turned disappointment into dread, which can be read here.
This article isn’t a “part 2” of my thoughts on Nintendo’s dark future. The 3DS price drop wasn’t all doom and gloom. It also inspired me to pick one up and see if this was the next great step for Nintendo or a misstep off course. I’ve been test driving the 3DS for the first half of this week and here is a list of pros and cons I’ve come up with. Keep in mind that this list will only be about the 3DS itself and not any of its games. I need some more time with some of the titles before I get into that.
Pro: Price!
$250 or $170? This is a no brainer. $170 is a perfectly reasonable, dare I say “bargain,” price for a new, 3D/internet-ready handheld. If Nintendo would have kept the $250 price tag, you would have been able to get a PS3 for the same price today. That would have been madness.
Con: Battery life
This is the biggest and most glaring con I’ve discovered thus far. On paper, it is said that the 3DS has a five-hour battery life. I have yet to reach that goal. I usually get somewhere in the three-to-four hour range. I know you can get more out of you battery by dumbing down the colors or decreasing the brightness, but let’s be honest; who really wants to do that?
The night I started writing this piece I had to charge my 3DS twice while playing Ocarina of Time. What other phone/handheld/tablet/gadget-made-in-2011 has that short of a battery life? Sure, you can get Netflix on the 3DS, but with the streaming sucking up power at an escalated rate, you’d be lucky to get a movie in before it goes kaput.
Pro: Better screens
Nintendo beefed up the screens from the DSi and the DS-XL and it shows. I played a couple DS titles just to see if there was a noticeable difference and I was pleasantly surprised. Colors give more pop and the screens just seem brighter. The top screen has been widened for better resolution and to create the illusion that you’re looking at something in high-definition.
Con: 3D (in some games)
Let me begin this section by stating that I don’t think that the 3D is horrible, but not all 3D was created equal. Some of the games try to make the 3D too intense even when set on low 3D settings. This causes frequent blur and is just plain annoying to hold in the sweet spot directly in front of your face. Other times, like in the system menus, the 3D is less intrusive. It still works and actually looks better than when the 3D is distracting from the action of the game you’re playing.
Pro: 3D video
Nintendo just added a video app where you can download free 3D video. This is where the 3D functionality shines the brightest. Right now, there are only four videos: a music video by Jason Derulo, a Glee 3D preview, a video from Funny or Die and a 3DS commercial. It’s just a starting point now.
This should be on every 3DS commercial. Don’t get too excited though. Netflix is not 3D compatible…..yet.
Pro: Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality functionality comes off as a gimmick, right up until the time it’s first experienced. The 3DS comes with Augmented Reality, or “AR” Cards, that turn regular household fixtures into part of your 3DS experience.
Place one of the cards face up on a plain-colored table and you’re 3DS brings the furniture to life. An animated video game appears atop your table that you can see by observing the 3DS screen. You can then walk around the object to get different views. The AR works flawlessly unless you move too quickly. Sometimes the 3DS struggles to catch up.
Con: eShop lineup
I know the 3DS is young, but five months is plenty of time to get a competent online marketplace together, especially when the lineup of retail games has been widely panned. I was shocked when I browsed the Nintendo eShop and found that there were barely any games worth downloading.
Nintendo has more classic titles than any other game company. Just throw a bunch of old collections up there. How hard can that possibly be?
Con: Charging Cradle
This one is kind of a mix of pro and con, but definitely more con than the former. Every 3DS comes with a plastic cradle that charges your 3DS. You can charge the 3DS the normal way by plugging in the AC inlet on the back, but the cradle is there to save you a step.
It’s nice that the cradle is included, but the cradle itself feels cheap, you can’t play the 3DS when it’s on the cradle, and the cradle is useless if you have a case for your 3DS. The battery life is so poor that I have my 3DS plugged in most of the time while I play anyway. Why didn’t they just eliminate the cradle altogether and lop another $10 off the price tag?
Pro: Netflix
Streaming Netflix is simply awesome. If you haven’t experienced it on a PC, Mac, 360, PS3, Wii, iPad, iPhone, or new HD-TV then you need to get on that. The 3DS suffers from long load times for movies, but hey, it’s a free service.
Pro: SD Card Included
Every 3DS comes with a 2gb SD card, which is essential to downloading games, taking pictures and storing any other data. It was a good move by Nintendo to include this. This adds value to the 3DS and makes it fully functional right out of the box.
Pro: Cameras
The 3DS doesn’t have the sharpest cameras, but there is one on the inside and outside. The latter has the ability to take 3D pictures. Converting normal pictures into eye-popping 3D is nifty feature to show people who have no interest in the gaming aspects of the 3DS.
Con: Web browsing/all web-based activity
Since the DSi, the DS lineup has stumbled and staggered when trying to download something or doing anything that involves online activity. The 3DS is no different. Videos take forever to load, Netflix is a chore to open, and downloading apps takes slightly longer than I would like. Don’t even bother using the 3DS for web browsing. It’s just painful.
Pros vs. Cons
So what do all these pros and cons add up to? Well, the price tag is so reasonable that it makes the cons more tolerable. Most of them are likely to improve as time goes on, like the eShop and the 3D effects in certain games. The battery life is by far my biggest gripe, but I can get past it.
This weekend, 3DS were sold out nearly everywhere around the Pittsburgh area. It was sold out at Walmarts, Targets, BestBuys, and the nine billion GameStops around the region. I’m looking forward to seeing the sales numbers of the first month after the price drop. 3DS’s are getting in more hands. Now Nintendo needs to step up the software to help them get back on the right track. It’s not quite there yet, but since the price drop the 3DS is showing signs of success.
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