As opposed to the glasses-oriented 3D that many have seen in theaters, the 3D created on the 3DS appears to actually have a depth about it. When looking into the screen, it felt as if the screen projected multiple inches into the DS. From all of the 3D I’ve experienced beforehand, objects merely seemed to pop out of the screen and felt almost more like an obstruction of your overall view rather than an actual visual effect. With the 3DS, though, new levels of depth are experienced including realistically scaled distances in games such as Pilotwings or luscious fields of grass portrayed in the Metal Gear Solid demo.
In Star Fox, the target from your gun had two different depths for each part of the cross hair and while there was the aforementioned depth present for objects ahead, different objects projected out of the screen as well such as bogeys that chased from behind. I was just amazed by how crisply the different depths were portrayed without glasses and truly feel that it displays the best 3D we’ve seen on the market to date. Whether that holds true in a year or so when the 3DS is actually released is yet to be seen but what we all saw on the show floor is nothing short of amazing.
Another notable addition to the 3DS’s repertoire is the ability to play 3D movies quite well. Rather than just a gimmicky addition that some might feel is the case, movies actually look very good on the small DS screen. How to Train Your Dragon 3D was displayed on one of the 3DSs at Nintendo’s booth and I actually believe the 3D effects were more enjoyable this time around than when I saw the movie in theaters. How Nintendo actually approaches the sale of movies on their hand held is still to be seen (I’m guessing they probably won’t allow you to play pre-owned movies on the device but rather will be forced to purchase them); however, as long as they have one of the only affordable 3D hand held devices on the market and can extend the movie base beyond kids, I could see there being a large amount of interest in watching 3D movies on the 3DS.
The 3D camera was also a lot more impressive than I had initially imagined after hearing of the details at the Nintendo Media Briefing. It may just be due to the fact that 3D pictures are a true novelty at this day and age but I felt that this form of media was much more enticing to play around with than the single cameras on the DSi. Also, if developers can find interesting ways to add the 3D camera to the gameplay, it could make for some pretty novel gameplay mechanics.
Again with no possibility to view videos of the product in action, though, it really is something that has to be seen to believe for yourself. If you’re not convinced that Nintendo’s on to something by my ravings about the device, just look on the internet for a critic’s impressions that aren’t exceedingly positive. And until you actually get to see it for yourself, just trust that the media professionals of the industry, many of whom are as hardcore as yourself, all are endorsing the product as an amazing new phenomenon.
