Nintendo announces the DS's sucessor, the 3DS

[Lynxara]

Gamecube graphics and an analog? If Nintendo hasnt done analog yet then why would they do it now?

Because if you tried to do it six years ago you'd end up making the PSP? And Nintendo hasn't made a truly new handheld for six years.

Also, I'm not confident the technology is readily available at an affordable price for the system to deliver Gamecube graphics.

The GameCube retailed for $99 new during its lifetime, so that caliber of 3D chip should be dirt-cheap by now. The DS can already push better graphics than the N64 or PlayStation. GameCube-caliber graphics don't sound too far-fetched, given what the iPhone can do.

I think we won't see a lot of games really push 3D to GameCube levels for battery life reasons, though. Most of your better-looking iPhone games are also battery-destroyers for that very reason.

1pixel of "dead space" seems very far fetched as well but who knows. It might be raining toads come e3

This one is what I find most believable. Developers have gone on record in various places for years talking about how much they had the 64 pixel (iirc) gutter between DS screens, because it makes it very difficult to use both screens together in action games.

The wider gutter means your physics have to compensate for objects "disappearing" between screens, even though NDS devkits will display the two screens directly on top of each other (trust me, there's one sitting on my desk now).

If there's a 1-pixel gutter between screens, then regardless of their physical distance from each other, developers can have objects move smoothly between the two screens. That would probably feel more natural in play while certainly removing a major DS dev headache.

 

[MrMonk]

Gamecube graphics and an analog? If Nintendo hasnt done analog yet then why would they do it now? Also, I'm not confident the technology is readily available at an affordable price for the system to deliver Gamecube graphics.

This is PGR Ferrari Edition on the Zune HD.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcpgU_I-H-w[/ame]

The Zune HD runs on Nvidia's Tegra chip.

The 3Ds is rumored to be running on the Tegra 2.

This is a Tegra 2 gaming demo running Unreal Engine 3.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpGtu_ZkwqA[/ame]

Trust me. It's quite believable.

 

[DarkRanger99]

The only thing I care about is if the graphics will be better, like Gamecube-ish graphics.

 

[MetalSymphony]

Well, so concept art has popped up over what people think it might look like:

[hide]

[/hide]

 

[DangerDang]

Dear God those are ugly.

 

[Shadro]

I agree with above comments, it isn't all that hard to push Gamecube graphics. I messed with a phone not to long back that pushed Xbox graphics, so it is very well in the ballpark.

I'm still very iffy on the 3D part. I dislike the whole 3D thing so much. I got to look at the PS3 one that uses something different than the 3D movies, I can't remember what it was, but it just makes it hard to really focus and to play anything for a period of time is almost out of the question. Same with the one Crytek has, I think it was them. They used the same tech as 3D movies, again though I just can't see playing a game for a long period of time like that. I know this is doing something different I believe, but I think the problems are there.

Then if I have to have anything for the 3D to work, that is a personal issue. I hate wearing the glasses over my glasses, I just find that bothersome. I don't know why we started pushing this 3D thing all of a sudden, it just doesn't seem like a good idea.

 

[KouAidou]

Then if I have to have anything for the 3D to work, that is a personal issue. I hate wearing the glasses over my glasses, I just find that bothersome. I don't know why we started pushing this 3D thing all of a sudden, it just doesn't seem like a good idea.

Theaters started pushing it really hard because it's a way for them to charge more money per showing, sell adult-price tickets to children, and offer an experience that couldn't (at the time) be duplicated in home theaters.

And now that they've convinced Americans that they need the technology, other formats have to follow suit.

Personally, I'm with you. I saw Avatar in 3D and not only were the glasses obnoxious and itchy, but the 3D effect actually diminished my ability to focus on the film. Some people do seem to genuinely enjoy it, but there I'm not sure if there's something different about their vision that makes the effect seem more "perfect" to them, or if they're just less cynical than I.

 

[Shadro]

Theaters started pushing it really hard because it's a way for them to charge more money per showing, sell adult-price tickets to children, and offer an experience that couldn't (at the time) be duplicated in home theaters.

And now that they've convinced Americans that they need the technology, other formats have to follow suit.

Personally, I'm with you. I saw Avatar in 3D and not only were the glasses obnoxious and itchy, but the 3D effect actually diminished my ability to focus on the film. Some people do seem to genuinely enjoy it, but there I'm not sure if there's something different about their vision that makes the effect seem more "perfect" to them, or if they're just less cynical than I.

I honestly can see theaters doing it, I can go along with it for that much. Its fine as a novelty. I saw Avatar in 3D as well and I was very meh to it. It was neat I suppose. I do understand what you are talking about though with the ability to focus. That is about the exact problem I had with looking at the games. I can't describe it all that well, but something is just off and messes with the ability to focus, which is why I see it hard to be able to play games or watch something for long periods of time.

I also wish I remembered this other example I had. I can't remember where or who I was talking about it with, but the just of it was 3D isn't all that new and it usually comes up when there is no new advances or something, again I can't remember. It was tried before and it didn't do all that well, so it will be interesting to see how long it goes on this time.