Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo 3DS is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. The system was announced in March 2010 and officially unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with older Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generation console, its primary competitor was Sony's PlayStation Vita.

Hardware
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, as it would be impractical. While not confirmed, scratches may also have played a role in the omission of 3D on the bottom screen.

The player can adjust the depth of the 3D via a 3D slider Nintendo implemented on the right side of the upper screen of the handheld. 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, like the Virtual Boy, and have reportedly suggested that third party developers do the same. Actually, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition features that, telling the player immediately after starting the game from the 3DS Menu that he/she must take a break after 10 minutes of play with 3D activated.

The 3DS contains several other enhancements over the previous Nintendo handhelds. The DSi and DSi XL both had a camera built on the inside and outside of the system. This returns with the 3DS, though this time, there are 2 lenses on the outside camera, with both of them 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 on the hinge (as with the DSi and DSi XL) and can still only take 2D pictures. As of December 2011, the 3DS is also capable of recording 3D videos up to 10 minutes long.

Another thing on the 3DS is the Circle Pad. Similar to an analog stick, 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 button called the HOME button, similar to the one featured on the Wii Remote, allows players to instantly go to the 3DS 's home menu and switch between other games & apps. 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.

A motion sensor and a gyro sensor, similar to the ones featured in the Dualshock 3 controller, were incorporated into the Nintendo 3DS. With these two sensors, the 3DS is efficiently capable of discerning the movements of the Nintendo 3DS. For example, in a racing game, the 3DS would be able to apprehend that the player is rotating the handheld like a steering wheel. According to the system's developers, the sensors weren't included in the system until right before the Nintendo 3DS's unveiling at E3 2010, noting the consensus of the company that something in the system was lacking.

Features
Two new welcome additions to the Nintendo 3DS are StreetPass and SpotPass. When in sleep mode, StreetPass on the 3DS can gather information from other 3DS owners when it enters its range, no matter if it's on the pocket, wallet, or even a backpack. With this feature enabled, players can receive the other 3DS owner's Miis, game information (such as high scores), and more just by passing them by on the street.

Unlike Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, a Nintendo DS game that required the game's cart to be in the DS and the mode activated, the 3DS 's StreetPass allows for information exchanges to be performed on any game that the player owns, regardless of if they have it in the system or not. With SpotPass, the system is able to detect wireless hotspots and LAN access points of many public services such as restaurants, and automatically download content, updates and more to the system. This mode works both when the system is on or in sleep mode.

There are several pre-installed applications on the Nintendo 3DS that can be accessed on the Home Menu. The 3DS 's Home Menu is similar to the one present on the Wii and DSi systems. Unlike the Wii's Home Menu, and like the DSi, separate applications are not referred to as "channels". The Home Menu can be accessed at all times by simply pressing the home button on the 3DS, no matter if a 3DS or Virtual Console game or an application (except the ones from the upper bar of the menu, like the Internet Browser) is running, without having data interrupted or erased. It can't, however, be accessed when playing DS or DSi games. There are also certain times in software when you cannot access the Home Menu, like the Wii (such as when a game is loading or saving, or playing online modes of a game).

The Miis, made famous with the Wii, are heavily featured on the 3DS. The DS featured some games that made use of the Miis, such as Personal Trainer: Walking, but did not feature an integrated Mii application. The 3DS 's Mii creation tool, titled Mii Maker, has numerous noteworthy enhancements over the Wii's Mii Channel. The most extraordinary new feature is the ability to take a picture of someone and have the Mii Maker automatically produce a Mii of that person (the player can subsequently make alterations if they prefer). In StreetPass Mii Plaza, an application similar to the Wii's Mii Parade, Miis that have been obtained through StreetPass (see above) can be viewed there, with the image and name of the last game or app that they have used.

In the Nintendo eShop, players can download classic Game Boy, and Game Boy Color, games as well as titles made specifically for the service. Games made available on DSiWare, the Nintendo DSi's similar service, can also be purchased there. 3D remakes of classic Nintendo Entertainment System video games, titled "3D Classics" will also be available for purchase through the eShop with enhanced graphics and, as the title says, 3D effects. There will also be select retail games available on the eShop; New Super Mario Bros. 2 was the first one.

In addition to the preloaded applications, there is a diverse set of preloaded video games that come with every Nintendo 3DS. Most of these video games are listed under AR Games, which is an Augmented Reality game/application that makes use of one of the six AR Cards that come with every unit, and the outer cameras, to make them appear on the screen and play interactive games and apps. In all, there are around 15 AR Games with all, but one having to be unlocked.

Around half of the AR Games can only obtained by using Play Coins. Face Raiders is another game that comes included with the system. With it, the person's face (taken with the inner camera or the outer cameras) is placed in different headgear that must be destroyed in the environment they are, by rotating their bodies along with the 3DS to find and destroy them. Two games that make use of StreetPass, Find Mii, and Puzzle Swap, come pre-installed with each device, and can be found in the games section of the StreetPass Mii Plaza.

Find Mii is an RPG style game where players try to escape a tower by battling enemies. The only way to get through the tower is by finding other player's Miis using StreetPass, as well as obtaining Play Coins to buy allies with cat-like rosters to beat the enemies. In Puzzle Swap, players try and finish a 3D puzzle by acquiring puzzle pieces using StreetPass, to show 3D landscapes based on Nintendo's popular franchises. The landscapes are based on the ones that were shown on one of the Nintendo 3DS demos of E3 2010. Nintendo 3DS Sound is also StreetPass enabled. With it, players can see which songs the other person listens to the most.

The Nintendo 3DS promotes a healthy lifestyle by rewarding a player with Play Coins (1 Coin for every 100 steps, for a max of 300 Coins). There is also an application on the 3DS called Activity Log; it records how many steps the player takes, and keeps track of the games the user has played on their Nintendo 3DS, the amount of time spent on each game, the average time, the amount of times played, the first time the game was played, and the last time it was played.

3D Effects
The 3D effect is the primary new feature of the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo advises that, in order to view the 3D properly, the user holds the unit approximately 10 to 14 inches away from their eyes (25-35 centimeters). Each user has his or her own "sweet spot" that can be found by adjusting not only the depth of the 3D visuals, but also the height at which the 3DS is held. There are three such spots, one at the center of the screen and two to either side.

This seemingly unintended feature of the screen allows bystanders to watch the game in proper 3D. The depth of the 3D effects can be altered by using the 3D depth slider on the side of the system. Nintendo suggests that users should regularly take 15 minute breaks in order to rest their eyes. While Nintendo's official stance on the product is that it is entirely safe, they ask parents of children under the age of 7 to use the parental controls to restrict their children from viewing 3D images.

Tilting the Nintendo 3DS at most angles while 3D is turned on will cause the viewer to lose the effect and see a distorted image. For this reason, Nintendo asks its users to look at the screen head on. Looking down at the touch screen and back up at the top screen should not cause strain for most people and will not cause the viewer to momentarily lose the 3D effect when they return to the top screen. Some people are unable to see 3D images for various reasons, whether it be poor eyesight or blindness in one eye. For this reason, Nintendo suggests that players with this problem turn 3D off.

Licensed screen protectors used on the top screen, if used properly, will not diminish the 3D effects or the image produced. Nintendo notes that unlicensed products, having not been approved or disapproved by them, may cause the 3D images to recede.