Nintendo established the existence and quality of its Nintendo 3DS handheld at its press briefing Tuesday morning here at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.
We do know, however, that the biggest selling point of the new handheld will almost certainly be its much-discussed ability to display 3D images without the aid of those old-fashioned glasses—in fact, Nintendo execs even went so far as to mock 3D HDTVs that require them for viewing.
The device itself is quite similar to a standard Nintendo DSi—it’s roughly the same size and weight features two screens inside. For the demo, the bottom touchscreen did not turn on. Like the DS before it, the top screen is not a touchscreen. According to Nintendo, it’s too difficult to add touch to the new 3D technology.
The 3D screen is quite vivid. The 3D itself appears to have a similar depth to those old 3D hologram baseball cards. It doesn’t appear to jump off the screen so much as add depth to the image. A new analog joystick to the left of the screen lets the users shift the viewing angle of the image in four directions—this is perhaps the most impressive thing about the 3D feature.
There is a camera located above the top screen and speakers on either side. There are also two cameras on the outside of the device, allowing users to shoot 3D images with the device. The 3DS also features a built-in gyroscope and accelerometer and gyroscope for added game play interaction.
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