Nintendo demonstrated its continued dominance in the handheld gaming market with the announcement of the 3DS at the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) this past week. The 3DS represents a true platform renewal for Nintendo, one that should allow it to extend the DS product life cycle well into the future. Although the 3DS is only beginning to do what the Sony PSP has done for years, like play movies, it does it in ways that demonstrate that Nintendo truly understands the handheld gaming market like no other console maker. And more importantly, it demonstrates that Nintendo understands the needs of consumers.
Over and over during the Nintendo press conference, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime repeated the mantra of “and no glasses.” This may have been a slight to Sony and Microsoft, both of which introduced different kinds of 3D technologies, but it also represents an important step in making 3D appealing to the general public by eliminating barriers between gamers and game hardware.
Even as Sony was extolling the fact that its PlayStation Move had control buttons that would, in Sony’s opinion, enhance gameplay, Nintendo was emphasizing the fact that, in many cases, “less is more.” And Nintendo should know. After all, the 3DS is not Nintendo’s first foray into 3D portable gaming. That honor belongs to the Virtual Boy, a console that Satoru Iwata alluded to when he said that Nintendo has been working on 3D for more than 15 years. The Virtual Boy was also launched at a time in Nintendo’s history that many in the company might want to forget (see Chapter 2: Nintendo’s Dark Age in the book).
When I first discussed the Nintendo 3DS a few months ago, I explained that this time, things would be different.
The last time Nintendo launched a 3-D console, known as the Virtual Boy, it proved to be a dismal failure. This time, things will probably turn out more favorably for Nintendo. The Virtual Boy was plagued with numerous problems, most notably a lack of quality content. Games that were designed to demonstrate the console’s 3-D rendering capability failed to excite gamers. The Virtual Boy also suffered from poor ergonomics, a lack of color, few game titles, and no backward compatibility.
Gone is the clunky head mounted interface, replaced by a slider that is completely unobtrusive. In fact, gameplay works like it would on any other DS console. It is an innovation that will likely do more to attract casual gamers to 3D than any of the offerings of Nintendo’s competitors.
Unlike the Nintendo Virtual Boy (top), the 3DS promises to revolutionize 3D gaming.
If that were not enough, the Nintendo 3DS promises to be a gaming powerhouse with graphical processing capabilities that exceed current generation PSP consoles (the current leader in handheld graphics). And with launch titles like Metal Gear Solid, the 3DS should attract a following among “core” gamers of 18-34 year old males.
Film and media will offer another dimension to the 3DS experience by offering movies like “How to Train Your Dragon” in full 3D without the need for 3D glasses. As I mentioned earlier, Sony brought film content to handheld consoles in a big way with the PSP. Unfortunately, it was poorly implemented both in terms of pricing and content. It is too early to know if Nintendo has found a way to avoid the same mistakes.
Although some analysts predict a price of between $250 and $300 for the new console, they ignore the fact that Nintendo is known for its aggressive launch pricing, going back to the Game Boy, which launched at $89. If Nintendo stays true to that tradition, one can expect a launch price closer to $150, or slightly more than the launch price of the original DS at $129.
It could be more than a year before we see Nintendo 3DS consoles in the hands of consumers, but when we finally do, it could truly change the way 3D content is consumed. And just as the Wii inspired a wave of innovation in the industry, leading to products like Kinect and PlayStation Move, the 3DS could spawn another wave of innovation, this time in 3D content and consumption.
Prof. 
heard that the 3DS will use a Nvidia Tegra graphics card! Isn’t that cool! I’m kind of bummed that the bottom screen will be smaller than the DS lite’s bottom screen, though. Do you know if is it true that the Nintendo 3DS will have a multi-touch screen and a GPS?
hi there littel professors thats 2 questions the gpu is a pica 200 at 133 mhz and is the botom screen is small but the bright side most every one be useing the top 3.53 inch wide screen 3d screen not the 2d botom screen people buying 3ds is for the 3d screen for 3d movies 3d games 3d youtubes
When the 3DS was released earlier this year, Nintendo broke with tradition and priced it at $250, or $100 more than I had predicted. As a result, sales proved disappointing and Nintendo has since dropped the price to the level that I had suggested as an appropriate launch price. Unfortunately, Nintendo has lost much of the pre-launch momentum that could have propelled the 3DS into a leading position and helped to mitigate the decline of Nintendo’s other products.