Today at E3 2010, Nintendo used their press conference to introduce a new handheld system: the Nintendo 3DS.
Nintendo was quick to poke big fun at current 3D tech, and even called out CES 2010. “It’s the glasses”, Reggie Fils-Amis said with a grimace, as if sickened by the thought. He stood in front of a screen showing unhappy-looking, ugly-glasses-clad families crammed together on couches. That was his opportunity to announce the new system.
The 3DS is a dual-screen handheld, similar in shape to its predecessor the DS and DSi. It is slightly larger, and has a much larger top screen (at 3.5 inches), in addition to an analog stick above the D-pad.
The top screen is a multi-layered 3D display; there is a slider to control depth of the screen layers to increase or decrease the 3D effect; this ensures backwards compatibility with 2D DS games. The bottom screen is a traditional DS touch screen. It has two cameras on the back to take 3D pictures, as well.
Nintendo also dropped a bombshell in the form of a movie partnership announcement. In a breakaway from the traditional Nintendo stance as a “pure game company”, they announced support for 3D movies from a variety of big studios: Warner Brothers, Disney, and Dreamworks were on the list.
While it wasn’t really possible to display the true 3D tech on screen or to the audience, Nintendo made dozens of 3DS units available to on-site reporters and will have more on display at their booth during E3.
Icrontic reporter Bobby Miller got his hands on one and said via Twitter: “WOW. The 3DS is astounding, it simply HAS to be seen to be believed. This is true, non-intrusive future tech. Glasses are DEAD.”
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