 Malik
(3/28/11)I'm sad to see that Amazon decided, even with one day shipping, to wait until today to ship out 3DS orders. At least this is the case with my order. While I can wait, I still just want to get this thing. It's one thing to want to try out the 3D wacky trendiness. It's another thing to have no DS currently (I returned my loaner DS Lite so it's owner could trade it in towards credit on a 3DS at Gamestop). I have Okamiden, the cart that is, waiting for me to return to the game. However, when you have two original DS systems with bad touch screens, this is not a game you can pick up and play if in this situation. I could always grind for money, using only normal non-brush attacks, but I wouldn't be able to progress in the game without being able to use the brush related skills on the touch screen. In the meantime, I'm not feeling overly enthusiastic about gaming anyway. It's been a strange week or so of allergies and sleep, along with stresses, just leaving me unmotivated to try anything fun. I just feel like I need to take a vacation, and escaping into gaming is not the solution for me. Malik |
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Malik
(3/30/11) I have read a lot of comments online about the 3DS being too expensive. It's like people think Nintendo only wants our money. Of course, as a business, they do want our money. It's how business works, isn't it? Can you imagine all businesses giving away items below cost? It would be a sad world since nothing would survive in the world of commerce. As for Nintendo, with all due sarcasm...they cannot want our money that much. If they did, why would they not include the eStore (the Nintendo 3DS store equivalent of the 360 Marketplace of the PS3 PSN Store) at launch? In all seriousness, I don't understand the eStore not being available at launch for the 3DS. I want to give some of my hard earned money to the eStore (for Animal Color Cross on the DSWare section), but currently am waiting for some magical 3DS system update. Anyway, I did get my 3DS last night. I didn't have much to do with it, but I gave the whole thing a quick chance to amuse me and felt pretty good at how well it devoured my time. I tried the AR Card games, the camera, the Mii designer, and Face Blasters (or whatever the game you play in which you shoot someone's face from your room). It all worked well enough, but I have to say a few things annoy me about this system...beyond the obviously lacking launch titles (but what console has good launch titles?). First off, for the back and forth complaint of the 3D viewing angle being limited; I've seen many complaints and a lot of message boards of people arguing against this issue. Well, I do have to say the complaints are grounded in reality. The viewing angle is not as bad as it could be, but it is a bit more limited than I can find comfortable for extended periods of time. Still, for glasses-free 3D, this is not too much of an unexpected system ruining issue. As for the 3D itself; I have had some fun, but it hasn't added anything important yet. It's neat, but it doesn't make any of the built-in games and features all that impressive. In fact, the system is more based around using cameras to manipulate the space around you on a virtual screen than about the 3D of it all. Maybe the 3DS games use it in some way, but I feel like the 3D is not bringing nearly as much to this system as the other features (sharper screen, better integration of camera, SD card slot, circle pad). I also need to comment on Face Blasters. This game insults me. I mean it literally insults me. The face recognition seems pretty goofy when it say that my face (of a bearded man in his early 30's) is of a male infant. I'd love to see what world has infants with scruffy beards. I mean it would be a really cool world. At least the game itself is a good amount of fun despite the insults to the face in question. On a final note with built in features, the AR Card game is pretty fun for a quick dose of entertainment. It's nothing too major, and I doubt I'd pay much for these games, but as a free packed in game, it's a nice addition. You have a good amount of variety, with some image manipulation features, a game that mimics a cross between mini-golf and pool, a target shooting game, and a fishing game. All in all, it definitely shows the potential for the 3DS when a creative developer is playing with the system... ...Of course that will not stop the soon-to-be flood of shovelware from developers who have no idea how to handle the potential of a Nintendo game system. It's been this way with the Wii, and with the DS. Hopefully, like with the original DS, the shovelware phase is just that; a phase. Malik |
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Malik
(4/1/11) Now that I have access to the DS, or the DS backwards compatibility of the 3DS, I find myself just not playing Okamiden. I do want to continue the game, but I'm being pulled apart by a new found desire to enjoy Rock Band 3 (due mainly to my new 7.1 surround sound system) and the mindless entertainment offered by the free built-in games and applications on the 3DS. In a nut shell, the 3DS is pure addictive awesomeness. The AR card game application just keeps drawing me in more and more. I unlocked all the games, or so I thought, and felt like quitting. Then, on a whim, I tried the fishing game and unlocked, after fishing once, the ability to buy new modes for previously unlocked AR games using the 3DS coins. Considering the limit on coins Nintendo imposed (something like 9 or 10 a day), I can see this keeping my attention for a few more days...between paying coins for cat soldiers in Find Mii. Find Mii has to be one of the most addictive pointless games I've played in a long time. It's a neat introduction to a sort of social media from Nintendo. Basically, you have a dungeon of sorts, with a linear room progression. As you meet Miis through street pass (walk past a 3DS on the street that is in sleep mode and your 3DS will swap a Mii with the other 3DS) or you buy soldiers with 3DS coins, you can progress in the dungeon. You battle ghosts to get further into the dungeon, and unlock some clothes for your Mii in the process of clearing rooms. Find Mii is simple, pointless, and...quite addictive for such a basic idea. On its own, this would not be worth any money, but as a free packed in application, it's brilliant. It also shows how Nintendo wants the 3DS to be utilized by developers. Between Face Raiders (or whatever the face shooting game is called...), AR games, and Find Mii, Nintendo obviously has a plan for where to take the technology in the 3DS. Best of all, they are letting the world see these concepts by including them at no cost. The true question is if other developers will follow suit. The real world future probably has more shovelware than quality games coming from the integration of WiFi in sleep mode, the multiple cameras, and the integration of these features. Still, if any developer learns from this example, the future of the 3DS could be pretty damned cool. Malik |
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