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 |
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 |
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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