Nintendo recently announced that on September 29th, they will officially reveal information about the 3DS that we all have been wondering, namely the price point at launch, and of course, the release date for the system itself.
Of course, no specifics were said as to whether it’s the worldwide price and release, or just the Japanese or American price and release. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Wired.com had the chance to interview Hideki Konno in a meeting room, off the E3 show floor, in regards to the Nintendo 3DS.
Konno revealed that there will be a new ‘Tag Mode’ system implemented in the 3DS which allows users to transfer bits of data to each other. It seems like this will be implemented in many games, but not all. There will also be a Tag Mode Viewer, where users will be able to manage all Tag Mode data.
He goes on to reveal that the accelerometer and the gyroscope built into the 3DS are on par to that of the Wii MotionPlus accessory. Furthermore, he told Wired.com that they’re looking to make this a sociable system; a system that will be carried around wherever people go. Lastly, Konno stated that we should take the model shown at E3 as the ‘final shape’. Although this confirms the shape of the system, there are a few things that still may change. Miyamoto said the Start, Select and Home buttons were not final. This will either be something that changes, or Konno just contradicted Miyamoto.
Nintendo and Sony are currently in talks with phone companies about adding 3G connections to their next handheld systems.
“Videogame makers know that in order for portable game machines to take the next step forward, they need wireless communication. We are discussing this with various players.”
- Ryuji Yamada, president of NTT DoCoMo
This could immensely improve online interactions and brings up speculations of further development, whether it be flash players, better online gaming, or online video chat.
A mock up image for the Nintendo 3Ds… Would or could this be the design for the DS?
According to My Nintendo News, a leaked version of what seems to be the Nintendo 3DS has been leaked on a Chinese Blog Site. I don’t believe it, but the image looks rather well done. According to the original article on Kotaku they have “confirmed” (and I say it lightly because we won’t know for sure until E3) that the 3DS would support Nintendo DS games. The top screen will be obviously larger, as we see above. As well it will have a little control-stick, not like the PSP nub. They say it may not be as strong as the previously mentioned power similar to that of a XBox360 or PS3, but more so the power of a current Nintendo Wii.
Note: these are still rumors and speculations, so don’t think we’re absolutely confirming this.
While looking for Zelda news, I ran across something on Zelda Informer and that was a discussion over E3 2010.
E3 is only a week away and a lot of things are popping up about Nintendo’s E3 conference. At E3, their conference will be about 2 hours long, which is unheard of for them. So that means their conference will be between 9 A.M. to 11 A.M PST (Los Angeles, Seattle, etc.) … Or about 12 P.M. to 2 P.M. EST (New York, Detroit, etc.)
Back to the video, and quoting some of the people:
Jeff Gerstmann: “Yeah. Zelda has to be the biggest thing there and you know they need to redesign those games and this will hopefully be the time for them to say: ‘Here’s the stuff that works in the past and…” Geoff Keighley: “Is Zelda going to need voice acting?” Jeff: “They don’t need voice acting. They… maybe they need voice acting.”
You can view the video above and listen on what else they need. What do you think they need?
“Several developers that have experienced 3DS in its current form have reported, off the record, that it has processing capabilities that far exceed the Nintendo Wii and bring the device with abilities that are close to HD consoles such as PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.”
Could a portable console REALLY outperform the Wii’s graphics and actually challenge the HD Twins in their own game? Quite a twist from the last bits of news we’ve been recently getting. What are your thoughts on this?
According to our affiliate, Zelda Informer, Nintendo’s E3 Press Conference where they will show their newest games and gadgets will start at 9 AM on June 15th (assuming it is 9 AM Pacific Time). If you’re an avid watcher for Zelda news, be sure to check out Zelda Temple and the other Zelda Sites for news about Nintendo’s E3 Conference~!
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s President, has said to the press that the Nintendo 3Ds, the system with 3D capabilities we spoke of before, is merely a temporary name, much like how the Gamecube was called Dolphin. He also has said that in the not so distant future, Nintendo will mention the real name of the system.
According to CVG.com, DS sales in Europe are now starting to decline. In a briefing with Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata, they discussed how well major hits on the HD Twins sold due to the titles being sold back-to-back. After that, he soon spoke out, ‘On the other hand, the sales of Nintendo DS hardware in Europe are showing a year-on-year decrease, unlike the United States market.’
Seems like the US is still in DS Fever.
‘While Wii has been embracing big hit titles since the latter half of 2009,’ said Iwata, ‘not many strong titles to significantly drive hardware sales have been launched for Nintendo DS for a while. So, we recognize that we are coming to the stage where we need to offer a hit title that can gain social phenomena and catch our customers.’
