Tech Talk: The Nintendo 3DS

Welcome to Jess T.’s Tech Tuesday, where all your geek are belong to us!

A while ago, I wrote about how my daughters love the Nintendo DS. They’ve each got one and they bring them everywhere they go. With a wide collection of games, we thought it couldn’t get any better. Then we added this shiny new member to the family.

Hello, 3DS!

The Nintendo 3DS, as I’m sure you can guess, is a DS with 3D capabilities. Check out the video below for some info… I’ll wait here. (If you judge me for my lazy-day hair and face we won’t be friends anymore – I mean it.)

Oh good, you’re back. So as far as those technical specs go, I’ll give you some basics:

Included Hardware

• Nintendo 3DS system
• Nintendo 3DS charging cradle
• Nintendo 3DS AC adapter
• Nintendo 3DS stylus
• SD Memory Card (2GB)
• AR Card(s) (view the cards using the outer cameras to play supported AR games)
• Quick-Start Guide
• Operations Manual (including warranty)

Size (when closed) – 2.9 inches high, 5.3 inches long, 0.8 inches deep.

 

Weight – Approximately 8 ounces (including battery pack, stylus, SD memory card).

Upper Screen – Wide-screen LCD display, enabling 3D view without the need for special glasses. Capable of displaying approximately 16.77 million colors. 3.53 inches display (3.02 inches wide, 1.81 inches high) with 800 x 240 pixel resolution. 400 pixels are allocated to each eye to enable 3D viewing.

Lower Screen – LCD with a touch screen capable of displaying 16.77 million colors. 3.02 inches (2.42 inches wide, 1.81 inches high) with 320 x 240 pixel resolution.

 

Cameras – One inner camera and two outer cameras. Resolutions are 640 x 480 for each camera. Lens are single focus and uses the CMOS capture element. The active pixel count is approximately 300,000 pixels.

 

Wireless Communication – 2.4 GHz. Enabling local wireless communication among multiple Nintendo 3DS systems for game play and StreetPass. Enabling access to the Internet through wireless LAN access points (supports IEEE802.11 b/g with the WPA /WPA2 security feature). Recommended distance of wireless communication is within 98.4 feet. This can be shorter depending on the environmental situation. WPA and WPA2 are marks of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Charge Time – About 3.5 hours to full charge

Battery Duration – When playing Nintendo 3DS software about 3-5 hours. When playing Nintendo DS software about 5-8 hours. Battery duration differs depending on the brightness setting of the screen. The information regarding battery duration is a rough standard. It can be shorter depending on what functions of the Nintendo 3DS system are used.

Now that all that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the Nintendo eShop, the online store for buying games. This is very similar to the Wii because you can download new and classic games wirelessly (for a fee). For example, you can get Excitebike in 3D for only $5.99… I loved Excitebike more than anything else when I was a kid! The eShop is also where you can download the Netflix app (requires your existing paid subscription through Netflix).

So as I mentioned, there’s not a huuuuge selection of games available for the 3DS yet which is a bit disappointing, (only 40 in-store titles, plus about 14 downloadable 3D games through the eShop as opposed to over 1500 combined for the original DS). But don’t worry! You can still use that vast array of DS games in your 3DS too. So really, its not a big deal – and more are coming in time for the holidays!

With an MSRP of $249.99, it’s a little bit of a price jump from the DSi but if you’re craving some fresh technology and have some bucks to spare, the 3DS is the way to go. You can still use all your old accessories, plus take advantage of cool new technology that we’ve been waiting for since Biff Tannen rode a Hover Board. Who knows? This might ease some of that “we-don’t-have-flying-cars” pain. Check it out for yourself at Nintendo’s 3DS website, or on Facebook.

Before you go, here’s some in-game footage of Face Raiders!

Come back next week for another installment of Tech Tuesday!

*Nintendo provided a 3DS for review purposes, but all opinions are my own*