Nintendo 3DS pre-launch event- 06/02/11

Today I went down to London, with my mum and brother, to get my grubby hands all over Nintendo’s latest portable. I have to say I was surprised by what happened when we were let in. Luckily they let Jack come in with me, although he had no invite, and even offered to let my mum in, although she decided not to come. Once given the wristband, we were asked to wait in a room with some tech-y floor gizmo thing that “symbolised the street pass feature” or some such guff. Once that was over, we went into a room done up like some Japanese village of some kind. To guys dressed up as randoms from street fighter IV did a fighty dance thing. Then we went on to a room were two actors, with varying skill at American accents, announced the T-virus had broken out, and some zombies were wandering in the next corridor. They then escorted us through as some shadowy figures jumped out of a shed and from behind a bush. I don’t know why either of those things were there, we were inside. I guess they were trying to show how 3D could impact the experience, here we were in some real life games, and now we were going to play some real 3D ones.

I want it. I want it now.

The next room was the one I had been waiting for, the games room. 3DS’s were lined up against the wall and for 15ish minutes we were allowed to fill our boots. I played 2 tracks worth of ridge racers, and a quick go at pilot wings resort. Both of these games were good for the demo, as they showed off the sense of depth the 3D screen can give. Whilst it’s not immediately a “WOW 3D” moment, when you turn the 3d off, via the slider, you can really see the point of it. The sense of depth given to the environments really impressed me, and there were some pretty cool gimmicky bits, like confetti floating around the race track, it’s subtle, but I think it really adds to it. I’m sold on the 3D. (Although my brother said it hurt his eyes, I didn’t have this problem.

When we were moved out of this room they took us into another, with more 3DS’s about, and less moody lighting. The highlights of this room were the demo for nintendogs and cats and the augmented reality games that are (as far as I’m aware) to be included on the systems software from day one. To be brief about nintendogs, I was very impressed by how much better the graphics were looking this time around. This time the dogs really look like they have fur, and the cats, well they are fucking cute. I’m definitely getting that. Just to play with the pussy. (Chortle) but the augmented reality games, they really wowed me.

Using the cameras on the back, the immediate surrounding becomes the background for a game called face invades. You physically move your DS to aim and shoot, as baddies with photos of you as their face attack. You can even shoot holes in reality, it’s a great affect. The other game shown involved a card, which the camera recognises and uses it as a guide. From “within” this card some little characters appeared, leaving targets to shoot in the same way as before. This time though you had to walk around the table in order to see the front of the target, no points for getting it from behind. Then it got really impressive, creating some amazing affects. Suddenly a pit had appeared in the table, but not in real life, just on the screen. The table inflated and deflated on the screen and for one moment I even had to check I was still looking at the same table. Whether this will work very well on any table that isn’t bright white in colour I don’t know, but it’s a very clever little game.

That was the final room, we then left the building. I left feeling very impressed, and I really can’t wait to get my own one.