TheHistorics

Let’s get a few things out of the way: Yes, the Nintendo 3DS’s splashy glasses-free 3D is impressive. No, it won’t make you cross-eyed or blind. Yes, the 3D effect you’ve heard so much about creates clever and often fascinating gameplay. No, the preloaded games and apps and snazzy new features aren’t slam dunks. Yes, Nintendo once again built a piece of gaming gear that takes big risks, though while some pay off, others remain unproven. And yes, for the $250 Nintendo’s asking, you’ll probably want to buy one if you’re a steadfast Nintendo fan.

But only probably. If Avatar 3D wasn’t your thing, if you couldn’t care less about stereoscopic 3D, if you’d rather not fiddle with fussy menus or social networking apps or 3D pictures you can snap and share with friends, the 3DS probably isn’t for you. Let’s get this straight, too: The 3DS may be less a gaming handheld than a totable multimedia center, only one of whose activities happens to be gaming.

Of course the 3DS’s top screen–where it works its 3D magic by feeding separate images to each of your eyes–couldn’t be less like the DSi’s in terms of capability. Where the DSi employed a 3.25-inch TFT LCD, the 3DS lops a bit off the top and extends the edges, giving its slightly larger 3.53-inch autostereoscopic LCD more of a widescreen feel (it’s technically 5:3 aspect ratio, or 15:9, instead of the more conventional 16:9). It’s also capable of producing much sharper images with 800 x 240 pixels, or 400 x 240 pixels sent to each eye in 3D mode. Prior DS screens only supported 256 x 192 pixels.

What the top screen gains in tenths of an inch, the bottom 4:3 aspect ratio touchscreen loses, shrinking from 3.25 to just 3.02 inches diagonally, though it renders at a slightly higher 320 x 240 pixels. In fact it’s just enough to yield discernibly sharper text and cleaner lines, especially tapping around the 3DS’s new and abundant menus.

Getting the 3D effect to work properly–and continue working–takes some getting used to, and requires you and the 3DS remain relatively still. For instance, you’re asked to position your face away from the top screen slightly more than a foot, or about normal viewing distance, then remain perfectly centered at all times. But shifting as little as 10 degrees in any direction spoils the 3D effect and causes images on the screen to double or blur. It’s not a problem for games that don’t use the system’s motion-sensing features, but it’s a deal-breaker for others that require you to tilt and jostle the entire unit. If you don’t keep your line of vision fixed perpendicular to the screen, you slip out of the “sweet spot” and the image gets garbled.

You’ll also find yourself adjusting to the effect each time you look away from, then back at the screen. Expect to suffer mild eye strain going in. After interviewing an optometric expert about the 3DS, I’m pretty sure time and repetition will eventually train my eyes to make the shift more efficiently and eliminate the straining sensation, but it definitely takes some getting used to.

Nintendo’s taking no chances, of course, and includes “Health and Safety Information” warnings that caution against children under six viewing 3D images due to “vision damage” risks. Not to worry, Mom or Dad, the 3DS’s parental controls allow you to restrict access to the system in dozens of ways, from setting game access by software rating to curbing online interaction to regulating friend registration. And yes, you can disable the system’s ability to display 3D images.

(credit to PCWorld.com)