If you’re an owner of both the Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, you’re probably aware both devices don’t sync up to a unified Nintendo ID. This can make syncing up content on both devices a pain in the keister, although there aren’t many games that offer this sort of functionality. Many Wii U and 3DS owners have been wanting unified accounts on both system for quite some time, and Nintendo of America’s Dan Adelman is finally responding to customer feedback. (more…)
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Casting aside such permutations as the DSi and the DSi XL, it makes ordinal sense for the Nintendo 3DS to have followed the Nintendo DS. This is true even if the “3” was for the number of dimensions and not necessarily generations (in which case it might have been named the DS 3). But it seems a bit puzzling on the face of it to come out with a product called the 2DS after the 3DS. Changing the sub-brand immediately calls the notion of compatibility into question even if one can see why Nintendo wouldn’t want to include “3D” in a product that doesn’t display it. (At least it’s not being called “the new 3DS.”)
And that’s but one of the confusing things about the 2DS, in which the strongest champion of hand-held gaming hardware has eliminated the signature feature of its latest portable console generation as well as the clamshell design with which the DS series has been identified since its debut a decade ago. The result is a makeover of the portable 3D handheld that is a bit less portable and a lot less 3D.
Nintendo caught us all by surprise when it announced its — all too literally named — 2DS handheld last week. But are we really surprised? For a company that found its last success with the “family” experience, and loves to create products in families of their own, it’s perhaps surprising that it didn’t create a more affordable, more accessible handheld sooner. Either way, it’s here now, and will be reaching shelves by October 12th — just in time to make those Christmas lists. Our list is getting pretty full already though, so we spent a little time with it to see if it could make the cut.%Gallery-slideshow79312%
Nintendo’s announcement of the Nintendo 2DS is one of the most surprising developments in the gaming world this year. As an entry-level variant of the Nintendo 3DS, the 2DS can play all 3DS games and thousands more DS games. But unlike the 3DS and the 3DS XL, the 2DS can’t be folded. It’s upper screen also can’t display stereoscopic 3D, hence the lose-lose situation regarding its name. It’s an honest name, but for some people it will be like being told that a Honda Bivic exists. And it’s a Civic.
According to Kotaku, the 2DS’ screens are the same size as the ones on the 3DS. The lower screen is still a touchscreen and the 2DS will also come with a stylus. But as you can see its Circle Pad and face buttons are on the upper half of the device. I think the buttons were shifted up so that the shoulder buttons – which are at the top of the device – will still be within your index finger’s reach while your thumbs are on the Circle Pad and face buttons.
Aside from the “slate” form and the lack of a stereoscopic 3D display, the 2DS has a few other deficiencies compared to its big brothers. For one, it only has a mono speaker, but you can still get stereo audio via its headphone jack. It also has no physical Wi-Fi switch; you’ll have to toggle that from within the menu. So it’s a lesser device, but that means it also has a lower price. It will only cost $130 (USD), $40 cheaper than the 3DS and $70 cheaper than the 3DS XL.
*Update: Kotaku also shared Nintendo Europe’s nifty comparison chart (pdf) between all three 3DS models.* The Nintendo 2DS will be available on 10/12/2013, which is also the day Pokémon X and Y are released. That timing should help push units right from the get go; it will be enough for many people to see that the 2DS can play the latest Pokémon game. But only time will tell if Nintendo’s questionablenamingscheme and hilarious yet also depressing decision to ditch their system’s main feature will pay off.
Will customers think that there are 2DS games? Or that the 2DS can’t play 3DS games? Will developers still care about the quality and functionality of stereoscopic 3D in their 3DS games? Will Nintendo finally realize that they have to come up with a practical naming scheme for their devices? Seriously, why didn’t they just name it the 3DS Jr.?
Nintendo wants to compete with cheap tablets more than ever, but just not the way you think. The company will release a new version of the 3DS — the Nintendo 2DS, which has a tablet-esque form factor. As the name suggests, it is a 2D-only handheld console compatible with 3DS and DS games. At $129.99, the 2DS is $40 cheaper than its sibling. The company also announced a $50 price cut for the Wii U on September 20, ahead of the releases of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
While the 3DS is doing well, it’s another story for the Wii U. As of June 30, Nintendo reported 3.61 million sales. As a reminder, in July 2007, seven months after the release of the Wii, the company was selling 1.8 million consoles each month. Now, Nintendo wants to compete on price to stay relevant.
But the console still lacks games. Many third-party publishers, such as Electronic Arts, Activision and Ubisoft, will only release their games on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The PlayStation 4 will cost $399 and the Xbox One $499.
Nintendo probably thought that launching the Wii U a year before its competitor was the right move to get a head start. But it is hard to convince existing Wii owners that the Wii U isn’t just a tiny upgrade with a tablet-like controller. The name of the console itself doesn’t help. It finally is an HD console from Nintendo, but it’s hard to communicate about the number of pixels on a screen.
With the 2DS, Nintendo finally built a gaming tablet. It could have a certain appeal to parents who are hesitating between a cheap Android tablet and a Nintendo handheld console, but the form factor doesn’t seem very practical for gamers, and especially children with tiny hands.
Available on October 12, the 2DS will retain the same features as the 3DS, except its main feature — the 3D display. It has the same stylus, Wi-Fi and comes with a 4GB SD card. While $130 is cheap, 3DS games are still more expensive than iOS or Android games. But you won’t find Mario on your iPad.
As Nintendo suggests in the 2DS promo video, the new console is “a handheld gaming system from Nintendo like you’ve never seen before.” Everyone can agree that Nintendo is right on this one.
An earlier version of this article misstated the price of the 3DS. It is $40 more expensive than the 2DS ($169), not $50.
Nintendo will be launching a new portable gaming system in October. It’s called the Nintendo 2DS. It’s a 3DS without the 3D, and it’s shaped like a thin piece of cake.
So we know that the Nintendo Wii U isn’t exactly the platform of choice for developers to create games on, as we have seen in the case with Bethesda, Crytek, and recently Capcom. We can’t be sure if it’s sluggish sales that puts developers off, or if it’s due to lack of developer interest that resulted in sluggish sales. In any case it seems that Nintendo’s woes are further confirmed by developer n-Space who claims that there is a low demand from publishers requesting Nintendo-related games for either the 3DS handheld console or the Wii U.
For those unfamiliar with n-Space, they are developers who specialize in porting or adapting games for different consoles, and according to the company’s CEO, Dan O’Leary (via GamesIndustry), it is probably the company’s first time in 10 years where they have no Nintendo titles in development. “It’s kind of a sad thing to say, because for a long time n-Space has been known as a Nintendo-friendly developer. We certainly have loved all our time working with them. We think their hardware’s great.” This is definitely not great news for Nintendo and the future certainly looks bleak, but here’s hoping that things will pick up in the future.
Unless you live in a densely populated city, you probably struggle to make the most of the 3DS’ StreetPass feature — it’s why Nintendo implemented a StreetPass Relay program earlier this month. Now, less than a week after the Mii-sharing setup launched, the gaming community has found a way to exploit it. Users on the GBATemp forums have discovered that spoofing the MAC address of a known Nintendo Zone router while broadcasting the correct SSID creates a homemade relay that pulls the latest StreetPass data from Nintendo’s servers. This trick allows gamers to remotely share StreetPass data from the comfort of their own home.
It’s not a gateway to unlimited passes, however — just like with local 3DS systems, the relay stations will only share data with an individual handheld once every eight hours, requiring die-hard “homepassers” to manually change their spoofed MAC for each additional StreetPass they want to collect. There is also some concern that Nintendo will notice this remote StreetPass setup and block the known MAC addresses (or worse, infringing handhelds) in an attempt to combat exploitation. Convoluted? Sure, but it’s still pretty impressive. If you’re feeling bold, check out the adjacent source links to get started; the community has created tutorials for Android, Linux, OSX and Windows, complete with a spreadsheet of viable MAC addresses.
If you’ve been waiting for a price drop before upgrading to a 3DS XL, Nintendo has the next best thing for you: a refurbished trio of its up-sized 3D handhelds. They typically run $200 new, but you can get a redone unit for $170, or $180 with a 16GB SD memory card, in red, black or blue direct from the manufacturer. If you don’t mind dropping the XL, a reworked aqua blue or midnight purple 3DS has lowered from April’s price of $130 to $120, or $50 off compared to new. In all cases, Nintendo refurbs come with a one-year warranty and — aside from the possibility of some “minor cosmetic blemishes” — the Japanese manufacturer assures us that its quality standards are “VERY high”. (Their caps, not ours.)
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So we know that the Nintendo Wii U isn’t exactly the platform of choice for developers to create games on, as we have seen in the case with 
