Hasta La Gadget!

Once upon a time, when handheld game systems were thicker and Nintendo was entirely without peer, the company deigned to allow us to import games without fear. On Game Boy of all shapes and sizes, as well as the Nintendo DS, a Japanese cartridge would let you experience portable wonders years before they hit Europe and the US. Starting in 2008, however, Nintendo made DSi-specific titles region-locked — and that’s the same fate that will likely befall games on Nintendo’s new 3D handheld as well. “There is the possibility that Nintendo 3DS software sold in one region will not function properly when running on Nintendo 3DS hardware sold in another,” a company statement reads, though it’s important to note that region locks are typically a two-party affair — if game publishers choose to make their stereoscopic software region-free, it might work on your handheld anyhow. So yes, you might still have a chance to get your date sim on.

Nintendo 3DS may have region-locked software, continue an unfortunate trend originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Much has been made of Nintendo’s 3DS warning that the six-and-under crowd should probably stick to 2D mode, and while CEO Iwata has consented that “being proactive about informing our customer…. may not necessarily be positive for our sales,” the American Optometric Association has put an interesting spin on all this. The group released a statement last week — yes, during CES madness — asserting that 3D viewing “may actually help uncover subtle disorders that, left uncorrected, often result in learning difficulties.” Not only that, but the 36,000-strong group suggested “children younger than six can use the 3DS in 3D mode if their visual system is developing normally.” So yeah, Little Timmy’s Christmas 2011 isn’t ruined just yet, but that leaves plenty of time for a competing study to come out confusing everyone even further.

3D is dangerous / not dangerous: optometrist group defends Nintendo 3DS edition originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We may still not have an official price for the Nintendo 3DS, but it looks like you can now at least count on yet another unique gaming experience not found on other handheld systems. Konami recently announced that its “Project Loveplus” dating simulator for the system will not only take advantage of the system’s 3D capabilities, but that it will also include a so-called “boyfriend lock” that uses facial recognition to prevent any virtual cheating. Apparently, if someone else picks up your 3DS and tries to play the game, your virtual girlfriend will act confused and respond with phrases like “who are you?” — which, incidentally, is a question you might also want to ask yourself before looking for ways to import the game from Japan (yeah, don’t count on this one being released over here).

Continue reading Konami’s 3DS dating simulator uses facial recognition to block virtual cheating

Konami’s 3DS dating simulator uses facial recognition to block virtual cheating originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 19:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Who’d have thought that adding extra grunt under the hood, a glasses-free 3D display up top, a wireless “tag mode,” and automatic wireless updates to the 3DS would serve to degrade battery life? Certainly not our naive souls. The same Q&A that informed us about Nintendo’s Spot Pass plans for the 3DS has been found to also contain some commentary on battery endurance from Satoru Iwata himself. The company chief says “it is inevitable that Nintendo 3DS will be a device which requires more frequent recharging than Nintendo DS” and notes that as a major reason why a charging cradle will be bundled into the new console’s retail package. With tongue firmly wedged in cheek, Iwata suggests that perhaps Nintendo ought to advise users to deposit the 3DS into its cradle as soon as they get home, but the overall point is as clear as it is obvious: your more powerful handheld will require more power.

Shocker! Nintendo 3DS will have shorter battery life than DS originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 03:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The mystery of what’s actually under the hood of the Nintendo 3DS is likely to elude us until launch date, when the inevitable teardown commences. That isn’t stopping IGN, however, from pooling together its rolodex of sources to report what it believes the specs are: two 266MHz ARM11 CPUs, a 133MHz GPU, 4MB dedicated VRAM, 64MB RAM, and 1.5GB flash storage (in addition to the previously-known SD card expansion). If based on ARM11 architecture, it’d certainly be in good (if not wildly disparate) company: iPhone (original and 3G), the first two generations of iPod touch, all Amazon Kindles, Palm Pixi, a plethora of Nokia handsets, and… the Kin One and Zune HD. Two separate processors isn’t too far fetched, either, as the original DS had both a 67MHz ARM9 and a 33.5MHz ARM7 (quite an uptick, eh?). Digital Media Productions took credit for the GPU back in June, claiming its Pica200 would be the chip of choice. That’s got a maximum speed of 200MHz, which according to this rumor is being underclocked.

So, nothing that runs counter to the admittedly little we got via the 3DS’ FCC leak, and still nothing to keep the Tegra 2 hopeful in check (poor souls). Those with a need to know so passionate it runs through their very being will, as we said before, probably have to wait until it hits retail. And we should find out when that is next week.

Rumored Nintendo 3DS specs include two separate 266MHz ARM11 processors, 1.5GB storage originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 21:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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