Hasta La Gadget!

There’s just so much to love about this video, described by co-creator Florian Smolka as a university video-project from Munich. In a little over four minutes, we’re given a first-person tour of console gaming from 1958’s Tennis for Two (played on an oscilloscope) through late 2008’s Rock Band for Xbox 360 (using a Guitar Hero drum set, but hey, nobody’s perfect). Not every console gets a mention — apologies to Atari Jaguar and 3DO apologists — and it unfortunately stops before new hotness Move and Kinect get a nod, but that should in no way deter you from setting aside a handful of minutes to watch. Be sure to note the passage of TVs, too, and remember fondly the CRTs of your youth. Unless you grew up with LCD flatscreens, you lawn-lounging whippersnapper, you. Video after the break.

Continue reading Gaming’s first-person history lesson: 1958 to 2008 edition (video)

Gaming’s first-person history lesson: 1958 to 2008 edition (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You had to expect that as the 3DS got closer to its global release, stray units would manage to break out of Nintendo’s manufacturing fortress and dash out into the wild. We already saw one such escapee earlier this month and, if we’re not terribly mistaken, that very same unit has now gone through the ritual of having its body disassembled for the sake of curious 3D gamers everywhere. There’s little to thrill the superficial viewer — we already knew about the 1300mAh battery, for example — but maybe you’ll care to scrutinize the silicon more closely. If so, the source link is your nearest and dearest friend.

[Thanks, Adam]

Alleged Nintendo 3DS roams the wild, gets thoroughly dismantled originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 01:28:00 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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Remember those all-night Mario Kart DS and Advance Wars marathons? Looking to recreate the magic with the 3DS? Bring a wall charger. Nintendo’s just unveiled its best-case scenario figures for the 3DS’ battery life, and compared with its predecessors, it ain’t pretty. The official numbers are three to five hours playing per game, or five to eight if playing an older DS title (and up to three hours 30 minutes to fully recharge). So… three to eight hours under the most ideal circumstances. Let’s look at the family album: the DS is 10 to 14 hours, DS Lite 15 to 19 hours, DSi 9 to 14 hours, and DSi XL 13 to 17 hours (all figures also from Nintendo). Can’t say we’re entirely surprised; Haus of Mario Chief Satoru Iwata’s own words back in October were “it is inevitable that Nintendo 3DS will be a device which requires more frequent recharging than Nintendo DS.” Think of it as an extension of the warning label. You can never be too careful, you know.

Nintendo 3DS good for only 3 to 8 hours of play time per charge originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 00:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier today, we had the chance to get some hands-on time with Nintendo’s eagerly-awaited 3DS glasses-free portable gaming system. We also had the opportunity to chat up Nintendo of America President, Reggie Fils-Aime. 

During our discussion, the executive spoke candidly about the Kinect for Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation Move, two gaming peripherals that took a page out of the Nintendo play book, following the runaway success of the Wii’s motion controllers.

Fils-Aime echoed that familiar Nintendo sentiment, “it’s all about the games.” He added that it’s hard for him to pick a clear winner between the two devices. “That’s tough to say. I think each does particular games uniquely well.”

The Kinect does have a bit of a leg up, however, in his opinion. “I think Dance Central is, by far, the best Kinect game,” Fils-Aime explained. “For Move, I think it would be hard for me to identify ‘what is their best content.’ I think it’s all about the same.”

Check out a quick video clip of Fils-Aime, after the jump.