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Aug 24

Marvell says Armada chips will power new game platform

Posted in: 3ds, gaming, nintendo 3ds, Nintendo3ds, processor, processors, Today's Chili

Marvell’s been teasing potent little processors for over a year now, but we’ve yet to see the firm’s Armada appear in anything we’d actually want… but co-founder Sehat Sutardja just let slip that Marvell silicon will power a genuine game console of some sort. “Approximately 15% of the sequential increase [in quarterly sales] was due to the initial production revenue from our ARMADA application processors, primarily as a result of a major customer preparing to launch a new gaming platform,” he told investors in a conference call last week, which roughly translates to “We just sold a load of processors for a new game console, yo” if our business-speak is correct. While there’s absolutely nothing connecting this transaction to Nintendo’s 3DS (which was confirmed to have a Pica200 GPU), we honestly can’t think of a single other game platform slated to launch anytime soon — so don’t be surprised if there’s a quad-core Armada 600 under that variably-stereoscopic hood.

[Thanks, Roxanne]

Marvell says Armada chips will power new game platform originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source Seeking Alpha | Email this | Comments

Jul 29

Nintendo issues a 3DS release date date

Posted in: 3ds, availability, earnings, financials, gaming, Japan, nintendo, nintendo 3ds, Nintendo3ds, price, Today's Chili

Find the headline confusing? Well, the explanation won’t help to assuage the muddle much. A Nintendo spokesman told Bloomberg Japan that Ninty plans to announce the Nintendo 3DS price and release date on September 29th. Thus far, we’ve only seen speculation about pricing (between $249 and $299) and release dates (between October and March, 2011). So yeah, we still don’t know when or for how much but at least we know when we’ll find out when and for how much. Make sense?

Nintendo issues a 3DS release date date originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink gi | source Boomberg Japan [translated] | Email this | Comments

Jul 13

Nintendo unlikely to significantly alter 3DS design before release

Posted in: 3ds, e3, handheld, interview, nintendo, nintendo 3ds, Nintendo3ds, Today's Chili

In an interview from this year’s E3 that’s only just been published, Nintendo 3DS platform producer Hideo Konno says that the upcoming handheld is in its “final shape.” Reggie Fils-Aime, the company’s leading North American voice, has more recently told us that, au contraire, the E3 consoles are not the final design, though parsing the two into one coherent message would suggest that Nintendo’s just leaving itself room to make small changes if the need arises. Konno’s chat with Wired also touches on the 3DS’ screen size, with him suggesting the glasses-free stereoscopic effect could be taken all the way to the size of a TV but requires the user to be in a very precise position, which is what makes it unfeasible. Teased about potentially making a 3DS XL, the veteran game guru says Nintendo’s sticking with the current form factor for portability’s sake, but he clearly isn’t closing the door on the idea if and when 3DS sales begin to wane. There’s a lot more here, including discussion of the new handheld’s analog nub and MotionPlus-like gyro and accelerator combo, so why not show the source link some love?

Nintendo unlikely to significantly alter 3DS design before release originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source Wired | Email this | Comments

Jul 07

Nintendo’s Miyamoto says Miis could make the jump to the 3DS

Posted in: 3ds, nintendo, nintendo 3ds, Nintendo3ds, Today's Chili

Nintendo already dropped a hint that Miis could be heading to the 3DS by including some Mii-like characters in the Pilotwings demo at E3 last month, and Shigeru Miyamoto himself has now offered some further confirmation that Nintendo is at least looking at the possibility. Speaking with IGN this week, he says that it is “something that we’re definitely giving consideration to,” and that Nintendo wants to “continue to try to allow people to use their Miis on different Nintendo systems going forward.” While that’s not quite a complete confirmation, it definitely sounds like your Mii could be with you for a long time to come.

Nintendo’s Miyamoto says Miis could make the jump to the 3DS originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink T3 | source IGN | Email this | Comments

Jul 07

NTT DoCoMo looks to sell handheld game manufacturers on 3G

Posted in: gaming, Japan, nintendo, nintendo 3ds, Nintendo3ds, Today's Chili

Japanese telecom operator NTT DoCoMo is apparently in talks with heretofore unnamed manufacturers to get its 3G modules embedded in handheld game consoles. “We are discussing this with various players,” said company president Ryuji Yamada. The Wall Street Journal makes an educated guess that Nintendo might be one of the “players” (or “ballers,” if you will), which sounds pretty good to us: we know that the upcoming Nintendo 3DS handheld is still being tweaked, and including 3G would be a pretty big deal. We can dream, right? Either that, or move to Mexico City and get a Zeebo (sure, it’s not a handheld, but whatever).

NTT DoCoMo looks to sell handheld game manufacturers on 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Mobile Business Briefing | source Wall Street Journal | Email this | Comments

Jun 21

Nintendo 3DS will launch ‘in all major markets’ by March 2011, design still being tweaked

Posted in: 3ds, e3, nintendo, nintendo 3ds, Nintendo3ds, prototype, Today's Chili

When Nintendo of Japan first announced the 3DS (think: way back in March), it promised a release of the portable by the fiscal year ending March 2011. Given the DS and DSi’s six-month global rollout window, however, we weren’t sure if that applied to the world or just the company’s backyard — sure, we’ve heard rumors of a UK release in October, but nothing’s been confirmed. Cue Nintendo of America’s president Reggie Fils-Aime to give a definitive answer: “The one thing, for sure, is that we will launch in all of our major markets by March 31, 2011.” Well, that about settles it in our mind. Fils-Aime also clarifies that what we saw on the floor is not the final design — something that was mentioned during the press conference — but we wouldn’t expect anything more than slightly altered button placement (for its part, the official site lists “look,” battery, pre-installed software, and supported languages as TBA). But hey, if you want to believe a third screen is possible, don’t let us stop you from dreaming.

Nintendo 3DS will launch ‘in all major markets’ by March 2011, design still being tweaked originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source Industry Gamers | Email this | Comments

Jun 19

Nintendo 3DS to allow for game installs?

Posted in: 3ds, nintendo, nintendo 3ds, Nintendo3ds, rumor, rumors, Software, Today's Chili

Here’s an interesting little tidbit from Japan’s financial newspaper Nikkei. According to an article translated by andriasang — who also provided information this morning on a wireless ebook reader — Nintendo’s 3DS will be able to copy multiple games to internal memory and selected from the menu. Now, that can be interpreted in many ways. It could mean 3DS carts installing fully on the system à la Xbox 360’s game install. Another — and we think more likely — interpretation is that games can be downloaded via some store and saved internally. At this point, however, we don’t have any details on a 3DS online marketplace, and in an interview with Joystiq, the company’s in-house legend Shigeru Miyamoto wouldn’t comment on compatibility with current DSiWare. As for theoretic storage capacity, Nintendo still isn’t saying how much internal memory is in the device, but we do know the SD card slot is still there. All this discussion, of course, is assuming the translation is correct, and since we’re currently unable to verify for ourselves, consider all this a rumor right now.

Nintendo 3DS to allow for game installs? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 06:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Kotaku | source andriasang | Email this | Comments

Jun 18

Nintendo 3DS game cart pictured, wireless ebook reader on tap?

Posted in: 3ds, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, e3, nintendo, nintendo 3ds, Nintendo3ds, Today's Chili

It was easy to get lost amidst all the attention surrounding the 3DS itself, but Nintendo also had an actual 3DS game cart on hand at E3 and, well, it looks pretty much like a regular DS cart (probably a good thing, since the two are compatible). About the only difference, it seems, is that small extra tab on the corner, and a slightly slimmer case that they’ll come packaged in. In other overshadowed-by-E3 news, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has apparently told Nikkei that the 3DS’ wireless connection could be used to automatically download newspaper and magazine articles (and books, presumably) which, when combined with the 3DS’ ability to actively seek out and connect to any open WiFi network, could potentially turn into a Whispernet-like service from Nintendo — something that Iwata has, incidentally, publicly mused about in the past.

Nintendo 3DS game cart pictured, wireless ebook reader on tap? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink SlashGear | source Siliconera, andriasang | Email this | Comments

Jun 15

Nintendo 3DS in-depth preview: it works!

Posted in: 3ds, e3, impressions, nintendo, nintendo 3ds, Nintendo3ds, preview, Today's Chili

So, we got shuffled past a 3DS at a rapid pace this morning on our way out of the Nintendo keynote, but we’ve just had an opportunity to play some titles and really get a feel for the thing… and we’re pretty impressed. Before we were only shown a technical demo, but at Nintendo’s booth there are games, games, games. The booth was about evenly split between playable tech demos, non-playable live-rendered trailers, and regular 3D movies. Nintendo clearly is hard at work on titles for its system, and there’s plenty of third party clout getting into the mix. Still, what impressed us more than the quantity was the quality. Most of the games are pretty easily on the level of iPhone 3GS graphics, and the 3D effect “just worked” on most all of them. Follow after the break for our full thoughts.

Update: We’ve also got partial tech specs on the handheld — find them after the break, too.

Update 2: We added a video of nintendogs + cats gameplay. It’s very adorable, we assure you.

Gallery: E3 2010 – Nintendo 3DS preview

Continue reading Nintendo 3DS in-depth preview: it works!

Nintendo 3DS in-depth preview: it works! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 15

Nintendo 3DS in the flesh and hands-on! (updated with video!)

Posted in: 3ds, breaking news, BreakingNews, e3, feature, Features, hands-on, impressions, nintendo, nintendo 3ds, Nintendo3ds, preview, Today's Chili, video

That Nintendo announced the 3DS was not a surprise — that they had a couple-dozen of these things to try out, that was. We elbowed our way to the front of the line to try one out, and the effect is actually not bad. It’s not great, but the 3.5-inch screen on top certainly gives a firm illusion of depth without resorting to glasses — or eye crossing. The feel is definitely reminiscent of those 3D cereal box prints, and as soon as you turn the device from left to right to try to look around anything the effect is immediately lost. You need to stare at the screen for a moment for your eyes to adjust and then not move around too much. If you do you’ll need to adjust again. But, stay reasonably still and it’s a compelling effect.

The new analog slider on the left feels a lot like the PSP’s analog nub, but larger and without the texture. It’s a bit easier on the fingers, and comfortable. Overall the device feels just like a current DS or DSi, though we couldn’t get a good feel for the weight thanks to a bulky tether attached on one end to the device, and on the other end to the row of ladies who were surely told to not let the gadgets out of their hands or face certain doom. The only thing we could do here is rotate along a still frame — Pikmin in a field, for example — and play with the 3D slider. It is a pretty convincing effect, but it’s hard to tell at this point if it’s at all compelling — it wasn’t anything more than novelty in this demo, and we still don’t know how it stands up to fast-moving footage. Actual games were promised to us for the show floor, so we’ll hit that up later today. We snagged a few pics before getting elbowed out of the way, so check ’em out!

Gallery: E3 2010 – Nintendo 3DS close-up shots