Nintendo pocket now becomes 3D
encircled by smartphones and tablets

AMSTERDAM – It is the heir of the best-selling console in history, that Ds acquired since 2004 in over 146 million pieces. Above all it is the first pocket-sized device to arrive in our stores with a “glassless” 3D screen, which does not require the use of glasses. The 3ds of the Nintendo in plain language, comes out March 25 to 259 euros (stellar price) marks the beginning of a new phase for the world of video games and perhaps also for that of consumer electronics tout court. “When we start working on a console, we always try to imagine a unique device,” he had revealed to Republic by Shigeru Miyamoto, the “father” of Super Mario, recently. “It must be different from everything else. In a word: it must be Nintendo”.

The move by the Kyoto multinational company is actually necessary, considering the lack of sales in the DS and the piracy that is raging. And then there are the various Apple and Google phones, the success of the iPad and the arrival of the tablets, which are beginning to dominate the field of pocket video games. Thanks to a business model, that of the app stores, which is operating at full speed with over half a billion total software available to users, most of which are games offered for free or at ridiculously low prices. “Being Nintendo” means, today, trying to maintain supremacy by focusing on a technological difference that can be perceived by anyone compared to what the market offers.

The 3ds outwardly is very similar to its predecessor, with some minor differences. In addition to the 3D display, the other is previously tactile, there is a dual camera for taking three-dimensional photos, a pad and a lateral potentiometer that adjusts the 3D effect in games and images. In practice it is possible to establish the degree of depth and also to cancel the 3D altogether if desired. The most important thing, however, is another: the 3ds works wonderfully because without glasses to put on the three dimensions are a completely different story. Or, to use a sentence from Satoru Iwata, young president of Nintendo who together with Miyamoto has raised the fortunes of the company, “is the first immediate experience of 3D” ..

Another novelty is the arrival not only and not so much of a good amount of games, 25 in all (from Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 up to the new chapters of Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid), but also of a series of interesting services . Spot pass, for example, is an automatic connection system with some Wi-Fi spot operators, which allows you to receive content automatically. Even short films, like the three-dimensional version of Shaun the Sheep by Aardman Animations, the same as Wallace and Gromit. However, it is difficult to understand the quantity and quality of these contents. Street Pass instead is for the immediate exchange of data between 3ds. In practice, passing by a person who has another console, you will receive the name on your own, the country of origin and the titles played by the latter. And of course, you can play together. Finally, the E-shop, the virtual shop where you can buy software and various titles, including those from the past.

So far, in addition to the DS records, Nintendo has cashed out the extraordinary ones of its latest home machine, the Wii, today above the 130 million shares sold. Iwata-san has, in fact, dramatically expanded the audience of those who play video games by conquering many people who have never touched a joypad before. But what has always been the strength of this company, concentrating almost exclusively on the electronic games sector, could become a weakness in perspective. The 3ds, as we have seen, basically remains a console with some new content of another kind. He will surely teach and be imitated, but who knows what will happen when the first smartphones with 3D glassless screens come out on the market, maybe equipped with multicore CPUs and made to live in symbiosis with the Web’s riches, app store and social network in mind.

(January 19, 2011)