Topic: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

[Protoman Blues]

Some people bought it specifically to get those games, what is the 3DS comes out before they do? Will they be left looking dumb, knowing that they bought an extra Nintendo console when they really didn't have to?

They might, yes. Doesn't matter, cause they're still getting the 3DS when it comes out.

[Jericho]

Well, since it seems like there's going to be a huge amount of info on the most hotly anticipated portable device since perhaps the original Game Boy, I figured RPM needed a decent catch all thread. We kick things off with a very intriguing quote on the internals of the 3DS and much to nobody's surprise, it seems to be a genuine article Nintendo design. It favors battery life and low heat solutions over raw power and grunt work. With that all said, here's the quote from IGN:

New Nintendo 3DS Hardware Info

IGN has learned that the Nintendo 3DS will pack not one, but two 266MHz ARM11 CPUs, along with a 133MHz GPU, 4MBs of dedicated VRAM, 64MBs of RAM, and 1.5GBs of flash storage. The information comes from persons familiar with the hardware who spoke to us under the condition of anonymity.

While we were unable to determine which variation of the ARM11 processors the 3DS will feature, we now have a better sense of the system's capabilities. Currently there are a number of devices being powered by the ARM11, including the Zune HD, a variety of Android smartphones, and prior to the introduction of Apple's A4 processor, the iPhone and iPod touch.

"Numerous developers working on software for the platform have likened its graphical capabilities to current-generation consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, albeit on smaller, lower-resolution screens.

The handheld will also have substantially larger storage capacity than preceding models, jumping from only 256MBs on the DSi to 1.5GBs of flash memory on the 3DS. The total drive space can, of course, be expanded using the 3DS' SD card slot.

Source

For those less technologically inclined, or those who are but want the layman's terms for this all, here's a breakdown quote courtesy of one of the more knowledgeable GAF members on the subject, brain_stew:

Those specs seem eerily realistic, so yeah I'm quite happy to believe they're real.

The CPU setup is interesting but perhaps not surprising, two low clocked CPUs can often mean a lower powerdraw than one higher clocked CPUs (both Intel and AMD use this approach in their netbook chips and ARM themselves are going this way with the Cortex A9 and Eagle) and it should make BC with the NDS (which is a dual CPU system as well) a lot easier.

266mhz is a super low clockspeed for an ARM11 chip but two of them together should be more than sufficient I would think. I never expected an A8 and was kinda worried they'd go with something even simpler so two modestly clocked ARM11 is decent news in my book. Loading just two CPU cores really isn't all that difficult these days, most developers have plenty experience loading 6+ threads now and its even a skill NDS developers had to learn. The amount of L2 cache will have a big say in just how well those ARM11s perform.

64MB always seemed the most likely from what we'd seen so far but I was still hoping for 128MB.

We knew about the dedicated memory but a dedicated 4MB framebuffer is pretty damn roomy considering the modest rendering resolution.

The 133mhz GPU clockspeed tells us little really without knowing how many pipelines the chip has but its certainly not discouraging news. A 100mhz or lower clockspeed didn't seem out of the question previously

I really like the design, it seems to take all the good points of the various previous generation systems without any of the drawbacks and it should deliver fantastic battery life. I'd definitely take this design over a PS2 and GCN and probably even an Xbox as well because of the dedicated framebuffer which overcomes one of the major bottlenecks of that system.

One things clear, its certainly a gaming focused design. This really wouldn't be very good at all for a smartphone but for a machine that only has to worry about pumping out great looking games it seems to be terrifically balanced. Its not cutting edge but its a smart use of the available technology to deliver a system that should deliver the best gaming experience for the given cost and power constraints. Pretty much precisely what you'd expect from a Nintendo system.

And finally, here's an interesting tidbit that can leave you all wondering what will really be possible on the 3DS:

In general CPU performance? Absolutely
As a general computing device? Absolutely
As a dedicated gaming device? Hard to say

Honestly people that were expecting a 1GHz A9 need to get a reality check. Go run the Epic Citadel demo on your iPhone 4 until the battery runs out and I doubt that thing will last 3 hours. Sorry but Nintendo don't have some exclusive magic battery technology and Apple are already pretty damn good at optimising for battery life. If you want this thing to last 10 hours in games then something had to be sacrificed and I'm glad it was general CPU performance.

As for RAM, 64MB (+4MB dedicated) really isn't that bad at all. Its better than anything from last generation and if people were happy with the textures in Xbox games when displayed at 480p on a bog screen TV, I'm sure the same resolution textures will look just fine at 240p on a 3" screen. My desire for 128MB was mostly motivated for performance in other tasks (like a web browser) and because it would have allowed Nintendo to develop a nice and fully featured OS/dashboard that ran at all times. It would have been nice for games, sure but it isn't a dealbreaker. Anything more than 128MB really wouldn't have made any difference in games at all, I'm quite sure of that as the hardware just isn't powerful enough to take proper advantage of it.

64MB actually compares pretty damn well to the amount of memory iOS apps/renderpaths which aren't ES 2.0 exclusive have access to actually. Its only stuff like Citadel which target the high end devices exclusively that can take advantage of that extra RAM and even then the OS eats into a major chunk of it.

In terms of the effects and technology they're using, we already have the evidence of that. Decent 3DS games are packing in most of the important technology from PS3/360 games that makes them games stand out, only its ran at much lower precision, the geometary counts are an order of magnitude lower or more and not all the technology makes the transition either.

Though if Capcom can manage to produce a 3DS engine in 3 months that has decent quality dynamic shadowmaps, self shadowing, HDR rendering, colourgrading, object based motion blur, per pixel lighting, lots of normal mapping and specular highlights then its not difficult to see where that line of thinking comes from, really. Of course the hardware is no where near the 360 but that doesn't mean to say that a lot of the technology that defines the look of this generation can't run in real time on the 3DS with slightly better than PSP levels of geometary and Xbox calibre texturing.

[Klavier Gavin]

Is it the 29th yet? ;_;

[HokutoNoBen]

In the end, like every other machine, the life blood of the console is not purely reliant on its innards; it will definitely be the games.

So, that's what I'm most interested in, at the moment. I want to only see more of what's on the way.

[Jericho]

In the end, like every other machine, the life blood of the console is not purely reliant on its innards; it will definitely be the games.

So, that's what I'm most interested in, at the moment. I want to only see more of what's on the way.

Can't be said enough my friend. Even if I've always had that secret side of myself that loves understanding the innards, "It's all about the gamin' baby."

That said, I do believe that Kid Icarus & Paper Mario will make launch day. Anything else is beyond me. [/adding speculations to this thread since I forgot to mention all speculation happens here]

[Protoman Blues]

Instantly bought! Or bought for me.

[HokutoNoBen]

Paper Mario will definitely be in my collection, too. I'm doubting Pit will make launch, but all really need at this point is at least one Mario game, and hopefully that Star Fox 64 remake. They give me at least that much, and I'm good. Don't necessarily need OoT again, unless they'll give us a nice extra of some sort (like say, "Sheik Mode", like and others have always wanted)!

[Acid]

I NEED my Paper Mario. It's exxential for survival.

[Protoman Blues]

Paper Mario will definitely be in my collection, too. I'm doubting Pit will make launch, but all really need at this point is at least one Mario game, and hopefully that Star Fox 64 remake. They give me at least that much, and I'm good. Don't necessarily need OoT again, unless they'll give us a nice extra of some sort (like say, "Sheik Mode", like and others have always wanted)!

But Ben, it's Ocarina of Time in THREE DEE! 

And I think Pit will make the launch-icus. You know what, I'm gonna watch that trailer again...

[Solar]

Pit is definitely making the launch, it'd be kinda weird if the most hyped title for the console when it was revealed wasn't gonna be ready for launch. Also, I second Acid's comment on Paper Mario.

In the end, like every other machine, the life blood of the console is not purely reliant on its innards; it will definitely be the games.

So, that's what I'm most interested in, at the moment. I want to only see more of what's on the way.

True, but honestly just by seeing the lineup of games announced for it already I don't feel like we should worry about the games at all. Seriously, I can't remember a single time before when there were so many interesting games before the console was even out.

[Protoman Blues]

It'd be great if Star Fox 64-3D was a release title.

[Acid]

So, any news from Capcom regarding that MM games that's supposed to be released for this?

Heeeeeeeey... wait a minuuuuuute...

Could it be...?

[Protoman Blues]

WE NEED HYDROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THUNDER IN 3-D!

[Align]

In the end, like every other machine, the life blood of the console is not purely reliant on its innards; it will definitely be the games.

Naturally, but... for the first time we have a handheld gaming device capable of 3d graphics where you can't count the polygons. Now it'll just be art style holding games back from looking amazing.

[TheOnly]

Sounds like a keeper to me.

[The Blind Archer]

WE NEED HYDROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THUNDER IN 3-D!

I'll take twenty.

THREE!  TWO!  ONE! GO, GO, GOOOOO!

[Phi]

Man, the 29th can't come quick enough! Oh, and i guess i'll just toss the DOA:D website in this thread. Awesome looking screens there. Admittidly though, i have never played a DOA game in my life.

[Black Mage J]

Man, the 29th can't come quick enough! Oh, and i guess i'll just toss the DOA:D website in this thread. Awesome looking screens there. Admittidly though, i have never played a DOA game in my life.

Played a demo of it. It was sexy and fun at the same time! I'm sure Vixy and PB will approve of it.

[VixyNyan]

I'm sure Vixy and PB will approve of it.

You know, I actually do!

[Klavier Gavin]

3DS buttons to be backlit?

[Acid]

That's... actually something I don't really care about.

[Phi]

While that would be cool, it probably won't actually be like that. It was most likely just for presentation.

[Hypershell]

Regardless of 3DS release timing the DSi was badly handled.  While it is "technically" a new system, it hasn't been properly marketed as such.  And why should they?  It was too much of a baby step.  The DSiWare shop is a half-assed mess of sitting through load times for shovelware after shovelware, and the DSi's extra processing muscle (double speed and 4 times the RAM) has been used for virtually nothing other than improved web browsing.  Not the greatest lure for giving up that GBA slot.  Sure, the general system interface kicks butt, but frankly the only reason I even own a DSi is because my original's top screen cracked.

Posted on: September 25, 2010, 01:45:49Gaming systems aren't phones, the buttons are much more easily found by touch.  Although, since the 3DS throws a Home button into the mix, maybe some assurance that one doesn't hit it by accident when fumbling for Start/Select may not be a bad idea.

And I think Pit will make the launch-icus. You know what, I'm gonna watch that trailer again...

Damn straight.  I think I'll do the same.

There's tons of awesome 3DS games in the works from what I've seen, but Kid Icarus DEFINITELY has me the most psyched, and is the title I most want to see at launch (I'm confident that I will, too, it's been hyped the most and from what I gather in dev interviews has already been in development a while).

[Ike-Mike]

Rushing things isn't good. The regular DS still has the potencial to last for a big while, and we just got a new model recently. We don't want Nintendo to turn into Apple and release new hardware constantly, so we have to keep buying new [parasitic bomb] to be updated.

On the other hand when Nintendo took their sweet time with the N64 and gamecube they stopped being the market leader.

[Hypershell]

I don't think release timing had much to do with that.  Both the Wii and the Super NES launched in the face of competitors who were on the scene for a year or two.  Further, the N64 suffered some troublesome issues with system architecture, particularly its small texture cache.

It's actually pretty unusual for Nintendo to be early out of the gate, but on the handheld market they don't have much in the way of competition.  The PSP is simply the "least badly trashed" of which, and I'm pretty sure at this point Nintendo considers piracy and public perception to be larger threats than whatever Sony's cooking.