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

[Dexter Dexter]

Oh [tornado fang] yeah. Now I have to change my pants, unfortunately.

[Hypershell]

A nice surprise.  I was expecting more of a 2GB ballpark.  Nintendo has a history of choking devs when it comes to filesize; it's nice to see them ease up a little.
(Wii's flash memory makes me want to hurl)

8 gigs? Very awesome. Now I wish they waited for the 3DS to give us the Megaman Zero Collection. Bring on the arranged OST's!

Oh, if only...

[Police Girl]

A nice surprise.  I was expecting more of a 2GB ballpark.  Nintendo has a history of choking devs when it comes to filesize; it's nice to see them ease up a little.
(Wii's flash memory makes me want to hurl)
Oh, if only...

Whats worse about the Wii's Flash Mem is that it won't load stuff on the SD Card unless there is enough space on the Flash Memory, talk about a pointless extra storage.

And also, [tornado fang] yeah 8 Gigs, thats great [parasitic bomb] there.

[Sakura Leic]

8 gigs eh?  That's a lot more than what it was before, but can someone give me example of how much 8 gigs can hold in terms of games I find it a bit hard to imagine it.

[xnamkcor]

It needs to copy the file to the Wii's flash memory before it actually runs. Loading from SD is just an automated version of copying files as you need them from an SD card. It's not pointless unless you somehow don't have enough space on the Wii's flash in the first place.

8 gigs eh?  That's a lot more than what it was before, but can someone give me example of how much 8 gigs can hold in terms of games I find it a bit hard to imagine it.

Storage-wise:
8GB is about the size of a Dual Layer DVD(PS2 and Wii).
With 8GB you could put MMXC or MMAC on the 3DS.
With 8GB you could port an N64 game and replace the soundtrack with streaming audio and even put in some FMVs.
With 8GB, you could put MML1 and 2 on the same cart.
With 8GB you could put Brawl on 3DS.

[Sakura Leic]

Wow that's a lot.

[VirusChris]

Damn! That's amazing memory space! I'm so getting the 3DS... I was going too anyway even if they didn't mention the extra storage space on the card.

[xnamkcor]

I would hold off until a reliable source confirms it. Also, try to depend more on actual title announcements than system specs.

[Reaperoid]

Whats worse about the Wii's Flash Mem is that it won't load stuff on the SD Card unless there is enough space on the Flash Memory, talk about a pointless extra storage.

It needs to copy the file to the Wii's flash memory before it actually runs. Loading from SD is just an automated version of copying files as you need them from an SD card. It's not pointless unless you somehow don't have enough space on the Wii's flash in the first place.

But it is pointless, given that you'll pretty much run up to the flash's recommended read/write count even faster, not the mention the SD's.

[xnamkcor]

But it is pointless, given that you'll pretty much run up to the flash's recommended read/write count even faster, not the mention the SD's.

If you're that concerned, there are ways to load directly from the card.
If you refuse to use that method, deal with it. Wait for Wii 2, maybe they'll get it right then.

[Hypershell]

Hacking the console's channels (VC/WiiWare) requires more extensive (and otherwise obsolete) exploits than homebrew in general.  You can replace the SSB Brawl soundtrack with far less trouble than you can cheat in MegaMan 9, much less direct-load it from an SD card.

It needs to copy the file to the Wii's flash memory before it actually runs. Loading from SD is just an automated version of copying files as you need them from an SD card. It's not pointless unless you somehow don't have enough space on the Wii's flash in the first place.

The fact that it's "automated copying" is WHY it's pointless.  It mandates leaving empty space on your system and is responsible for excessive load times (waiting for the entire game to write to the Wii's flash).  Both are a nuisance and the latter is something Nintendo USED to consider unacceptable.

I'm not sure how well-founded the fears of shortening the flash's lifespan are, though, considering that we're talking about the same chunk of memory that handles your save data if you were playing a disc game instead.  Nor would I be terribly concerned about the SD card; even if you wear out flash memory to the point of no longer being able to be written, you can still read from it (ie: transfer to a new card).

Storage-wise:
a Dual Layer DVD(PS2 and Wii).

And both X-Boxes.  The only gaming console to surpass the dual-layer DVD size (8.5GB) would be the PS3 (dual-layered Blu-Ray disc is 50GB).

It should be noted, however, that with flash memory the devs fork over more money for going for the larger sizes, so they will shoot for the smaller sizes if they can.  Since the range stated at Vix's site is 1GB-8GB, that most likely means devs will have 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB cards to choose from.

Of course, even 2GB could do the above-mentioned MegaMan compilations. That in itself is larger than either the Gamecube's or PSP's discs.

Posted on: December 18, 2010, 10:24:31 AMIGN alleges today that GameStop is taking 3DS pre-orders.  There is no such option on their website, so this is apparently an in-store-only thing.

You're forking over $50 for one heck of a question mark, seeings how we still don't know price, release date, or the actual launch lineup.  There's a list of four 3rd-party games you can reserve, none of which are among my personal "heavy hitters", though.

Posted on: December 27, 2010, 10:17:51 PMPre-order GET!  Odd that they're being this quiet about it, maybe they're trying to make sure that the "core" gamers get the jump start?

Whatever.  I still remember the Wii launch, not sleeping until 9:30 AM.  Not doing that again.

[Acid]

You can preorder alreasy?

Oh well I gotta hold myself back still.

[Hypershell]

Fun fact: The place-holder price in Gamestop's computers for the 3DS is $1000.

Suddenly I'm reminded of some IGN moron claiming that based on the $50 deposit, the final price will be twice that of the PS3, or some such nonsense.

[Phi]

More details on the 3DS demo event

Can't wait for some live streaming (dunno where it'll be available, though). Less than 3 weeks away until the event.

[Solar]

Anyone watching the event?

Oh, and 3-5 hours of battery life...DAMN

[Phi]

Yep.

Oh, and 3-5 hours of battery life...DAMN

wait.... WHAT?

[Solar]

That's what the specs part of Nintendo's  site says. Hopefully that's for everything on and maxed =/

[Sakura Leic]

Anyone watching the event?

Oh, and 3-5 hours of battery life...DAMN

Are they serious?  Do I have to wait until they release a better one?

[Phi]

I just started watching the event 10 or 15 minutes ago. Are/did they actually show anything meaningful instead of just going "OHHH SUGOI" at the games?

Are they serious?  Do I have to wait until they release a better one?

Nah, i'd suggest to get this one. I don't think the next model would improve much in terms of battery life anyway.

[Sakura Leic]

Nah, i'd suggest to get this one. I don't think the next model would improve much in terms of battery life anyway.

Yeah I guess you're right, the DSi XL only added about 2-3 more hours to the battery but when the battery power is low it gets a glitch where you can't turn it off so maybe it would be a better idea.  Besides I do have the money for it now anyway.

[Solar]

Well, to be fair supposedly their specs for the DSi at full everything is supposedly even lower and that lasts like 5 hours I think. What we really should worry about is if that's 3 hours for everything at max and 5 for the lowest settings, or if that's 3-5 hours for the max setting with lower settings getting even longer battery life.

Also, the MGS demonstration is in like 2 hours so we're stuck with this prerecorded Japanese comedians until then I guess >_>

[Sakura Leic]

Well, to be fair supposedly their specs for the DSi at full everything is supposedly even lower and that lasts like 5 hours I think. What we really should worry about is if that's 3 hours for everything at max and 5 for the lowest settings, or if that's 3-5 hours for the max setting with lower settings getting even longer battery life.

What do you mean by at full everything?  You mean like at the highest backlight setting and volume?

[Solar]

Yeah, pretty much.

[Mirby]

And with the 3DS, highest 3D setting too.

[Solar]

And Wi-fi unless you can't turn that off...