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

[Reaperoid]

Uhh, it's about not being able to keep that 3D sweet spot

[Align]

The slider is for calibrating view distance, I thought?

[OBJECTION MAN]

The slider just intensifies the 3D effect. It does NOT change the view focus ranges.

[Solar]

To be more specific about what the 3D slider does, it moves the images that are sent to your eyes further apart. The image that goes to your right eye moves further to the right and the one that goes to your left eye moves to the left, and when it's off they're both on top of each other.

[Align]

It SOUNDS like it can be used for calibrating view distance, but maybe I'm just having trouble visualizing it...

[Solar]

Imagine that the higher the 3D slider goes, the more depth the image gets.

[Hypershell]

"Image" is a bit ambiguous.  Solar is referring to the in-game camera angles.  The further the two camera angles are from each other, the greater the sense of depth.  That's what the 3D slider controls.

As OBJECTION MAN said, the focus range of the screen never changes.  Imagine a plain 2D game, your camera controls don't affect your TV's viewing angle.  Same thing.

This is easily observable by viewing 3D photos.  Since your camera-angle is fixed in place (that is the angle of the 3DS's cameras when you took the photo), the 3D slider does absolutely nothing except flip the effect on or off, no effect on intensity.

and when it's off they're both on top of each other.

Actually, when it's off, the game renders only a single image (crapass games such as Asphalt do a better job of holding their framerate, and allegedly the battery life improves slightly).  The "barrier" in the screen switches off so that it functions as a normal screen; you'll notice it gets slightly brighter.

Back to Mario Kart, I don't think that Nintendo is so foolish as to apply ONLY a tilt-sensitive control.  Even MKWii had GCN controller support, and the 3DS has a lot more issues than the Wii in terms of ergonomics (3D or no 3D, not everyone is comfortable tilting their screen to steer).  They tried "whacky controls only" with Star Fox Command, and I'd like to think they learned their lesson.

[Solar]

Yeah, you explain it better than I do, I've never been good at speaking about technology and stuff =P

Actually, when it's off, the game renders only a single image (crapass games such as Asphalt do a better job of holding their framerate, and allegedly the battery life improves slightly). 

Oh yeah, my bad. I knew that so I dunno why I even said that. Also, yes, it should improve the battery life because of that and, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the screen also go brighter? At least that's what it looks like to me in SSF4. Also, all games that I know of so far get a better framerate with 3D off (SSF4 and DoA go from 60 to 30) unless they were 30 already.

[Hypershell]

I hadn't noticed, but it's very possible.  How a game responds to the 3D switch, obviously, depends on the game.  It's certainly conceivable that one may want to boost their framerate when they're rendering one less image.

[Solar]

You know, that must be why OoT only goes up to 30fps, so that it will be consistent for both 3D and without it.

[Align]

"Image" is a bit ambiguous.  Solar is referring to the in-game camera angles.  The further the two camera angles are from each other, the greater the sense of depth.  That's what the 3D slider controls.

Aaaahh..

[Phi]

Also, all games that I know of so far get a better framerate with 3D off (SSF4 and DoA go from 60 to 30) unless they were 30 already.

Yeah, those two games drop to 30 when the 3D is on. For SSF4, i usually have the 3D setting on in the options menu and drop the slider down when i play a match. Doing this activates anti-aliasing and it's pretty noticeable from the somewhat "jaggy" 60 framerate gameplay.

[xnamkcor]

You know, that must be why OoT only goes up to 30fps, so that it will be consistent for both 3D and without it.

That is one of the worst F***ing excuses for not using a higher framerate I've ever heard. And it's not even your fault. Companies use it all the time and people accept it. If we weren't so obsesses with being the tipity top of the graphics for screenshots and meaningless comparisons, maybe companies would actually aim for a solid 60FPS instead of pretending like 60FPS is this horribly impossible number. It's like saying "I didn't get a B+ on my last test, because I'd rather have a consistent C- for every test."

Considering we're hitting a graphics quality plateau, maybe companies will start aiming for 60FPs again. Then again, we're getting to the point where 120Hz Monitors are somewhat affordable, but at least 60FPS is acceptable and 120 is a luxury. 30FPS should have never been acceptable.

[Align]

* Align nods in agreement

[Flame]

That is one of the worst F***ing excuses for not using a higher framerate I've ever heard. And it's not even your fault. Companies use it all the time and people accept it. If we weren't so obsesses with being the tipity top of the graphics for screenshots and meaningless comparisons, maybe companies would actually aim for a solid 60FPS instead of pretending like 60FPS is this horribly impossible number. It's like saying "I didn't get a B+ on my last test, because I'd rather have a consistent C- for every test."

Considering we're hitting a graphics quality plateau, maybe companies will start aiming for 60FPs again. Then again, we're getting to the point where 120Hz Monitors are somewhat affordable, but at least 60FPS is acceptable and 120 is a luxury. 30FPS should have never been acceptable.

I think we just might need a slow clap.gif over here.

[OBJECTION MAN]

Yeah, the 30fps thing is a horrible trend. I'm really not pleased to see that 3DS developers are embracing 30fps across the board. It's making me NOT use the 3D aspect of the console, the very selling point of it. Games like SSFIV I'm having a hard time playing with the 3D on, since timing is the key. With 30fps my fighting reaction times and timing are severely impacted.

It's almost making me regret getting the 3DS, if all the games are going to be this shitty. More and more I wish Legends 3 was never set to be a 3DS title.

[xnamkcor]

It was probably cheaper to develop for.

I hope NGP sees at least one Megaman and one Castlevania game.

[Hypershell]

Launch trends may not be the norm for the console life span.  I think anyone who believed otherwise wouldn't have picked up a 3DS to begin with (again, crummy library).

Considering we're hitting a graphics quality plateau, maybe companies will start aiming for 60FPs again. Then again, we're getting to the point where 120Hz Monitors are somewhat affordable, but at least 60FPS is acceptable and 120 is a luxury. 30FPS should have never been acceptable.

I'm nowhere near as passionate about this as you (I only consider high framerates critical in games that have high movement speed; certainly more so than Zelda), but I do see your point.  It is a bit sad, considering we had graphically impressive 60fps games ever since Dreamcast.

[Flame]

More and more I wish Legends 3 was never set to be a 3DS title.

It should have been a console game IMO. Like Wii, or hell, Wii 2/Cafe/whatever they will call it.

[Hypershell]

I'm glad it's on 3DS, actually.  One of the main reasons Capcom said they went with the 3DS is because they're going after the "early adopter" audience, in light of the previous Legends games not doing as well as Cappy feels they should have.  They're going after people who don't have as many games to choose from as a 5th-year-Wii owner, so that L3 doesn't get lost in the crowd.  At current, the game STILL hasn't gotten the final green-light yet, but two things on the 3DS are still working in L3's favor:

1. Development costs are surely a lot more fair than the NGP, the Cafe, or whatever the hell Microsoft is rumored to be working on.  That's a significant plus when convincing the big-wigs to take a gamble on an underdog series revival.  Hell, based on cost alone, the Wii is the only other contender, and that window is rapidly closing.

2. While it's doubtful the final game is going to hit before Nintendo (if noone else) gets their software ducks in a row, the Prototype demo being an e-Shop launch title is definitely going to be a blessing, in terms of grabbing attention.  The e-Shop launches this month, and what other titles have we heard of?  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, which is what you are about to become, other than Virtual Console and 3D classics (as in, ports).  And given the DSi Shop's track record there's no reason to expect much.  In terms of downloadable games, I think L3P is going to be the definite king of the hill for a while.

[Protoman Blues]

Also, think about this. If the Wii 2 is as connected to the 3DS as we all hope it's gonna be, there's a good chance you might get to play it on the big screen as well.

[Flame]

That would be neat actually. Ninty never gave us a DS player for the Wii, (which they should have after the GBA player, IMO)  but to be able to just hook one up to the other and play? that would be pretty sweet.

[Protoman Blues]

I'd really like to think that's where they are going with the Wii 2. If not having a DS/3DS slot in the system itself, than being able to stream it to the big screen.

[OBJECTION MAN]

I'm liking this 3DS on the TV talk. I was hoping Sony was going to do that with the PSP to the PS3. I would have gotten a PS3 a hell of a lot earlier if that was the case.

[xnamkcor]

There has to be HDMI in there somewhere. Clap if you believe!

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