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LOS ANGELES -- When Nintendo officially took the wraps off the upcoming Nintendo 3DS handheld at the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, they invited the assembled media horde at a packed press conference to go hands-on with the device in a rather un-Nintendo-esque way: By unleashing a small army of beautiful babes on them.
Each of the 100-odd women who paraded onto the stage at the Nokia Theater in downtown L.A. wore a dazzling smile, a stylish outfit and a harness attached to a 3DS prototype running a short demo. We, the attendees, dutifully lined up for a chance to handle the hardware while standing in the personal space of a polite (and also very three-dimensional) model.
But it says something about the Nintendo 3DS that as soon as I took it from the hand of my chosen Deal or No Deal suitcase girl lookalike, she all but evaporated.
While the Nintendo 3DS's existence was a poorly kept secret prior to its coming-out party at E3, I had doubts that it could work. That is, until I took one look at the thing and immediately blurted out a "holy (expletive)", before apologizing to Ashley or Tiffany or whatever her name might have been.
I've often said that no one sells consumers slightly upgraded versions of products they already own quite like Nintendo does (with the possible exception of Apple.) But this thing? This is something different. It's a serious generational leap over the Nintendo DS.
Now, the question is: How badly will gamers want it? If at all?
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Due out by the end of next March at a yet-to-be-announced price, the Nintendo 3DS is a true successor to the bazillion-selling Nintendo DS, DS Lite and DSi. Roughly similar in size and design to the DSi, it has an upgraded processor that spits out improved visuals, an analog "Slide Pad" mini-joystick and a set of internal tilt sensors. Of course, its raison d'etre is its upper 3.5-inch widescreen display, which produces 3D images without the need for glasses.
The technology has been successfully prototyped on full-sized TVs, but the catch is you have to be standing directly in front of the screen for it to work, which is why current practical 3D TV tech requires the use of expensive battery powered glasses.
With a handheld gaming device, you're pretty much always looking at it straight-on anyway, so the no-glasses approach works fine. And wow, does it ever. The display is amazingly crisp, and the images look like they disappear down into the screen itself, as though you're looking into one of those old-timey diorama boxes.
A slider on the right side of the screen adjusts the degree of 3D-ness, for lack of a better word, that the screen produces. Slide it all the way down, and it's a flat, 2D image. All the way up and you get the full 3D effect, although there is some ghosting in the image if not viewed directly head-on.
After I left Ashley/Tiffany's company, I had a chance to check out a bevy of 3DS demo games at Nintendo's sprawling E3 show floor booth. I've been waiting ages for a new PilotWings game, and being able to fly a 3D seaplane over Wuhu Island in PilotWings Resort was a blast. Resident Evil Revelations was a non-interactive demo, but one that allowed viewers to pan and zoom the camera to a degree, and the visuals were shockingly good.
Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracles is a game that translates especially well to 3D, with its hand-drawn look and puzzles that appear to pop right out of the screen. The Ridge Racer demo was less interesting, but it (along with Mario Kart 3DS) gave a taste of how 3DS racing games will feel.
The 3DS also has a pair of stereoscopic camera lenses on its outer shell for taking 3D photos to view on the device, so I struck a superhero pose with my finger pointing at the camera. When viewing the image, my finger seemed to be coming right out of the screen. Sheepishly, I actually tried to touch it.
Equally impressive was a trailer for DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon (Nintendo has partnered with Hollywood studios to eventually release 3D movies on the 3DS), which looked fantastic -- and yes, perfectly 3D -- on the small screen. Nintendo isn't saying anything more just yet about how the movies will be distributed or how much they'll cost.
In addition to these demos, franchises such as Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Ninja Gaiden, Ghost Recon, Saints Row, Assassin's Creed and many more are 3DS-bound. Developers seem genuinely jazzed by the thing, and are eager to get their games on it.
And me? It's still a bit early, but I haven't been this intrigued by a piece of gaming hardware in a long time. Is it a gimmick in search of a nonexistent need? Or a true, new dimension in interactive entertainment? Let the debate begin. We've got plenty of time to wait.