19th January 2011, 7:35 AM
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/19/3ds-fe...iend-code/
So it seems the 3DS will have ONE friend code across all games. About time! It's a solid step and a good foundation to build on for catching up to XBox Live, but there's still a long way to go.
Also, some sort of auto discovery is in there. That's nice.
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/19/ninten...ease-date/
Wow... Wow.... That's... expensive. Really, $250? That's most certainly the most expensive system Nintendo's ever sold, and it's a portable. Granted, it appears this is a very powerful system, but it's in the range of the Wii, not the 360, so it's a little shocking. The 3D screen could also play a part there, as would miniaturization, but still, that's a lot. Considering the battery power is the lowest of any of Nintendo's portables (about 2-5 hours), what I'm getting from this is a total reversal of Nintendo's own long-standing policies for portable systems (that is, they should be cheap, and energy efficient). It's coming out in a few months anyway. They've already "run through" the current production of DS-i systems, and don't intend to make any more (that thing really did just end up being a stop-gap system).
I can only understand this as a result of Nintendo further copying Apple's strategy, that is the part I hoped they wouldn't notice, that Apple can "get away" with charging insane amounts for it's own portable devices and people fork it over by the handful. They also copied the "simple and intuitive" interface, but unfortunately fail at function people expect from modern systems.
I'm wondering if I shouldn't hold off here until they either lower the price or release the "new and improved" version with far superior battery life, but missing something else like the power switch or something (it's a Nintendo product, they always must taketh away something whenever they upgrade a product). Really though, the only other portables I can think of that got away with a price this high... all failed. I mean, this one WON'T because it's Nintendo's, but still... Let's see... Sega Nomad... That 32 bit Lynx thing... PSPGo (:D, seriously, Sony were morons thinking a stripped down PSP could sell for more than a proper one).
So it seems the 3DS will have ONE friend code across all games. About time! It's a solid step and a good foundation to build on for catching up to XBox Live, but there's still a long way to go.
Also, some sort of auto discovery is in there. That's nice.
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/19/ninten...ease-date/
Wow... Wow.... That's... expensive. Really, $250? That's most certainly the most expensive system Nintendo's ever sold, and it's a portable. Granted, it appears this is a very powerful system, but it's in the range of the Wii, not the 360, so it's a little shocking. The 3D screen could also play a part there, as would miniaturization, but still, that's a lot. Considering the battery power is the lowest of any of Nintendo's portables (about 2-5 hours), what I'm getting from this is a total reversal of Nintendo's own long-standing policies for portable systems (that is, they should be cheap, and energy efficient). It's coming out in a few months anyway. They've already "run through" the current production of DS-i systems, and don't intend to make any more (that thing really did just end up being a stop-gap system).
I can only understand this as a result of Nintendo further copying Apple's strategy, that is the part I hoped they wouldn't notice, that Apple can "get away" with charging insane amounts for it's own portable devices and people fork it over by the handful. They also copied the "simple and intuitive" interface, but unfortunately fail at function people expect from modern systems.
I'm wondering if I shouldn't hold off here until they either lower the price or release the "new and improved" version with far superior battery life, but missing something else like the power switch or something (it's a Nintendo product, they always must taketh away something whenever they upgrade a product). Really though, the only other portables I can think of that got away with a price this high... all failed. I mean, this one WON'T because it's Nintendo's, but still... Let's see... Sega Nomad... That 32 bit Lynx thing... PSPGo (:D, seriously, Sony were morons thinking a stripped down PSP could sell for more than a proper one).
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)