While it turns out pretty much none of the rumours we covered the other day were true, at its press conference yesterday, Nintendo detailed a number of new features, and elaborated on others, blowing the lid on the features of their new console, revealing a whole host of new information about the 3D-without-glasses capable 3DS, which we round up here for you.
Pricing and Release
Confirming a release date on the 26th of February in Japan, with a March launch following in the UK, Europe, and the US, the 3DS will retail at 25,000 Yen, which roughly equates to around £180. While launching at this would already give the 3DS a fair premium over the DSi and DSiXL, we wouldn't be surprised to see an extra £20 chucked on the end to bring it up to a rounder, and more unfair £200, such is the way with these things.
The Final Design
The old, prettier 3DS on the left, with the new, greyer 3DS on the right. Boo!
The machine will initially be available in two colours - black, and a nice turqoise-y blue. While little has been changed in the way the actual machine looks, the one thing that has changed is the colour of the "circle pad" analogue slider, which works a bit like a flat analogue stick. Rather than matching the colour of the console, and looking swish, this now stands out in a rather dull grey. On the plus side, it does have backlit buttons, which are sure to help anyone who wants to play at night.
Coming bundled with a docking station (for charging the console), a propelling stylus, a 2GB SD card, for storing pictures, and downloadable games, the console will also come packed with six "Alternate Reality" cards. Making use of the 3DS's dual external cameras, these cards will come to life when you point the 3DS at them - although quite what these cards will be remains to be seen.
Miis hit the 3DS
With over 140 million Miis having been created on the Wii, it only seems logical that Nintendo would expand the craze to the 3DS - and that's exactly what they've done. And while we know some certain people (*cough* Sarah *cough*), who'll get hung up over making their Mii look exactly like them, the 3DS comes with an option to take the stress of creating your perfect likeness out of your hands. Simply take a photo of yourself (or anyone else, for that matter), and the 3DS will create a Mii for you - kind of like in the picture above! Of course, you can still edit them yourself, or even create one from scratch, but it's still a cool little feature to have.
StreetPass - Bark Mode, Evolved
Ready? FIGHT!
One of the features Nintendo were eager to promote was something called StreetPass - a new function that work a bit like Bark Mode in Nintendogs. When StreetPass is activated, whenever you put your 3DS into sleep mode, and pass another person who's similarly inclined, your two DSs will exchange a range of game data, from Miis, to potentially things like presents and other greetings on things like Animal Crossing, without you having to have a specific game in, or running, on your 3DS. By checking the flashing light on your DS, you'll be able to see if you've received any notifications while you've been out and about. Check out our guide for more information about StreetPass.
A Docking Cradle - and SpotPass
The other area Nintendo have boosted for the 3DS is its online functions. A bit like how the Wii will occasionally receive marketing messages from Nintendo, the 3DS will do the same, only now, it's a lot fancier. Receiving pictures, trailers, demos, leaderboards, ghost data, and even new levels or applications, wirelessly, whenever you're near an access point, your 3DS will constantly be connecting to, and receiving new information from Nintendo - giving you another reason to turn it on every single day. In Japan, you'll even be able to receive 3D TV broadcasts via Wi-Fi to your 3DS - although it's unlikely the UK will receive a similar service.
A redesigned store
While initial fears were that you wouldn't be able to transfer your games from the DSi's downloadable games service, DSiWare to the 3DS, Nintendo allayed any worries we may have had at their conference, with the confirmation that you'll be able to transfer your purchases from your old console to the new one.
However, what people weren't expecting was the announcement of a new Virtual Console for the 3DS. In a similar way to how the Wii's Virtual Console lets you download games from a variety of older systems, from the NES, to the Commodore 64, to the N64, the 3DS's store will let you download games from the Gameboy, and Gameboy Colour.
But, not content with letting you download two generations of games you may have missed out on, Nintendo also plan to offer a variety of "Classic games", which have been re-done, in 3D. Although it's been confirmed these will cost more, we're incredibly excited at the thought of some re-done, retro games, and the potential that exists.
And so, there you have it! While a lot still remains to be seen about the 3DS - including whether or not it'll have a proper, Xbox Live style online system, that'll let you track what your friends are doing online, or even if it'll have achievements - we now know a lot more than we did. You can expect a drip feed of new information over the next few months, detailing previously unannounced parts of the system, as we near the machine's global launch.
While we may know a lot, we don't know everything yet. It's going to be an interesting five months.
