Nintendo 3DS Console Nintendo DS

Click on ’Email Updates’ to receive more information on when this product is available for Pre-Order!

 NINTENDO ANNOUNCES Nintendo 3DS – MCV 23rd March

A successor to the DS is on the way from Nintendo.

Called the Nintendo 3DS, the device will feature 3D displays with added depth and detail.

The 3DS will, Nintendo says, allow users to play "games [which] can be enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses".

Currently, a raft of games engine, middleware and hardware manufacturers are pushing a move to 3D content in the home for games and film. Sony is expected to launch 3D games for the PS3 this summer.

However 3D setups come in a mix of configurations to view depth-perception tricks on a 2D screen, from basic colour-tinted (anaglyph) versions on home DVD and Blu-ray, grey-tinted (polarised) versions in cinemas, or high-end active shutter glasses used by Sony TV sets. And many say this presents a technical barrier to making 3D accessible to mass market consumers.

 

First 3DS tech details emerge – MCV 23rd March

The first sketchy details surrounding the possible technology powering Nintendo’s 3DS have arrived courtesy of the Japanese press.

Spotted by Engadget, Asahi claims that the device will indeed use the parallax barrier LCD screen technology from Sharp and not – as was suggested earlier – some sort of motion-sensing trickery.

Parallax barriers work by applying a layer on top of an LCD screen that effectively feeds separate images to each eye. The downside of this technology is that a player must have the device positioned very specifically for it to work effectively. This could be a big problem for home console users (hence the lack of parallax-based 3DTVs), but not so much for portable users.

Nikkei adds that the 3DS will include two four-inch screens – slightly smaller than the 4.2 inch screens seen on the DSi XL. The paper also claims that the device will also use one of two ‘3D control sticks’, which more likely than not will take the form of one or two analogue nubs similar to those seen on the PSP.

New control methods are also said to have been patented. Expect improved wi-fi speeds and battery life, too.

 

3DS hitting UK this October? – MCV 20th April

Nintendo will launch its DS successor the 3DS in the UK this October according to reports in the specialist press.

The machine was only announced a little over a month ago. Nintendo has subsequently admitted that it had planned to release the first details a lot later, but that its hand was forced after a Japanese journalist obtained information about its development.

Further details are not expected until US trade show E3 in June.

However, until now it had been widely believed that the machine would most likely launch in the UK some time in the first half of 2011, with a Japanese arrival planned some time before the end of 2010.

Now CVG claims that “UK trade sources have informed us that the platform holder is readying an October launch for the system”. This will see it squaring off against the likes of Xbox 360 Natal and PS3 Move in the competitive Christmas market

DS Lite Deluxe Accessory Pack (Blue) (Nintendo DS)	DS Lite Essentials Accessory Pack (Red) (Nintendo DS)	DS Lite Essentials Accessory Pack (Blue) (Nintendo DS)	DS Lite Leather Case (Black) (Nintendo DS)
£13.85 free delivery	£9.85 free delivery	£9.85 free delivery	£6.85 free delivery