What Can the 3DS Do?

Share on Facebook posted 09-30-10 by Angelo D'Argenio

If you didn’t think that new 3DS info was going to come out of the Nintendo Press conference, you are either crazy or seriously misinformed. Nintendo gave us gamers all sorts of details on what the 3DS can do. To make it easy for you, we scoured the internet and assembled a final list of specs for you, right here. So what can the 3DS do?

• The unit itself is 134mm by 74mm. It is 21mm thick and weights 230 grams.

• In addition to the normal D-pad, analog slide pad, touch screen, face buttons, and triggers, the 3DS will also include a motion sensor and a gyro sensor. The combination of these sensors will not only detect movement but also should be able to be used, in conjunction with the 3DS’s camera to detect its position and orientation in space relative to the user.

• The top screen is 3.53 inches with a LCD display that features a resolution of 800 x 240 pixels. The top screen’s width has double the resolution of a normal screen to produce the parallax 3D effect. The bottom screen is a touch screen that is 3.02 inches with a resolution of 320 x 240.

• The 3DS has two 0.3 megapixel cameras on the outside of its shell. These cameras are positioned in such a way that they can capture full 3D stereoscopic images and movies. The inside of the shell has another 0.3 megapixel camera aiming at the user, but this camera has no stereoscopic capabilities.

• The 3DS features a game cartridge slot, and SD card slot (capable of reading SDHC cards) an AC adapter slot, and a headphone jack. The unit also features stereo speakers as well as a front side microphone.

• The 3DS will come bundled with a charger stand, an AC adapter, a 10cm collapsible chrome touch pen, and a 2GB SD card.

• The 3DS is powered by a rechargeable lithium ion battery, much like the DS.

• 3DS cartridges will be the same size as DS cartridges and will be loaded in the same way. The 3DS is fully backward compatible and can play all DS games, as well as all games available for download on the DS virtual console and DSiWare. The 3DS will feature its own exclusive virtual console service as well.

• The 3DS will feature fully customizable settings as well as parental controls that will allow parents to control what games their children can play, when, and for how long.

• The 3DS will feature augmented reality capabilities and will come with augmented reality games pre-installed. The unit will not only be able to integrate your own surroundings into games you play via its stereoscopic outer camera, but it will also come bundled with six augmented reality cards. These cards will not only be able to interact with the camera system (for example, one card makes it appear as if there is a hole in whatever surface it is placed on) but they also may be used to interact with game titles.

• The 3DS will come with built in WiFi functionality including an “always on” WiFi mode in which the 3DS will constantly search for available WiFi connection points in the area. You can set the 3DS to alert you when a successful connection has been made. The 3DS will also update itself with important game-related info whenever it makes a connection.

• The 3DS will feature a low power “tag” mode which will allow your 3DS to constantly search for other 3DSes in the vicinity and exchange data with them. This mode will function even while you are playing a game, or while your 3DS is in standby. Data that can be exchanged includes personal and profile information, as well as game statistics and “friend code” information in order to find and challenge tagged users at a later date. Tagged users can also share pictures and movies of their gaming experience, and issue automatic challenges to other gamers.

• The 3DS will feature a Mii studio, similar to the Wii’s Mii channel. In addition to creating your own Mii’s, the Mii studio can also take pictures of people and automatically generate Mii’s for them.

• The 3DS features a fully functional internet browser that will allow users to save offline copies of the pages they visit, which is useful for FAQs or Walkthroughs.

• The 3DS will be able to suspend gameplay and access its home menu at any time in order to use its functions such as pictochat, the Mii studio, or even the internet browser without losing progress.

• The 3DS will feature a fully functional pedometer that will track the number of steps walked and calories burned while holding or carrying the device.

• The 3DS has a built in activity log that charts your usage and gameplay time. The activity log can graph this activity out alongside your physical activity read by the pedometer. Supposedly, the activity log can also track information from games that force you to be.

• The 3DS can connect and share information with the Wii wirelessly.

That’s quite the feature list. Is there anything you wanted to see the 3DS do that Nintendo hasn’t covered?

The 3DS will hit the market late February for Japan and then later in March for America.