TRADE LAUNCH GUIDE
3DS ushers in new handheld era
The sequel to the UK’s best-selling games console is just a few weeks away. Christopher Dring speaks to the industry about the original DS phenomenon and whether 3DS can do it all over again
YOU KNOW you’re writing about something important when almost everyone you contact wants to have their say.
It appears everyone wants to have their say about Nintendo’s new 3D-enabled handheld, be they publisher, retailer or developer. For them, Nintendo’s 3DS – the first major global console launch since 2006 – is kind of a big deal. And that’s because it arrives at a crucial time for the trade. Since 2008 sales of boxed games and hardware have been in decline, with no-sign of things getting any better. So all eyes are on 3DS to turn things around. And the new machine certainly has a lot to live up to.
THE DS PHENOMONON Nintendo DS is the most successful games machine in UK history. In just over five years, 68.2m DS games and over 12.3m DS consoles have been sold.
But back when it was first revealed in 2004 the reaction to the device was muted – the console’s graphical capabilities paled in
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comparison to PSP, it wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing of machines and no-one seemed to know quite how to best use this ‘revolutionary’ touch screen. “I first laid hands on the cold grey brick that was the DS at E3 in 2004,” says Koch’s Craig McNicol, who helped launch the device in the UK.
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As has been said many times before, the DS’ true legacy has been less about the innovative hardware and quality software, but in the way these products attracted people who previously had no interest in playing video games.
It’s going to be an interesting battle between Nintendo and the iPhone.
Brian Farrell, THQ “I was shown the device by a female
who was clearly unsure of the vision, and who used the stylus more like a pencil writing a complaint letter. Two years later the love affair truly started.”
So it was an inauspicious start. Any remaining 3DS sceptics may want to take note.
“The significant leap from GBA to DS was in so many directions – the graphics, the touch interface, multiplayer features – even blowing interactivity,” says Disney Interactive Studios’ country director Matt Carroll. “Most fundamentally, however, was the leap to new audiences. Never has a handheld had such high usage from girls and women – across three generations. And this, above all, set DS apart.”
THE THIRD DIMENSION
Nintendo 3DS could well prove to be a similar ‘significant leap in many directions’. Granted it looks the same, there are two screens and there’s a few familiar looking titles. But there’s a host of new digital functions (more on that in a bit), new control mechanisms and, most importantly, a glasses-less 3D screen.
March 11th 2011 21
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