Joystiq

3DS touchscreen tech chosen for DS compatibility

JC Fletcher — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 19:15:00 EST

The 3DS, despite being a higher-end piece of hardware than the DS -- and, yes, bearing a much higher-end price -- still bears the same resistive touchscreen technology as its seven-year-old forebear. Why would Nintendo opt for older touchscreen technology, eliminating the possibility of multitouch and forcing the use of a stylus?

3DS hardware producer Hideki Konno told Joystiq it's because of that seven-year-old DS screen. "Really, it's all about the backwards compatibility," he said during an E3 interview. "We have to play DS games on this and we want to make sure they work."

Konno said that Nintendo didn't think there was currently sufficient technology to both enable a more feature-rich touchscreen and accurately emulate the touch interface of the legacy DS. "Now that technology may come out sometime in the future, but when we were making our decision on what kind of touchscreen to implement," he said, "that was one of the deciding factors."

That, of course, doesn't explain at all why the Wii U uses the same vintage touchscreen technology. Unless the Wii U is secretly capable of emulating DS games! We're totally onto you, Nintendo.*

*We're probably not actually onto you.

3DS touchscreen tech chosen for DS compatibility originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 11 Jun 2011 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo's 'goal' for Mario Kart 3D: eight-player online

JC Fletcher — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:30:00 EST

Mario Kart 3D has more improvements in store than just hanggliders bolted to the backs of all the cars. It currently features eight-player local wireless racing, and, if everything goes as planned, it'll feature eight-player online as well.

Joystiq asked Mario Kart 3D producer Hideki Konno if the kart racer would feature online play, and he responded "Of course!" Though the current online configuration isn't quite set, "our goal right now is to have the same number of players for both local wireless and multiplayer over wi-fi." The bottleneck at the moment is making sure the game can handle smooth 60FPS frame rate with eight players in both online and offline, 2D and 3D.

Nintendo's 'goal' for Mario Kart 3D: eight-player online originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reggie: Nintendo's next home console unlikely to feature 3D

JC Fletcher — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:00:00 EST

Nintendo believes strongly in glasses-free 3D. The company wouldn't be able to achieve this feat on a home console, short of shipping an innovative TV in the box, so ... it's probably not going to do that.

"I think at Nintendo, we realize that any sort of goggle-type 3D technology was not going to work," 3DS hardware producer Hideki Konno told CNN. "In order to make 3D technology viable with video games, we thought we needed to have glasses-free 3D." Konno and his team at Nintendo did experiment with a 3D display tethered to a Wii before development of the 3DS began, but purely as a proof-of-concept for glasses-free 3D.

Echoing Konno's remarls, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told CNN, "Glasses-free is a big deal. We've not said publicly what the next thing for us will be in the home console space, but based on what we've learned on 3D, likely, that won't be it." It probably won't be 4D either -- that's been done.

Reggie: Nintendo's next home console unlikely to feature 3D originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3DS producer reveals Wii-based, arts-and-crafts 3D prototype

JC Fletcher — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:00:00 EST

Previous "Iwata Asks" interviews have brought up several previous 3D prototypes from Nintendo, including GBA and GameCube-based versions. During his talk about the 3DS's development, hardware producer Hideki Konno revealed another prototype, designed before the 3DS was even a glimmer in Nintendo's collective eye.

Nintendo wired up a glasses-free 3D display to a Wii, and set it up on a cart to wheel around the company for demonstrations. And then, because it wasn't hacky or impractical enough, the team hooked a proof-of-concept version of the 3D depth slider to a Nunchuk -- with hot glue.

Gallery: 3DS prototype images (GDC 2011)

3DS producer reveals Wii-based, arts-and-crafts 3D prototype originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The 3DS originally lacked 3D and tilt controls

JC Fletcher — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:45:00 EST

Even though Nintendo has been experimenting with 3D for years, and working on the DS successor for years, the two ideas weren't always connected. Speaking to Famitsu, 3DS hardware producer Hideki Konno revealed that early versions of the hardware were designed without 3D in mind.

"I became involved with development starting in 2008, but at that time, it didn't have 3D visuals," Konno said. "From Nintendo's perspective, they've released [3D racing game for Famicom] 3D Hot Rally and the Virtual Boy; they've had a history of experimenting with 3D visuals." With the advent of glasses-free screens, Nintendo decided this would be a good time to try again.

The same is true of the gyroscopic motion sensor. It was added just before E3. " The boat had really left the port by that point -- the hardware team had the final specs and just had to work it all out," Konno told Famitsu. "Then, in the midst of that, Miyamoto said 'This isn't enough; we can really change things if there's a gyro sensor in there.'" After playing with a prototype gyro-enhanced DS, Konno agreed. "We had a prototype for the sensor already, so we got everyone together to try it out, and the conclusion we came up with was 'Well, if we can do things this fun with it, I guess we've got no choice.'"

The 3DS originally lacked 3D and tilt controls originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo considering future 3D video recording 'update' for 3DS

JC Fletcher — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:30:00 EST

In the latest excerpt from Nintendo's "Iwata Asks" interview about the 3DS, Shigeru Miyamoto excitedly revealed that "Iwata-san also wants to include 3D video in the future!" Iwata tempered that exclamation by saying, "I think it will be fun if we're able to include video recording capabilities with future updates." Clearly, that's no guarantee that such a feature will be added to the handheld's 3D camera functionality, but if Iwata thinks it would be fun, then don't be surprised if you find yourself shooting low-res 3D video with your 3DS at some point in the future!

Later in the interview, Hideki Konno joined the group and discussed the StreetPass feature in Nintendogs + Cats. "When you're using StreetPass and exchange data with someone, in walk mode, that person's Mii is walking whatever puppy he or she has chosen," Konno explained. "Then your Miis and puppies talk and exchange gifts." The feature is designed to imitate the random meetings of people walking their dogs on the street ... without having to actually meet random people walking their dogs on the street.

Nintendo considering future 3D video recording 'update' for 3DS originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3DS producer explains new Tag Mode, confirms final hardware shape

JC Fletcher — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:15:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

While that big 3D screen is the most noticeable new feature of the Nintendo 3DS, the company has some other ideas for extending the boundaries of gameplay past the flat screen -- like Tag Mode, a passive wireless communication feature that allows DS systems to talk to each other and beam game data back and forth.

Speaking to Wired, platform producer Hideki Konno offered additional details about the hardware's expanded implementation of Tag Mode. "In the hardware," Konno said, "we have the capability that when you first play a game that supports Tag Mode, it will save to a Tag Mode data slot in the hardware system. We are planning to support multiple games at the same time: Mario Kart, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, etc." The current DS system allows Tag Mode-enabled games to communicate only when that game is running, with data saved to the cartridge.

Konno said that Nintendo was planning a "Tag Mode Viewer" that would allow users to manage the data received in this way. He hopes the use of Tag Mode will "bring consumers a sense of wanting to play a game again, after they get new data from games that they'd forgotten about."

At the end of the interview, Konno said about the design of the 3DS shown at E3, "You can take this as the final shape." Nintendo has previously said (and is still saying on its E3 site) that the design was "TBA."

Gallery: Nintendo 3DS

3DS producer explains new Tag Mode, confirms final hardware shape originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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