Unless you have been hiding in a cave underneath Sony headquarters, you will know that Nintendo has for years been number one when it comes to hand held gaming consoles starting with the Gameboy (GB), the GB colour, several different versions of the GB advanced and then the DS series consisting of the DS, DS slim, DSi, DSiXL and now the upcoming 3DS. On E3 2010′s Nintendo talk there were several moments when I thought “nobody does it like Nintendo” as I saw Donkey Kong Country Returns, Metroid Other M, Kirby’s Epic Yarn and other titles appear on my computer screen. As I watched I was the happiest person alive when the 3DS was revealed, but then I wondered… “How on earth do they do it?”

The 3DS has a 3D screen at the top, a small touch pad (small joy stick), gyroscopic sensors, a camera that allows you to take 3D images as well as the usual touch screen, D-pad and buttons that you have come to expect from the DS brand.


Remind you of anywhere?

Now I’m not too keen on 3D I must admit, but I must also admit that I see why other people may like this feature, it’s just not for me. No, what I’m excited about, over all this, is the improved graphics. The new DS has way better graphics than it’s older brothers and some of the images I’ve seen are comparable to the Wii, and in some ways probably even better than the Wii. They are superb, and when I saw the trailer for “KID ICARUS Uprising” I seriously believed that it was a Wii game, and not a crummy low budget bad graphics Wii game, a good wii game, a BRILLIANT Wii game! The graphics reminded my of Super Mario Galaxy 2, and this is on a hand held console! The joy stick makes the 3DS seem a lot better as well, giving you more control and with the d-pad you can also play all of the previous DS games on the market. All this will finally put the DS in the same league as the PSP.

But what good is 3D if you have no games to play in it? Well it isn’t any good, but don’t worry! Nintendo has made some new launch titles and has also received games from the likes of Saga, Ubisoft and EA that will all be released on the first day of the 3DS launch. Among the many games is DJ Hero 3D, Resident Evil Revelations, de Blob 2, Assassin’s Creed: Lost Legacy and games from the Lego series, Carnival Games and from Saga, Sonic and Monkey Ball titles (full names not released).

Nintendo is also pulling out all the stops releasing Star Fox 64 3D, Animal Crossing, a new Mario Kart game, PilotWings Resort (based on the Wii sports resort “Island flyover” game), nintendogs + cats, Paper Mario, Steel Diver, Zelda: Ocarina of Time and of course Kid Icarus: Uprising.
From what I’ve seen of these games the graphics look amazing and I’m sure a game like Star Fox 64 will look superb in 3D.

The only thing that Nintendo didn’t tell us about the 3DS at E3 was… the price!

In early days of pricing Nintendo said the 3DS would be some where below the £200 pound mark, which didn’t strike my with confidence as whenever a company says something  is going to be under £200 they always put it at £199.99. But in fact the 3DS will be “around £159.99″ according to Nintendo magazine’s website which… if your going to give a sensible estimate should be translated to “around £160″ which to be honest isn’t all that bad as the DSi is £149.99 and the DSi is £169.99 and comparing to the PSPgo which is 207 odd quid this is a real bargain!

So should you buy the 3DS instead of the bast DS’ or more to the point… should you buy the 3DS over the PSPgo? To answer the first question I will have to say in hindsight… YES! The fact that you can play all the old DS games and all the new 3DS games on there is a great package with hundreds of fad 3D games available for the system from day one for all kinds of gamers. But what about verses the PSPgo? I personally would, but then again I’m the kinda guy who if given the choice between Call of Duty and Mario Bros Wii, I’d choose the fat plumber. But then again so would allot of people and if your still reading this at the end you are obviously interested in the 3DS and my be considering buying it so I will presume you are like me, and say that you… the reader of this blog should buy the 3DS, but for everyone else… I can’t really say. It’s a hard one and they are both very good technically. But I’ll put it this way, if you like the PS3 over the xbox and Wii, get the PSPgo, if you like the xbox over the PS3 but you also like the Wii this may be for you… and all you who love the Wii… it would have to be the 3DS