Nintendo 3DS Has Other Attractions Beside Three Dimensional Gaming

Nintendo has been talking a lot about how its new handheld device, the Nintendo 3DS, will deliver full three dimensional gaming experience without the use of any specialized glasses, and the new hardware platform got a lot of favorable press at the E3 for that reason. And now the company is saying that 3D is now the only feature that will attract long time gamers to the new handheld.

Another points of attraction will be the combination of accelerometer and gyroscope, which will allow for very precise micro control of any video game and, Nintendo says, will not affect the three dimensional capabilities in any way.

Hideky Konno, who is a producer working on the Nintendo 3DS platform, told Wired as part of an interview that, “During our experiments, we have found that in a first person shooter, we can use the sensor to move the aiming and the pointer. In that case, your line of sight is still quite rigid, your eyes are pointing at the screen, and so the 3D effect won't be diluted. So there is the possibility that both 3D and motion control could be used in the same software.” The motion tracking trend is important in home consoles as well with Sony launching the PlayStation Move and with Microsoft putting out the Kinect in order to catch up to the Nintendo Wii.

The Nintendo executive also talked about the “tag mode” included in the Nintendo 3DS, which allows the device to scan the space around them and detect other consoles that are using the same video game in order to trade information between the two games, emphasizing the social elements of mobile gaming. The tag concept was present in the Nintendo DS but now the hardware maker is interested in making it easier to integrate by developer and easier to use by gamers.