Now that you guys have had the device in your hot lil' hands for a while, how do you feel about the 3D effect? Is it as good as you expected? Has it provided a palpable advantage in any games thus far? Is the viewing angle adequate for you? Does you slider position change from game to game?

Do you feel that 3D usage will improve in the future? Which genres and upcoming games do you think will make the most of it? Which is it just not suited for?

I'll chime in with my thoughts l8r.

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I am extremely impressed, which far exceeds my expectations. It works like a charm, and I've yet to be bothered by the size of the sweet spot. Apparently the way I hold my DS is perfect for viewing the 3D on the 3DS. So no harm there. I've also not been bothered by headaches or dizziness, so I've been able to blast the 3D all the way all the time.

Now, do I think it's just a gimmick? I did before I got my hands on it. But now, after playing it a good bit, I don't think so at all. It has completely changed the way I look at games- the depth really adds to the visual experience for me. After playing Ghost Recon and SSF in 3D, I can't not play them in 3D. Not only that, but all other games just seem boring and flat in comparison.

The way of the fewchure.

A supplementary question - did the 3DS make you guys more interested in home console/PC 3D?

As for my thoughts, I think the effect is nice, if a little difficult to get used to. I also have problems with the size of the sweet-spot. Intense games often make me lose it, and AR Games in 3D are nearly impossible. It's hard to avoid a bit of shimmering and ghosting in games like Ridge Racer, and it kind of melts my brain after a while.

The rotation in Steel Diver works great, though. More games should be built around that type of swiveling-chair experience. At least on 3DSWare.

Does the 3D help? I can see how it definitely could, but for the one game that I've put a lot of time into, Ridge Racer, it hasn't, really. I'd probably play better with it off, to be honest. I think it could be essential in Super Mario 3DS and maybe Pilotwings, though.

I like the tech. It's cool, but I want a bigger sweet-spot. I consider that to be a fairly severe limitation.

@anandxxx It does in theory, because I'd love to see big worlds opened up in full TV on something more substantial than a tiny screen. But if I need glasses? Eh.

Yeah, but think of the trade-off. Infinite sweet-spot (I think?). You can play comfortably in a more laid-back manner.

Plus, you wear glasses, anyway! Just get a custom pair. Prescription/3D. With a flippable sunglasses overlay.

That's my devil's advocate position, but, in reality, those glasses fucking suck. They are truly uncomfortable. Still, I'm not sure autostereoscopy can ever be truly ideal.

It could be interesting, I guess. But one thing I don't like (which maybe works against me getting into fully immersive games) is doing anything that disconnects me from the world around me. Then again, maybe 3D glasses don't have to do that.

Yeah, why would they? Excepting that they are generally designed by medieval torture engineers, I mean.

Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY has polarized 3D that you can see on regular TVs, and it comes with a pair of glasses. Haven't opened it yet, but it's a cool concept. Plus, it's the best way I can get 3D on my 360, for some reason? Does anyone know why PS3 could add the functionality, but not the 360? Is it just the connection? HDMI 1.4a, or whatever? Bleah.

I have to confess something: As soon as 3D on the PS3 was announced, something clicked inside of me. Now I want one, and I also don't want ANY cross-platform games that could potentially feature 3D on the 360. And I kind of don't want any non-exclusive 360 games at ALL, since I might make the switch. It really is staggering to me how much better the 360 is doing than the PS3, considering how much more functionality and exclusive software the PS3 has, even after they cut a bunch of shit out. Kinect, I guess. Wheeee.

@anandxxx

Sony is pushing 3D on PS3 because they also just happen to sell 3D HDTVs.

No different than using PS3 as a Trojan Horse for Blu-Ray discs.

Yeah, but is there a technical reason why the 360 can't output the same type of 3D? If it could, I'm sure that MS would want feature parity, especially for cross-platform games.

It really depends on the game. I love it for Street Fighter, but I don't for Pilot Wings. Overall its good though.

After a week (since launch) of frustration built by not sensing the highly praised 3D effects, I had a magical night with AR Mario. Positioning the 3DS for an overhead shot of Mario at a sweet distance yielded a pop-out effect that I could not deny, despite a very powerful force of skepticism I'd developed in my mind. On the same night, I replayed AR Archery. Snow flakes fall prior to awakening the boss from its statued state. I don't know how I missed it before, but THIS TIME (and all times following) it seemed as if the snow was slightly out of the screen, falling into the screen! It is currently my favorite example of this glassless 3D we're getting from the system. Last night, I rocked my arm back and forth while holding the 3DS to build up enough steps for a coin. I used the coin to purchase AR Clock. Another pop-out effect!

Just imagine being discouraged about not seeing this stuff for a week, wondering if intermittent strabismus or perhaps even something unknown about the condition of your eyes, will keep you from experiencing these "impressive/incredible/amazing" effects gamers around the net are attesting to about the 3DS. Then, after a session of trying and failing (with Pilotwings) to experience the 3Difference, going to Ign and getting an idea (thanks again foxmcloudm!) for an experiment that later confirms you can see it too!

I'm still not "getting" the 3D of Pilotwings. I honestly don't notice any impressive difference in it with the slider down as opposed to up. I did manage to do a 3-star run with the slider up 1/3 of the way on the Target Tour mission. I'd been trying that mission a lot with the slider down, but I managed to shoot every target in the middle with the slider up. There were times where ghosting distracted me, but apparently I kept it together well enough. Again, I don't FEEL like I'm seeing anything special with Pilotwings (I still like the look of the game), but maybe there's something to this that I'm just failing to observe.

But to answer the question, YES! I'm so happy to be able to say yes. And even if I never feel the effects of pilotwings, I expect games I'll play in the future will impress like some AR activities have.

Cube191 said:

It really depends on the game. I love it for Street Fighter, but I don't for Pilot Wings. Overall its good though.

Why not for Pilotwings?

Pilotwings has an incredibly strong effect, to me. Almost overpowering at the highest settings.

But, over time, your eyes do get 'trained' to better view the 3D. Your brain, rather. Maybe that's a factor.

@anandxxx

360 already has 3D games on the market, but it's just not a priority for them. CoD: Black Ops, Avatar, and a few others are compatible with 3D TVs, but the overall selection isn't very big.

For the topic, I was damn impressed with the 3D affect in 3DS when I demoed a unit at Best Buy. I tried Pilotwings with the slider at 3/4. Holy crap was it fresh!

I can't wait for Nintendo to release Mario 3DS. I think platformer games will shine in 3D.

I think I need to play more games before I can say I'm impressed, as so far the game I've played the most is Rayman 3D, and boy is 3D badly implemented in that game. Almost soured me on the whole thing. I'd need to refer back to casper's old posts to explain what it does wrong (and that would take effort and time, so I won't), but it does it more and more often as you get farther into the game.

Ghost Recon and Steel Diver look undoubtedly nicer with 3D on. There really is an appreciable difference visually. But they're essentially 2D games, so...

Pilotwings I need to play more of, I guess. I've already told the story of how I completely overshot a pad with 3D off. I'm still not convinced I wasn't just not paying enough attention, I can't believe turning off 3D would have such a dramatic effect.

in Pilotwings? Yeah, kinda.

in Steel Diver? It's cool, doesn't add anything but looks neat.

in Ghost Squad? See Steel Diver.

in Rayman? Nope.

in SSF4? Oh god yes so pretty

@New Forms
WHAT? Is that true? Like 3DTV 3D? I didn't know that! I thought only the PS3 was capable of it, for some reason.

Are you sure?

Okay, I found this: The HDMI chipset within the 360 is 1.2 and has been since the launch of Zephyr. Thus, any features defined in 1.3 and 1.4+ specs are dormant on the 360 platform. Call of Duty: BO and other S3D-compatible game titles use the Side-By-Side encoding format, a spatially compressed format which innovatively allows the video bandwidth to meet the requirements of HDMI 1.2 (which allows a max. of 1080p/60).

So, apparently, the PS3 can conceivably add 3D in higher resolutions? But it seems like the tech isn't there yet for that, anyway. Is it really just a matter of priorities? Stupid Microsoft! I don't care about Kinect!

One thing I would suggest is not to hold the 3DS too close to your face, especially if you have trouble appreciating the 3D. The closer you are to the screen, the harder it is for your brain to accept the illusion; the difference between the physical world and virtual world become more noticeable.

Try holding the system as far away from your face as possible (don't move it too far or you'll be out of the sweet spot). If it's far enough, you brain can more easily accept the illusion, as you can view both the 3DS system and the virtual 3D at the same time, which makes the 3D content appear as if it actually exists inside of the screen. It is significantly more impressive this way, especially for objects that are designed to pop-out out the screen. Obviously, if the screen is too close, your brain will know that the object isn't coming out of the screen as far as it appears to be because your eyes can compare the physical distance.

I was always able to view the 3D, but it wasn't until I held it at the right distance that I actually became IMPRESSED with the effect.

Not impressed and the tech seems a little impractical as of right now. It's a step I guess, in the right direction?

@jwillennium jwillenium1! you're here, nooooo fucking way

@Zero
I've been thinking about how to get around the sweet spot issue and what I can see as a theoretical solution would be to have the camera doing some face tracking and constantly readjusting the aim of the images towards each eye. Maybe in another few years if the 3d thing doesn't die off first.