Redmond, Wash. –
glasses-free 3D handheld game player, the 3DS, will be given a New York City
welcome starting at 9 p.m. March 26 at
the Best Buy store in New York City’s Union Square.
Between 9 p.m. (March 26) and midnight (March 27), shoppers will receive
hands-on demos and enjoy food, music and giveaways until midnight, when the
$250 suggested retail system will officially go on sale at retailers across the
country.
The 3DS will ship with a collection of pre-installed games and
features, the company said.
Nintendo said midnight launches are also being planned at several
Best Buy stores throughout the country.
Fans can visit
for more information.
Nintendo said it will be installing more than 6,000 kiosks at
retailers across the country over the next couple of months that enable
shoppers to demo the new Nintendo 3DS system.
“Nintendo 3DS can play 3D video games and take 3D pictures, but
that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Nintendo of America president Reggie
Fils-Aime. “The 3D display is amazing in its own right, but just as compelling
are the new forms of game play it delivers, and the groundbreaking ways it will
connect players to new content … and each other.”
Nintendo 3DS has 18 games available on launch day, with more than
30 total available by early June. Nintendo-published games available March 27
include:
• Pilotwings Resort is a high-flying aerial adventure with 30
missions, and the ability to go sightseeing and snap pictures in the game.
• Nintendogs + Cats lets users train and interact with a virtual puppy
and kitten. The pets react to voices and will even welcome users with licks of
the face as they lean into the player. Three different versions of the software
are available, each featuring a different starting breed: Toy Poodle, Golden
Retriever or French Bulldog. In each version, players can eventually unlock all
27 different breeds.
• Steel Diver is an immersive 3D submarine combat adventure that
allows players to control speed, depth and pitch, and use both the touch-screen
and motion-sensitive controls to navigate through undersea environments and
fire torpedoes at enemy ships and obstacles.
Nintendo’s third-party publishing partners are rolling out their
biggest names for launch day.
Games ready for March 27 include Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition
from Capcom; The Sims 3 from EA; Madden NFL Football from EA Sports; Pro
Evolution Soccer 2011 3D from Konami Digital Entertainment; Lego Star Wars III:
The Clone Wars from LucasArts; Ridge Racer 3D from Namco Bandai Games America;
Super Monkey Ball 3D from Sega; Bust-A-Move Universe from Square-Enix; Samurai
Warriors: Chronicles from Tecmo Koei America; and Asphalt 3D, Combat of Giants:
Dinosaurs 3D, Rayman 3D, and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Shadow Wars from Ubisoft.
Meanwhile, Nintendo is working on Nintendo 3DS games from popular
franchises, including The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D; Star Fox 64 3D;
Kid Icarus: Uprising; and new installments in the Super Mario, Mario Kart,
Animal Crossing and Paper Mario series. The system is also ready to play nearly
every single Nintendo DS game with its original 2D graphics. Nintendo DS games
that required the use of the Game Boy Advance slot are not compatible with the
Nintendo 3DS system.
Nintendo 3DS features two screens. The top screen displays 3D
images without the need for special glasses. The bottom screen is touch-sensitive.
It also has three cameras.
One inner camera points at the user, while two exterior cameras
let the player take pictures of friends and family in 3D or 2D.
The 3DS weighs approximately 8 ounces and is available in Cosmo
Black or Aqua Blue.
Built-in games and applications include Mii Maker, which uses
facial-recognition technology to create a Mii character that looks just like the
user; Face Raiders, which requires users to shoot at comical depictions of
their own faces as well as others around them; AR Games, which superimpose
graphics and animations on the real world using the included AR cards; and Nintendo
3DS Sound, which lets users listen to MP3 or AAC music files, or make their own
recordings and play with them using fun filters.
The StreetPass feature lets some games and applications
wirelessly swap small bits of game data as users pass other Nintendo 3DS users
throughout the day, if they choose. SpotPass, on the other hand, lets the
Nintendo 3DS system detect wireless hotspots or wireless LAN access points and
allows users to obtain information and game data when the system is in Sleep
Mode.
Free software and videos will also become available with future
system updates.
Nintendo said it will soon roll out a series of additional
features for Nintendo 3DS, including an Internet browser, an online store
called Nintendo eShop, the ability to access 3D Hollywood movie trailers,
automatic and free access to more than 10,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots
nationwide and the ability to stream Netflix movies (Netflix unlimited
membership required).
