Let’s all he honest right now, the Digital Age is amazing. Before, for me to write this, I would have to sit in front of a computer screen as I try to figure out what to say. Now, all I have to do is lay down and open a simple app on my phone. With a few seconds I can post up something on the web. Pretty crazy I must say.
Now I personally love innovation, but I must admit, this 3D era is very unnecessary. All it does is make people pay more for a movie ticket, and for some reason the effect of the third dimension never really makes an appearance. I was fine watching a movie when it was just a flat surface, now you’re telling me that I can watch Channing Tatum try to act right next to me. No thanks I’ll just stick to Netflix. Also the glasses are just a hassle. So now I can pay my whole paycheck to take this girl on a date and also look like a complete nerd in the process? It’s fine, she didn’t even look good anyway.
It was a matter of time till the video game market would jump into the true third dimension. It was no surprise that Nintendo, the leading video game manufacturer for innovation, would take a try at this “somewhat” new idea. At E3 2010 it would be announced that they would produce the new handheld that would bring a new dimension into the gamer world. This invention would be strategically branded as the Nintendo 3DS. The fact that it was 3D was not the only feature that was revolutionary. No, it was because it brought you the images, without the glasses. Now that is something special.
I received my handheld as a gift for my anniversary along with “Super Street Fighter 4.” After a few hours of play I grew somewhat bored of the game, so I went to GameStop to find something that would give me more hours of play with my device. I really could not find anything on the store shelf that I had an interest in. With a laughable launch line-up, the 3DS soon became a mere paper weight for me.
I few months later I found out about the ambassador program for the people that bought the 3DS the first few months it came out. It allowed 20 free games (10 NES classics in the fall of 2011 and 10 Gameboy Advance games later on). This was because of the price slash that the hardware was going to have from $250 to the low price of $170. It seemed like a sweet deal then. Free games, how would that go wrong? Well, it wasn’t horrible, but after awhile I did not want to play games I already played in the past years. All the new games that were coming out were just rehashes of older classic titles.
Now with the holiday season come and gone, the 3DS actually has a good line up of games from their first party developers. “Super Mario 3D Land,” and “Mario Kart 7″ are both great games that make the 3DS itself worth the buy, but is it too late for the groundbreaking hardware?
It may not be so much lights out for handheld after all. With the rumored announcement of a portable “Super Smash Bros,” the 3DS may make the impact that it deserves. The only thing that is holding the device back is the lack of third party support.
Although people primarily prefer a certain company off of exclusivity, Nintendo must make an effort to give other companies the same intel that they have on their own products so others can make games that would make the device desirable. The 3DS is very innovative down to the core, but it cannot strive off of such franchises like Mario or Zelda.
It needs to dig deep into its roots and figure out why the Super Nintendo was deemed as the greatest console created. It needs to give the Italian plumber and the elf from Hyrule a little break. They need to find some originality in their minds and produce new games with new franchises for a larger audience.
The Nintendo 3DS is on its way to the top, but it needs have a support system that is flawless. The Xbox 360 is a console with the least amount of exclusives, but it still is a top seller. Nintendo should put the lime light on someone else for a change, rather their own stars.
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