The Cosmos Black 3DS
The unit itself looks like a beefed up DSi, with a whole lot of extra stuff everywhere you look. It of course features a 3D camera facing outwards, consisting of two lenses spaced slightly outside the unit’s centre. The power switch is now on the inside-top surface of the clamshell’s base. It took my a few moments to find it there, despite it probably being quite obvious to anyone who wasn’t used to switching a DS on from the side. It took me a little while to get used to the stylus returning to the rear of the unit, as it was with the original DS, but when I went back to play my DS Lite, I knew that I’d adjusted because I went to pull out the stylus from the back out of habit.
When I first tried to plug in my pair of Klipsch Image S4i headset, which was designed for iPhone, I was concerned that the plug didn’t fit. It actually took a little more force than I was used to in order to get them slotted in correctly, but once I did, they worked perfectly.
Despite the new appearance and layout of the unit, it’s the all new 3D games and applications that are the most exciting things about this launch. The 3DS comes loaded with a number of fun and interesting applications. The first one I tried was of course the obligatory Mii Maker. I wasn’t very happy with the Mii that was automatically created for me using the 3DSs inward-facing camera, so I created one from scratch and away he went to the Mii Plaza, eagerly awaiting to meet other Miis via the 3DS’s new StreetPass technology.
StreetPass is an interface that developers can use to exchange data with other 3DS consoles a user might happen to travel past while the system is in standby mode. It’s a step up from similar technology of the previous generation, where implementations were application-specific, and the application in question had to be running on both consoles as they come in contact for there to be any effect. On the 3DS the exchange can happen any time the unit is in standby mode, no matter which application is currently running (unless it’s a DS game for some reason).
Face Raiders is a fun little game where users can take a photo of someone and the game transforms the subject into a menacing head, set to a 3D, interactive background of the room the user is currently in. A series of similar heads then proceed to make an all out assault on the player and the player must defend themselves by aiming the console at the enemies and firing shots at them until the round ends. It really takes advantage of the 3DS’s features and is good fun to play.
AR Games is another interesting game that shows of the 3DS’s abilities. Using cards that come packed with the console, the 3D camera searches for card the player places on a surface in front of them, and then adds some amazing effects on the 3D screen, such as morphing the terrain and adding creatures and characters to interact with.
Even without any separate games to put in your 3DS, there are enough cool features right out of the box that you can show off to your friends and family, who will no doubt have a fantastic time, amazed at this feat of entertainment technology. I’m enjoying my 3DS a lot so far, and would thoroughly recommend anyone experiencing it first-hand.
