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Nintendo launched it’s new handheld, the 3DS today. It went on sale at midnight last night and is the first device to offer glasses free gaming. But people are wondering at $250 and $40 a game, will it be able to compete with it’s newest rivals, the Android marketplace and Apple’s app store?
Nintendo is the king of handheld gaming with 145 million DS’ of various iterations in the hands of people worldwide, they don’t really have much competition…or I should say didn’t have much competition.
Nowadays a lot of people are getting their handheld gaming on app-style via the Android Marketplace and Apple’s App store. 40 million people a month are playing Angry Birds according to reports and iPad 2 developers are creating new experiences with it’s ability to connect to an HDTV so it looks like it may be a little bit of a tough sell for Nintendo this time around.
Wait, but the 3DS is all glasses-free-3D hotness, how will the mobile gaming market compete with that? Well, AT&T and Sprint have already announced glasses free 3D devices set to release soon. But we’ll have to wait and see if those can compare to the 3DS’ capabilities. Not to mention the sweet augmented reality features that have been all the buzz of the early testers.
Another problem is battery life, people who got to test the device early reported the battery giving out somewhere between 3-5 hours, which is pretty weak considering most cell phones can hold a charge for at least 6 hours.
We’re going to have to wait and see if Nintendo can continue to dominate in this market. I wish them the best. I love Nintendo and I’m sure many of you share my same fond memories of Mario, Punch Out, GoldenEye, MarioKart, Zelda and the countless other legendary games us old-timers (I’m 27 btw) grew up on.
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