3DS

I got a 3DS the other morning since I was off work at an appropriate hour to do so.

To make a long story short, this thing has exceeded my expectations already. So very, very cool.

The 3D effect is pretty stunning and really adds to the visuals in the two games I got. I've never been huge on 3D films, but for games, it seems like a great fit. That extra bit of depths goes a long way in something like Pilotwings.

I'm also blown away by some of the built in features including face raiders, which has you scan people's faces and then play a mini game using the camera. So you're actually moving all around the room aiming at people and shooting them, all the while the background is getting torn up and cracked. Pretty cool.

The AR (Augmented Reality) cards blew me away completely. You place a card on a surface, scan it with the camera and out pops a bunch of crazy shit, like targets you can shoot.

I had it on the kitchen table and it actually morphs it into weird landscapes and shit and the effect is pretty crazy. What really blew my mind was having to stand up and look down INTO a hole in the table it made to shoot a target. I was giddy.

Then there's the pedometer which tracks your steps/earns you coins to spend on unlocking stuff in games.

Also Streetpass. If you have your 3DS sleeping and walk past another person with one they exchange mii data automatically, so you can walk around collecting them and they show up in your plaza with bits of info about where they came from and then you can us them in other games.

It's also integrated into certain games like Ridge Racer, so it scans ghost/time data and you can have streetpass duels.

MADNESS!

I'm extremely impressed with this thing. I was kind of undecided about it for a long time since portable gaming is usually really hit or miss with me, but this thing kind of rekindled the magic.

I guess it's a combination of better visuals/new games/A GODDAMN ANALOG PAD that got to me.

And hey, a new fucking Pilotwings game. It's only been, what? 14 fucking years?

PS. I waited too long to cancel my Amazon Pre-order, so if anyone wants a black model when I get it I'll sell it to you for what it cost minus the shipping ($262)

I don't know how hard they are to find or whatever. But if anyone is interested, let me know, otherwise I'll just return it and get a refund.