What do you think will Nintendo's next generation handheld's 'Special Feature'?

[Foxi4]

I already took shoulder buttons, similarly you and I share similar opinions on the pointlessness of "what was first" debates but I will have to *points at gamegear*.

I obviously meant the differences between the Color and the Advance, not anything the Advance introduced to the gaming world in general.

 

[FAST6191]

Did the wider aspect ratio really open things up for styles of games that did not work before, at least over what the increased resolution/tile count afforded? It is not like the GB/GBC struggled with platforming, screen scrollers, turn based strategy... after all.

 

[Foxi4]

Did the wider aspect ratio really open things up for styles of games that did not work before, at least over what the increased resolution/tile count afforded? It is not like the GB/GBC struggled with platforming, screen scrollers, turn based strategy... after all.

I think it definitely has - platforming on a widescreen just feels more natural, it gives the player more time to react to what appears on the horizon, I think it was a big game changer for the Game Boy and subsequently the DS line.

 

[FAST6191]

You say that but I am far more likely to break out 6 golden coins than I am the advance titles. Granted that could just be being bored of ports/remakes and/or it maybe being better games -- I doubt many would argue GBA mario is that strong.

I definitely say stick with widescreen unless you want to make me a dedicated tetris, tetris themed and vertical shmup system.... actually that is not a bad idea.

 

[KingVamp]

The 3DS is a major development over the DSi? In what regard? I could understand the DS-to-DSi since the DSi introduced DSiWare, embedded cameras and whatnot, but the 3DS's only "achievement" is the glasses-less 3D screen that people use for 15 minutes and then forget about. Other than the specs (which are a good couple of years behind the times), there isn't any jump to speak of unless you want to count the top screen aspect ratio.

Say that to the people who use it most of, if not all, the time. Seems like jumps to me even if you undermine them. Oh, and the SlidePad.

They're objective if you have means of comparison to other devices from the same time frame.

It's one thing to say these aren't good graphics vs these graphics are better than this one.

It's like saying the PS4 doesn't have good graphics because it can't outdo a high-end PC.

 

[Foxi4]

Say that to the people who use it most of, if not all, the time. Seems like jumps to me even if you undermine them. Oh, and the SlidePad.

A "jump" changes the way you game. 3D doesn't change the way you game, it marginally influences visuals. I am yet to meet a single person who uses the 3D feature of the 3DS all the time, in fact, I'm yet to meet a single person who uses it for more than 15 minutes at a time.

It's one thing to say these aren't good graphics vs these graphics are better than this one. It's like saying the PS4 doesn't have good graphics because it can't outdo a high-end PC

It's absolutely that easy. The PS4 produces relatively good graphics, they are on-par with a mid-range PC, they fit into the generation neatly. The 3DS on the other hand is nowhere near even low-end smartphones, you can objectively say that its graphics capabilities are poor and behind the times. That doesn't mean that the games look bad - that's aesthetics. We're talking about raw graphics capabilities here and those spring directly from the hardware. I mean, c'mon, the 3DS doesn't even do trilinear filtering - the PICA200 can't handle that. 2005 called, it wants its GPU back.

 

[1stClassZackFair]

I'm not in the bath to play games! I'm in there to handle business!

By business do you mean choking the chicken? On topic: I predict a 4D console.

 

[roastable]

I think the 3DS has everything current technology has to offer(Almost?).

When I go to use the 3DS for anything other than playing games, it offers an experience similar to loading files on to a potato.
While I can forgive the extremely lightweight web browser that can get tasks done, provided that you don't expect much from it in the first place, certain features are pretty clunky.

A music player that isn't stuck in the days of old drag'n'drop MP3 players would be nice and also some better useability. I don't quite understand the limit of files per folder and even more so why it takes so long to load said files with there being no difference between using a class 10 and a class 2 SD card.

Also, bluetooth would be nice. I find spotpass more annoying than convenient.

 

[cdoty]

So going by that logic, the NDS was a N64 and the 3DS is a GCN ?

Uhhm, not quite. The DS was pretty much two SNES consoles 'duct taped' together, with a primitive tacked on (N64ish) 3D mode. The 3DS probably sits somewhere between the N64 and GCN.

So a once good but now/then ageing processor popular in embedded systems, all wrapped around a fairly modest amount of memory and graphics hardware, stuff that has seen technically superior competition during its day, gave way to... a once good but now/then ageing processor popular in embedded systems, all wrapped around a fairly modest amount of memory and graphics hardware, stuff that has seen technically superior competition during its day*.

I don't think anyone can ever accuse Nintendo of being a tech leader. The quote, from 13 Things You Might Not Know About The Game Boy (Gunpei Yokoi), "Lateral thinking of withered technology" pretty much sums up Nintendo's approach to game hardware. Price used to be their secret weapon, which they seem to have forgotten at the start of this generation.

 

[WaryLouka]

The Nintendo Revolution (smart tablet-ish); 4K Screen, Modular Design ( See Phonebloks ), and eShop included so you can download applications, and games. It could also have 3DS-retrocompatibility.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Side note the 3D on the 3DS looks awful anyway. I remember buying my 3DS and turning 3D on for the first time, preparing to be amazed, and it just makes everything look like shit.

Meanwhile the OLED on my Vita makes everything look vibrant and clear and doesn't suck on my battery or give me a headache.

 

[VMM]

There isn't much to innovate in my opinion, but there could be several improvements:
Dual analog sticks, Possibility to record and upload your gameplay,HD screens, bluetooth,
internal storage, better 3D and in both screens, capacitive touch screen, SDXC support,
HD cameras, a decent movie player, GBA, DS and SNES VC titles etc

 

[tbgtbg]

.Landscape screen, shoulder buttons, better form factor?

I already took shoulder buttons, similarly you and I share similar opinions on the pointlessness of "what was first" debates but I will have to *points at gamegear*.

And Gamegear didn't really do anything with screen/form factor that Lynx didn't already do.

 

[Foxi4]

And Gamegear didn't really do anything with screen/form factor that Lynx didn't already do.

Well, there was the whole "having games" and "working as intended" side of things, but other than that...

 

[KingVamp]

A "jump" changes the way you game. 3D doesn't change the way you game, it marginally influences visuals. I am yet to meet a single person who uses the 3D feature of the 3DS all the time, in fact, I'm yet to meet a single person who uses it for more than 15 minutes at a time.

We have to agree to disagree on this one.

The 3DS on the other hand is nowhere near even low-end smartphones,

Low-end as of 2011?

I mean, c'mon, the 3DS doesn't even do trilinear filtering

And the vita does?

4K Screen, Modular Design ( See Phonebloks ),

Not going to happen. Why would you need 4K on such small screens?
Again, not going to happen. Only thing I see that can be module without changing the system are the cameras,Bluetooth and NFC if it has them. Not that they would do that anyway.

Side note the 3D on the 3DS looks awful anyway. I remember buying my 3DS and turning 3D on for the first time, preparing to be amazed, and it just makes everything look like shit.

I'm starting to think you can't see 3DS's 3D correctly. That aside, they can always improve it for the next handheld.

Meanwhile the OLED on my Vita doesn't suck on my battery

That's why Sony didn't change the screen to a LCD.

There isn't much to innovate in my opinion, but there could be several improvements:
Dual analog sticks, Possibility to record and upload your gameplay,HD screens, bluetooth,
internal storage, better 3D and in both screens, capacitive touch screen, SDXC support,
HD cameras, a decent movie player, GBA, DS and SNES VC titles etc

While all that seems reasonable, capacitive touch screen isn't going to happen and HD cameras,
I doubt it.

 

[Foxi4]

We have to agree to disagree on this one.

Okay.

Low-end as of 2011?

Absolutely. The specs were poor Day 1.

And the vita does?

Absolutely. The PowerVR SGX line supports trilinear filtering. Whether PSVita's SDK does is not for me to guess, but it does support OpenGLES 2.0 and trilinear filtering is a part of the function set.

tl;dr The 3DS was outdated Day 1.

 

[KingVamp]

Absolutely. The specs were poor Day 1.

Then show me a low-end phone of 2011 playing similar games as the 3DS.


Doesn't really mean much if the things aren't being used.

 

[Jayro]

Nintendo has heard our cry for dual-analogs, so I'm sure we'll get it with the next DS system they make. Hopefully at least a 720pscreen and Bluetooth would be nice.

 

[Foxi4]

Then show me a low-end phone of 2011 playing similar games as the 3DS. Doesn't really mean much if the things aren't being used.

Are you kidding? 2011 was the year the iPhone 4S was released - that thing packs a PowerVR SGX543MP2 and a dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9. As far as Androids were concerned there was the Galaxy Nexus powered by a dual-core 1.2-1.5GHz ARM Cortex-A9 and a PowerVR SGX540. You want quality games? Okay - Infinity Blade 2, SEGA & Sonic All-Stars Racing, Grand Theft Auto 3, Dead Space, Modern Combat 3, the list goes on. Don't defend the 3DS - the specs were poor Day 1. You're completely forgetting the fact that consoles are initially sold at a loss and phones are not, consoles are supposed to have appropriate specs for the time because they're supposed to last, profits come from game licensing.

Nintendo has heard our cry for dual-analogs, so I'm sure we'll get it with the next DS system they make. Hopefully at least a 720pscreen and Bluetooth would be nice.

They have? Where's the 3DS revision? Where are the Circlepad Pro games? How come they didn't hear the cries of PSP owners for dual analog and adjusted to that?

 

[Veho]

They have? Where's the 3DS revision? Where are the Circlepad Pro games?

"Where's the splitting their userbase in half?"

How come they didn't hear the cries of PSP owners for dual analog and adjusted to that?

What do they know? They are Sony fans and therefore their opinion is inherently wrong ;O;