Kotaku's Mock Up of the 3DS

[manaphy4ever]

The Nintendo 3DS will have a 3D camera, two differently-designed screens, a tilt sensor and will be significantly more powerful than current handhelds, according to our reporting.

A sketch of the 3DS by a Chinese blogger who claims to have a 3DS development kit matches other reports and information Kotaku has heard from people familiar with Nintendo's next handheld. All together they form what is Kotaku's best guess of what Nintendo's next major gaming device will offer players.
The Screens

The sketch presents a 3DS that shares the clamshell two-screen design of the original 2004 DS, an expected set-up given that Nintendo has confirmed that the 3DS will play DS games. But the new 3DS sports a bigger top screen, presumably a Sharp-manufactured display capable of showing game graphics in screen-popping 3D. The 3DS' lower screen is built to the specifications of the original DS' lower touchscreen. These screen ratios match those seen in a DS circuit board filed by Nintendo to the FCC.

n his report, the Chinese blogger says that "the effect of the [3D] screen is amazing." The blogger mentions some features, including an MP3/AAC hardware decode function and a media player of some sort.

Reached for comment about these features, a Nintendo spokesperson told us the company "does not comment on rumors and speculation."

Kotaku contacted Sharp as well but did not hear back by press time.

But the numerous details out there remind us that in this era of lost iPhones, company hardware secrets are harder to keep than ever. As official announcements loom, details tend to trickle out, as they did here about the Xbox 360 on Kotaku in 2005.
A Camera Surprise?

The Chinese sketch strengthens our belief that the 3DS will include cameras, as do the DSi and DSiXL variants of the DS product line. A rectangle near the d-pad of the 3DS in the sketch could represent the Sharp-designed 3D camera that was rumored last month to be on its way to the new Nintendo handheld. Such a camera might be used to capture images in 3D dimensions or detect motions of the player.

In a May press release, Sharp said of the camera:

In the future, Sharp will be opening up new 3D markets based on 3D display technologies, including small/medium-size and large-size 3D LCDs, as well as on 3D input device technologies such as 3D camera modules.

Other Parts

The Nintendo 3DS, we're told, will use a second, proprietary medium for games specific to the portable. We understand that the new 3DS games will fit on a card about the size of a Compact Flash card and that the system is designed to accept both these new games and DS games, possibly in the same slot.

We don't believe the 3DS will include an analog stick, leaving character control to the machine's d-pad and/or touch screen.

We do expect the 3DS to have a tilt sensor or accelerometer of some sort, a fact that was all but confirmed by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata himself despite the company's attempt to distance themselves from the statement after it was published in a major Japanese newspaper.

The official specs for the 3DS will be revealed on Tuesday during Nintendo's E3 media briefing.

Reports about the machine's horsepower, rumored earlier this week to be in the league of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 may be an overstatement, but game industry sources familiar with the project have acknowledged to Kotaku that the system is an extremely capable device. It may be as powerful as a Wii.
The Improved Buzz

Buzz on the system has been unusually strong of late. Earlier this week, EA boss John Riccitiello was quoted in the gaming press saying that he had seen the 3DS and that "it's cool." While that type of praise might be easily dismissed as pre-E3 hype, Riccitiello's general praise for the 3DS has been echoed by multiple enthusiastic gaming industry sources in touch with Kotaku. They won't reveal what the machine can do, but they attest that Nintendo has something special in the works. That's a different kind of buzz than the one that preceded the DS six years ago, a machine that was preceded by skepticism by many game creators, confusion about the device's features and an underwhelmed impression of the system's power when compared to it's looming rival, the PlayStation Portable. Six years later, it appears that Nintendo's next handheld hardware is closer to the cutting edge, more impressive than odd.

E3 2010 was expected to be the Xbox 360 Project Natal and PlayStation 3 Move resurgence of motion control gaming. But the 3DS, with a surprise packed in, just might steal the show.

Please note: The image atop this post is a mock-up based on our best assessment of which features will be in the Nintendo's 3DS.

Source:Kotaku

 

[gameboy13]

Obviously not. See the words, "3DS Mockup" on the bottom of the picture? If it was though, it looks AWESOME.

 

[raulpica]

Gawd, please. Kill it with fire. It's horrible :/

I'm so glad that this is a mock-up. If this was real, I wouldn't ever buy it.

 

[Nikolay]

What's a good mock-up without an analog stick?

 

[DarkRey]

Gawd, please. Kill it with fire. It's horrible :/

I'm so glad that this is a mock-up. If this was real, I wouldn't ever buy it.

*hands over a flame thrower......*

 

[Rock Raiyu]

I think you misinterpreted what the article is saying manaphy

 

[Thoob]

Hideous design... thankfully that's just a mockup.

 

[Feels Good Man]

"Please note: The image atop this post is a mock-up based on our best assessment of which features will be in the Nintendo's 3DS."

 

[Hadrian]

Title changed.

Looks shit and is missing analog stick.

 

[Rock Raiyu]

"Please note: The image atop this post is a mock-up based on our best assessment of which features will be in the Nintendo's 3DS."

On top of that, it says PHOTOSHOP. That's why I think manaphy misinterpreted the article. This is NOT what it looks like. It's their assessment on what they think will be in it hardware wise and what it may look like. Plus at E3, what they will show is most likely a prototype and most likely NOT the final design.

 

[DeadLocked]

Glad it's not the real but it needs to be sent back to the depths of hell where it belongs -.-
I bloody hope the final screens are the same size because I would hate two different sized screens...

 

[BORTZ]

looks like crap.

The new nintendo DS T.

 

[imz]

there's no analog

 

[Hadrian]

This is based off a Chinese bloggers sketch who claims to be a developer who has seen it.

I am also a developer who is developing the "I Don't Want To.." trilogy and I've seen the actual 3DS which isn't called the 3DS but its called the WiiDS. Here is my sketch of it though when I saw it i was very drunk and high on washroom renovator so it might not look exactly like this:

 

[yuyuyup]

I hope it includes analog but I'm still way pumped, 3ds is gonna be so bad

 

[Sonicslasher]

This is based off a Chinese bloggers sketch who claims to be a developer who has seen it.

I am also a developer who is developing the "I Don't Want To.." trilogy and I've seen the actual 3DS which isn't called the 3DS but its called the WiiDS. Here is my sketch of it though when I saw it i was very drunk and high on washroom renovator so it might not look exactly like this:

snip

My god.... it's so beautiful!

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

I'm sad about the top screen being bigger.
Not cool to have uneven screens.

That. It's a little awkward.

Also, I didn't know the 3DS was going to have a 3D camera too!

Guess you learn something new everyday

 

[Terminator02]

that design is so horrible, I really hope it is something more like this:

 

[gameboy13]

that design is so horrible, I really hope it is something more like this:

Old news, buddy. But yeah, it does look cooler.

 

[Deleted_171835]

That's a terrible design. Perhaps it's just the mockup.
I don't like the big top screen. It ruins the overall design of the system. Why not make both screens that wide?