When I first heard about the 3DS, I groaned. Were Nintendo marketing executives really riding the 3D craze, forcing a gimmick into a core console mechanic? The system’s name was like a punchline to a bad joke; it was almost as bad as when the Wii or iPad were first announced. Even worse, the ergonomics of keeping your head still at a constant distance from the screen were a human factors nightmare, a throwback to the old Virtual Boy.
Now, after three months of owning a 3DS, I am a believer.
Don’t get me wrong, at this stage stereoscopic 3D is not essential to play any game on the market. I am not even sure if it will ever be essential for gameplay, but with each subsequent game that I played I could tell that there was a future here. In 10 years, supporting stereoscopic 3D properly for gaming will be as important as having decent camera mechanics and up-to-date graphics. The operative word here, though, is “properly”. We don’t yet know how to leverage 3D in a big way, but we’re learning, and here’s how.