Nintendo 3DS

[armyofwires]

  On 9/12/2014 at 5:40 PM, tegan said:

There's demos for Smash Bros. and Pokémon coming out in North America! That's pretty unprecedented for Nintendo.

 

Apparently the Smash demo is out today if you're a platinum Club Nintendo member. You also get 4 codes for friends.

 

Tiny Cartridge

[shammack]

So, uh, any of you friends get any codes? 

[armyofwires]

Sounds like they're sending emails out with the codes. Waitin' for mine.

[Ucantalas]

I got a code from a friend. Megaman is best character. End of story.

But seriously, the game feels great, and I definitely want to get it. I like playing as Megaman, but I couldn't really get into playing as the Villager. (Also, fair note: There is only one stage available, Battlefield, and the only characters available are Mario, Link, Pikachu, Megaman and Villager. And no online multiplayer in the demo, only local. And no special modes or anything, just plain 2 minute timed battles. )

[tegan]

I haven't gotten my code yet. I'm paranoid that I might have turned off email notifications and CN is running absurdly slow right now so I'm having trouble checking.

[armyofwires]

Starting to wonder if they mean platinum for this "year". Hard to believe anyone would already be platinum within two months.

[armyofwires]

Ugh, Polygon's article mentions "Select Club Nintendo Platinum members".

[tegan]

It's for last year, apparently, but yeah. I'm worried about not being on the list.

[armyofwires]

Just got mine! There is still hope.

[lobotomy42]

"Club Nintendo members who have achieved Platinum status between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014, have registered Nintendo 3DS hardware or software, and have opted in to receive emails from Club Nintendo will receive an email containing four download codes for the demo, according to Nintendo's press release."

 

I think I opted out of email, which probably disqualifies me. Boo!

[tabacco]

Hmm, I think I was platinum during that time, but I almost definitely opted out of emails.

[Stego]

This has probably been discussed elswhere in the Forums, but I wasn't able to find it. Apologies if this is a re-posting.

 

My recent visit to the Louvre Museum in Paris revealed that one can rent specialized Nintendo 3DS XLs as the OFFICIAL Audio Guide for the museum. It was bizarre seeing people of all ages walk around art masterpieces whilst clutching and periodically glancing down at their rented 3DS.

 

I didn't get a chance to try one out myself, but here are some pulled quotes from the Louvre website:

*700 descriptions of the Louvre’s galleries and artworks

*3D photos of the galleries, high-definition images of the artworks, and 3D reconstructions

*new interactive map on the dual screen of the DS means you can’t get lost: the Louvre-Nintendo 3DS ™ XL Audio Guide tracks your position

*does not take game cartridges and cannot be used outside the museum

 

Way Cool Nintendo!

[tegan]

You can buy region-free cartridge copies of the Louvre guide at the museum if you already have a 3DS, or download the guide in the eshop from anywhere. It's the only 3DS cartridge that's not subject to region locking, as I recall.

[dartmonkey]

Is there anyone else who just can't get into Smash Bros? I've never got it. It always feels like a closed door. I can never commit the controls to memory. Having Mario jump by pressing up feels wrong, even though I know it frees up face buttons for other moves. I've never had fun with it. Maybe I need to sit down with 4 people for the optimum experience, but that's very rarely an option. I've owned every Smash at one time or another, but don't have any now. I just deleted the 3DS demo.

 

This game is sold on its accessibility to all. What am I missing?

[BigJKO]

Two of the face buttons are jump buttons, though. I've never actually used the up on the sticks to jump!

Hmm.. I don't know what would be stopping you from enjoying it otherwise. Every time I've played it with friends they got it pretty quickly..

[SecretAsianMan]

I like Smash in general.  I like the way it has such a simple control scheme (button + direction = attack) that hides a complex series of strategies if you want to get into it but you can totally ignore it without losing much.  Its fun chaos.  However that 3DS demo felt terrible to me.  The funnest part of Smash to me is the crazy battles but on the small 3DS screen its too hard to tell what's going on.  I'm usually pretty good at being aware of many things on screen and not losing myself when there's a lot happening but it felt really uncomfortable on the 3DS.  I also didn't care for the way it controlled.  It felt like Smash but not at the same time.  Its hard to describe.  The whole thing felt like a weird clone to me where you knew it was the same but everything was just a little bit off.

[Twig]

Controls on the 3DS are ass as they are right now. Customizable controls could fix that.

 

Also, yeah, you don't have to press Up to jump. I think you can even turn that off? Not sure, though. But either way, every Smash has had a button or two assigned for jumping. I've certainly never (intentionally) used Up for jump.

 

Other than that... I know other people who don't like Smash, so you're not the only crazy person in the world!

[BigJKO]

Yeah, it's okay. You're just one of a couple of crazy persons in the world!

[Twig]

I think there's at least three, right? That's more than a couple!

[RubixsQube]

  On 9/29/2014 at 9:33 AM, Stego said:

This has probably been discussed elswhere in the Forums, but I wasn't able to find it. Apologies if this is a re-posting.

 

My recent visit to the Louvre Museum in Paris revealed that one can rent specialized Nintendo 3DS XLs as the OFFICIAL Audio Guide for the museum. It was bizarre seeing people of all ages walk around art masterpieces whilst clutching and periodically glancing down at their rented 3DS.

 

I didn't get a chance to try one out myself, but here are some pulled quotes from the Louvre website:

*700 descriptions of the Louvre’s galleries and artworks

*3D photos of the galleries, high-definition images of the artworks, and 3D reconstructions

*new interactive map on the dual screen of the DS means you can’t get lost: the Louvre-Nintendo 3DS ™ XL Audio Guide tracks your position

*does not take game cartridges and cannot be used outside the museum

 

Way Cool Nintendo!

 

My friend took the Louvre tour while he was there, and he was pretty disappointed overall. Apparently it was a good idea but poorly executed, especially given the 3DS screen resolution. It's neat to get information really quickly, especially since his phone was not roaming, but the way it actually looked was a little rushed. 

[N1njaSquirrel]

So who's got Fantasy Life? Despite my original questioning, it's actually quite good! I chose a mercenary as my first life, got given a lovely little introduction in the world of mercenaries and then BAM I was on story fun times, which isn't all too lame either, although it can be a bit dry.

 

The weird thing for me is that 7 hours into the game, and doing a fair bit of the story, they never explicitly tell you to change your life (class). They just kinda expected you to do it, which is weird when so much stuff is tutorialised, even 7 hours in, but the actual interesting part of the game isn;t. Also you can't change your class during missions, so be weary you have chosen a fighting class when you do start the next story mission.

 

But changing classes is lovely and so much fun! Every class has their own master, and a master's apprentice, who are both funny and great characters. You can choose to skip introductory missions, which is cool, but why would you when it's so much fun?

 

Also smash bros is waiting for me when I get home. 

[Twig]

Ah shit I need to remember to bring my 3DS to work tomorrow to download Smash!

[tegan]

Themes, guys! THEEEEEMES!

 

 

[BusbyBerkeley]

Are the themes going to be a NEW 3DS thing only or will it work on my obsolete trash regular 3DS XL?

[tegan]

I got the woodgrain one because it was two dollars and I am weak. It doesn't look so great in person.
 
Also, the home menu now has twice as many spaces for stuff, so now I'm only at a quarter of the way to filling it instead of half.

 

  On 10/7/2014 at 3:06 AM, BusbyBerkeley said:

Are the themes going to be a NEW 3DS thing only or will it work on my obsolete trash regular 3DS XL?

 

They're part of a firmware update for all 3DS systems that just went live, though the themes are clearly meant to complement the new 3DS' faceplates, such as this woodgrain one (made from actual wood).