I've got the Pokémon Championship skin atm, but if I can get the Porygon-Z skin I'll probably never change it again. Too bad these will no doubt be the other evolved starters.

I'm sure a few devs might get creative with PS3 and Vita connectivity, but it'll never catch on big for the same reason it didn't with GBA->GCN. No developer in their right mind is going to want to release a game that requires two game systems to play. What the Wii U really brings to the table in this case is connectivity between a handheld and console out of the box with no extra hardware purchase required. Every Wii U owner will have the tablet controller, so devs have no reason to not use it.

Well there's one more 3DS game people won't be playing in public.

I find it a little disheartening to be honest. Nintendo themselves were backing Cave Story pretty strongly, and it was developed by a "garage developer" before Nicalis was formed. "Garage developers" also bring us brilliant games like Minecraft, would Nintendo say no to that if Notch hadn't put together a company to support it?

@mariofanatic128

If it's a regular DS game with no DSi features, it should play fine. If it has DSi features or requires a DSi, it will likely require a system from the same region as the game.

@ tristen
I agree, I've always been a big fan of pixel art, and frankly I think it looks terrible with blur, but I have seen people who think it looks better that way. I just wish we had the option to choose.

It might be worth mentioning in the backward-compatibility paragraph that DS games will suffer from a slight blur due to upscaling, which can be good or bad depending on the player's opinion.

What happened to the eShop accepting direct payment by credit/debit card? I was under the impression that we didn't need points at all, and the new prepaid cards were just for people without access to credit or debit.

EDIT - Straight from the 3DS press release: "The Nintendo eShop will use a cash-based system. Users can either input credit card information in the shop or purchase a Nintendo 3DS Prepaid Card at retail locations."

This doesn't mean new points, it just means Wii/DS points aren't compatible.

I wonder if this will affect settings migration at all. Ideally I'd want to migrate my settings from my DSi to my 3DS ASAP so that my DS games will retain their friend codes, but I'm not sure if that'll be an option, or if it'll have any effect on the ability to later transfer DSiWare.

Achievements can be a welcome addition to many games (Brawl Challenges, anyone?) but as a system-wide e-peen meter they just end up seeming like an excuse for developers to put less "real" gameplay in, and they can promote hostility among players (a serious issue in WoW and I'm sure other games.) I won't really miss it.

I loved my Virtual Boy, and though it was a flop, I think most people can agree the problems were with the hardware more than the software. I for one would LOVE to be able to play Wario Land VB, Mario Clash, Red Alarm, Galactic Pinball, and Teleroboxer (among other titles) again without having to dig out my VB and deal with the hardware issues.

Without a lot of games I don't see the need for a special shop section, but maybe themed releases like the Game & Watch games on DSiWare.

I think it would be a fitting tribute to Gunpei Yokoi for part of his vision for 3d gaming to be brought new life now that the technology can better support it.

As someone who will likely only ever get SpotPass connections at home, I would've liked to see it as an option, but not mandatory. Unfortunately that would've driven up the hardware costs even for people who stuck with SpotPass. Maybe next gen.

It's worth noting that DSi was 18,900 yen at launch, which equates to $225 US, but the actual US launch price was $170.

I honestly don't expect 3DS to be over $249.99.

I'm assuming the old versions won't be updated with the new features? That could cause some confusion for first-time buyers who read up on the new version and then choose one of the old colors, only to find out it's not as feature-rich. Heck, I'd be willing to pay the extra 300 points to upgrade, but I doubt Nintendo would support such a feature on DSiWare.

This has been one of my NES favorites for ages. If you like games like Shadowgate and Deja Vu, and think you can handle playing a cutesy game without all the deaths (I'm struggling to remember if you can even get a game over,) then it's really a great game.

As a longtime fan of Space Invaders, I'd love to have a version on my DSi. But since I just bought Extreme 2 I think I'll pass if they bring this to the US, at least for now.