E3 2010: Reader Questions - Day One

Well Day 1 of E3 was a busy one, and Nintendo came out with guns blazing during its Press Conference. Its booth was easily the busiest and there were enormous lines of media members waiting to get their hands on the Nintendo first-party hardware and software.

While I don't tour Nintendo's booth until later this afternoon, I was fortunate enough to get some hand on time with the 3DS system, not to mention a nice assortment of third-party titles.

It seems everyone has quite a few questions about the day's activities so now might be a good time to try to answer a few while the material is still fresh in mind.

How thick is the 3DS? (turtlelink) - The 3DS is roughly the same size as the DSi. In fact, it probably would have been difficult to tell the difference had I not known it was a 3DS and saw the analog stick on it.

Did you clap at the trailers? (turtlelink) - I clapped at the ones I liked!

How was the Pokemon Black and White coverage, if any? (Chariblaze) - It was basically non-existent. I didn't see or hear a mention of Pokemon Black and White all day long, not even at the Developer's Roundtable.

Can you name all the demos you played? (soccer686) - Final Fantasy 4: Heroes of Light, Sonic Colors Wii, Sonic Colors DS, Sonic 4, Okamiden, Ghost Trick, Zelda: Skyward Sword, Pac-Man Party, Sengoku Basara, Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS and Rock Band 3.

What was your favorite surprise announcement? (cheetahman91) - That would probably be Kid Icarus. While I know each year there are always tons of people predicting a new game is on the way, it never seems to materialize. This year it did, in a big way. And once you see this gorgeous game in action, you'll see what the 3DS system is all about.

Did the 3D work as well as expected, and were you the sexiest booth babe there? (AlexSays) - The 3D on the Nintendo 3DS went far beyond anything I expected and was absolutely stunning. I honestly couldn't believe what I was seeing what I first laid eyes on the screen. Not only is it extremely clear, but the 3D features a shocking amount of depth to it. When people see this thing in person, jaws are going to drop, trust me.

As for the second part of the question, did you not see the do rag?

How well does the slider that varies the 3D effect work. Also, what exactly did you play when you tried out the 3DS? (hylianhalcyon) - The slider works perfectly. You can literally slide it all the way down to the OFF position and the screen looks just like a regular 2D screen or slide it upward to create varying levels of 3D depth. I slid it all the way up and down a few times and it worked like a charm, although the games did seems a bit more pixelated without any 3D effect in place.

As far as what I tried out, they had these small demo screens featuring Mario and other famous Nintendo characters that could be manipulated and moved around in 3D. And of course Kid Icarus looked absolutely incredible as well.

Does the 3DS support any type of downloadable games such as 3DSWare or perhaps a handheld Vitual Console? (WolfRamHeart) - There were no announcements or talk regarding a 3DSWare service or handheld Virtual Console service. Perhaps we'll hear more as we get closer to the system's release.

Have you seen the game cards for the 3DS and if so how big are they? (WolfRamHeart) - The didn't show any 3DS carts at all and the demo units didn't seem to have actual cartridges in them.

Are the buttons on the 3DS clicky like the DSi or soft like the DS lite? (WolfRamHeart) - The buttons and D-Pad felt more like the DSi than anything else. Maybe not quite as clicky, but definitely in the same neighborhood.

Was there any sign of Dragon Quest X for the Wii or the DS remake of Dragon Quest VI at E3? (WolfRamHeart) - I went all through the Square-Enix booth and saw no Dragon Quest VI or Dragon Quest X, nor was there any mention of them to my knowledge.

On the 3DS, is the 3D slider the same thing as the analog looking thing or are they separate? (Quikman) - The 3D slider is on the side of the unit and resembles a volume slider more than any type of analog stick.

What was your favorite thing being showcased at E3? (Quikman) - I think my favorite thing so far has been the Kirby Epic Yarn game. Not only does it look extremely good, but it features one of the coolest graphical styles I think I've ever seen. It's definitely the game I'm most looking forward to playing later today and I'll report in once I've had a chance to play it.

I'm not sure how extensive your time with the 3DS was, but did you find the effect was in any way irritating? Not parents-stealing-your-cell-phone irritating; I'm talking mild headaches, eye-aches, nausea, loss of muscle control or violent seizures (those last two were jokes, but I genuinely want to know if it caused headaches). (Kid_A) - The screen was very clear and there were no feelings of being disoriented or any type of motion sickness. It's much clearer and in-depth than that of the current crop of 3D movies. The fact that it's a smaller screen also helps make it easy to look at without getting too caught up in the visual depth.

Also, has Nintendo said anything about transferring already-downloaded DSiWare games to the 3DS? This is a serious problems when transferring VC/WiiWare purchases to a new console, so I'm wondering if they've conjured up some sort of solution. (Kid_A) - I agree this could be a serious problem, but Nintendo said nothing about the prospect of transferring already-purchased DSiWare/WiiWare/VC titles to newer consoles.

Also, do you think this 3D is really the stuff of the future? Is this really a game-changing addition or is it merely a visual novelty? (Kid_A) - While there's no denying that the 3D effect does have a "novelty" feel to it at times, once you get a look at just how amazing the 3D effect looks, not to mention to see the potential for what could be done using the effect, you begin to fully comprehend just what might be possible with this incredible technology, especially considering how well it's been executed on the 3DS system.

As far as you can tell, will the 3DS be backwards compatible? (Objection_Blaster)The 3DS is fully backward compatible with DS games. That was really one of the main reasons given for the similar hardware design of the 3DS system.

How come the roundtable sucked so much? "I noticed Link was drinking a potion while running." Wtf is that? (SonicMaster) The Roundtable just didn't reveal a lot of new info like it has in past years. It felt more like a continuation of the Nintendo Press Conference from earlier in the day, not to mention a chance for the media to get a few questions answered. And Link was drinking the potion while running and it was explained that they wanted to do that without any type of pause in the action of the game in order to avoid messing up the flow of the game.

If you have any other questions, don't forget to post them and I'll answer another round of them tomorrow night after Day 2 of E3.