Nintendo news round-up: 3DS app details, Metroid cameos and more

– The upcoming game Dead or Alive Dimensions pays homage to Metroid: Other M with a Ridley boss fight stage and a cameo by everyone’s favorite bounty hunter (video in link). I wonder if Samus will be authorized to enter the fray herself. Or keep her clothes on. It’s a DoA game, after all. ( Joystiq )

– New details emerge regarding the 3DS’s built-in utility apps, such as Game Memo, Friend List, and Notification Applet. The in-game notepad features of Game Memo will definitely come in handy for those times you want to take notes and can’t be arsed to kill a few trees, which were probably asking for it anyway. I’m kidding. Probably. ( MTV Multiplayer )

– Not sure whether to pick up a 3DS at launch? If you’re holding out for some sort of delectable price drop/3DS redesign combo before taking the plunge, Nintendo says don’t hold your breath.

Iwata: The first thing (Nobuo) Nagai-san, who’s in charge at the Uji plant, said to me when he looked over the designs for Nintendo 3DS before mass production began was “This time it’s fully packed right from the start.”
Sugino: Oh, really? (laughs) But he was right. That’s why we don’t have any short-term plans for creating a more compact version of Nintendo 3DS like we did with Nintendo DS Lite. (laughs)
Iwata: Yeah. (laughs) When making Nintendo 3DS, we used all our tricks for Nintendo DS Lite’and more’for cutting down on size right from the start.

Not that there’s much wrong with the 3DS’s form factor – in fact, shrinking it further would probably just decrease the already diminutive battery life even more. And this could just be an attempt to quell the discontent of gamers who balked at the price tag and figure a 3DS lite would be an inevitability anyway. What do you think? ( Iwata Asks )

– Following the fanfare surrounding Sony’s upcoming successor to the PSP, codenamed NGP, Iwata has remained tight-lipped but did share this fist-pump inducing comment: “What we do won’t change because of what another company is doing.” Dang, son. I couldn’t think of a better way to sum up the stark contrast between Nintendo and Sony’s design philosophy in one snappy sentence. Especially in light of Sony’s (and Microsoft’s) frequent insistence upon imitation over innovation. Perhaps now would be a fun time to bring up the Wired article which said that if Sony were ever to copy the Wii and come out with their own motion controller, “it would be strong evidence that Sony is a company without a rudder. Without a clear vision of the future. With no idea which way the wind is blowing. A follower, not a leader.” A rumor which Sony roundly denied at the time, yet turned out to be 100% correct. Whee, history! ( USA Today )

– The second winner of our t-shirt giveaway, Paul of Rocklin, still has not stepped forward to claim his prize! Come on, buddy – that free t-shirt’s not gonna wear itself. Paul, please email us within a week or a new winner of the second free t-shirt will be selected. I swear I’m crazy enough to do it! ( Infendo )

Web developer living in Olympia, WA.

11 Comments

  1. I still think there will be a revision within 2 years. I’ll be waiting for a different color and perhaps a price drop.

  2. Samus isn’t playable. She just appears on the Ridley stage.

    Damn Infendo, catch up.

  3. if i were ever to get a 3ds, it would have to be the 2nd revision, at a lower price. it’s clear that the only reason they said they’re not revising the hardware is to get everyone to buy it right away so they can recoup more of their R&D expenses. there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell they’re not working on a redesign, if only to drop their own production costs — it’s in their DNA; they can’t NOT be doing it.

    and i’ll be waiting for the price drop as well. truth be told, all i really/actually want is a dsi-xl price drop / resolution bump … i’ve got little to no desire to go 3d… don’t want to do that to my eyes, thanks — i’ll wait for holographic displays.

    a 5- to 7-inch tablet-esque DS device, though, with much higher resolution… that would be a blast. i play so much chess on my DS lite it’s sure to give out some day.

    so long and thanks for all the rehashes, nintendo.

  4. I already pre-ordered mine. Nintendo has the right formula for hand held gaming. Has been #1 since the original gameboy. The NGP seems like an impressive piece of hardware but it all comes down to the games and Nintendo has the best.

  5. I wonder if developers will have the option to have the Game Memo temporarily disabled during certain puzzles. For example, in Ocarina of Time when you’re in the lost woods, and the weird kid(s) (I cant remember) are playing the song and you have to remember as a note gets added each time, it would take the fun out of it if you could just pause it and write it as it happens.

  6. Game Memo sounds great. I remember I used the annotation thing in Phanthom Hourglass all the time. It’s very useful.

  7. its obvious sony doesn’t have a rudder. they have a psphone and ngp. they’re not sure which is the correct path, so they’re going both ways. that pretty much confirms again what we knew for a very long time.

  8. I got my t-shirt in the mall the other day. Thank you Infendo!

    Paul from Rocklin, you’re missing out!

  9. I wonder if Chelsea will be authorized to do some news research before posting.

  10. Good grief. I mostly even made that comment as an excuse to make a joke. I authorize you to lighten up. I did not post any untrue statements.

  11. Samus should really be in that game. Now I’m probably not going to get it.

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