The first time I played 3DS, my eyes felt tired’But since I played for three straight hours, I wasn’t surprised. The next day, the 3D felt much more natural. It reminds me of getting used to trifocal glasses; my first day with the lenses was like looking through a funhouse mirror, and the next day everything looked perfectly normal. Eyes learn quickly!
Now I’m using 3D mode (set anywhere from 50% to 100%) most of the time and feeling no strain or tiredness at all. I really only turn off the 3D when I need to conserve the battery.
Though the “wow” factor has dimmed, the 3D has definitely become a part of the 3DS “look” for me. I’m getting used to visual depth in these games’taking the 3D for granted, but missing it when it’s not there.
So, how are your eyes handling the 3D three weeks in? Do you turn it off often? Do you enjoy it as part of the experience, or would you not care if it weren’t there at all?
Don't hold my word for this since I don't have a 3DS, but of what I've read, the best way to conserve battery is to lower the brightness of the screen since that is the most battery consuming aspect of the system. Turning off 3D helps, but it's minimal compared to what you save from less brightness.
Fine, but then again I have only one game (SSF IV 3D), and I rarely use 3D in that game as I like having 60FPS. But I do use 3D in other stuff like Mii Plaza, etc. and my eyes are just fine.
Eyes are doing fine, they got used to it (pilot wings). However, the framerate is annoying to me. The 3D halves it…. I still play with 3D on 90% of the time though.
absolutely perfect. no side effects at all. 3D 100% of the time, full setting all the time.
i think when gameplay starts to come into play with future games, you will miss 3D even more when its not there.
I only have one game (Samurai Warriors Chronicles), but I have had no real problem with the 3D, even from the first time. I really like the 3D effects in the game (and also kind of miss them when they're gone) but don't need them to play. Often times I find myself turning the 3D effect off when on the menu or in the Mii Plaza, as I feel no real benefit from using it with that stuff.
All that having been said, back to the original topic, my eyes are fine, and I see many, many more happy days ahead with it!
I'm also doing fine. At first, the 3D of Pilotwings seemed too powerful, so I kept it at about half-way: now I can play at full 3D. However, I played 15 minutes or so in the dark last night, and it gave me a bit of a headache. Didn't last long, though.
Well, I find that it depends from game-to-game.
Overall, I'm really happy with the 3D effect. It's nice, and I could see it coming in handy with certain games.
…But…then comes in Rayman 3D, taking a huge dump all over my eyes. It's just painful to look at, even with the 3D at 50% or lower. It's just too much.
My eyes are doing fine. I'll admit I do not play as much as the majority of inhabitants here. I'm 32 and my old eyes are doing fine.
between my seven year old and I, we log quite a bit of time on the 3DS. He doesn't use 3d as much as i do, but i keep it around 20-25% for most games or applications. I love it, and like I have said before, I have not had any issues with battery life. Period!
I've got a question, because I'm not sure if I am one of those people who just can't see 3D. Does the image actually appear to pop out of the DS? Or is it like looking into a box? Because I've had mine about a week, and I don't really see a popping effect, but it does appear like 3D within the screen. Make sense? Am I broken?
@Fuzz
You're seeing the 3D just fine; it's like looking into a box. Popping-off the screen 3D is very hard to pull off unless the screen is big enough to nearly fill your whole field of vision–and even then you have to have a central image that's steadily moving toward you at the right speed to fool your brain.
The only game I've played so far that has any degree of popping-off-the-screen is Nintendogs plus cats with its fireflies and birds and dog spit and noses poking toward the viewer…and even then it's pretty mild and only has that effect when you're not expecting it.
No eye problems whatsoever with 3 games so far. I'm about to dive into Steel Diver later today for game number 4.
I leave my settings at 100% 3D too… I'm not concerned with battery life as I charge it as it needs it. There is one time where I turned off the 3D. Playing Rayman on the bus… there was some glare from the sun so I was tilting the 3DS to get a spot without the glare and when I did, the viewing angle was off so the 3D effect was blurred.
The best part of that experience was that when I got home and turned up the 3D… it really popped again! I guess every once in a while it pays to turn off the 3D and then turn it back on to be reminded of the awesome effect! lol
I've only experienced eye fatigue once and that was the day I recieved my 3DS in the mail. It's just a workout for your eyes at first so I would expect there to be an adjustment period- like there is with any activity that uses your body's muscles in ways they are not normally used- with 3d viewing, your eyes are focused on the same point- the distance of your screen from your face- but your eyes converge at different points to create the illusion of seperate planes of focus in a depth of field (an effect which is probably most notable if you play pilotwings with the slider at full depth and with the view set to behind the airplane- notice how you can either view the plane itself or the background as in focus, and not both. Basically its creating the illusion that you are switching focus from the foreground to the background, but instead of focus changing (accomodation) its actually the convergence point of your eyes changing to line up the images (vergence)). After that initial period i've had no problems whatsoever. For a period of about two weeks other screens (like my iPhone's screen, my laptop's screen, my tv's screen) appeared to possess 3D qualities like popping text, hovering windows, and depth to the images- but all of that has since gone away. In fact, it feels as if my eyes are a little stronger now- I'm a video editor and a filmmaker- so I stare at screens all day long, pretty much. I used to get eye fatigue from that. Now I don't. I attribute that to the fact that the 3DS has strengthened the muscles in my eyes responsible for focus and convergence. If my job was to lift boxes all day, and it made me sore- it would be as if I went weight training at the gym after work until I could increase my ability to lift stuff. So here's looking forward to 3 hour sessions of Ocarina with zero fatigue…:)
I've had my 3ds since launch day, and played Pilot Wings Resort over 21 hours. No problems with eyestrain, or anything of the headache sort! It's a great system that is lacking in games so far. The only real complaint so far is playing outside. The sun reflects differently than the back lighting, and totally screws the 3d up. Not like I play outside that much anyway, but it's a small annoyance. All I can say now is.. gimme Zelda, Mario, and other good games! 3ds is teh future. It really is… the 3d is something I definitely miss if I have it turned off.
Eyes do get strained when playing Ridge Racer on maximum 3D….
other than that, fine.
No eye strain here! I had some on day 2, after that no trouble. ^_^
I bought my 3DS on launch day and apart from minor eye fatigue after my first play session, I've had no issues at all.
I play for maybe an hour a day and to be perfectly honest, I only use the 3D about 50% of the time, an when i do it's maybe at 50%. I think it's great but it's not something that i need on all the time, plus my 4yo likes to watch me play over my shoulder so the 3D gets turned off so he can watch.
when the 3d is on though, absolutely no eyestrain or headaches or anything.
My eyes are doing fine with the 3D. Its only pilotwings that bothers me with the 3D at max. I usually have it at 1/2 to 2/3 on that game. otherwise, its full blast
Thanks Richard. Good to know I'm not broken!
So far so good for me. my only issue was when I was playing at 4am and thought my eyes had just stopped seeing the 3d. 5 min later I realized the 3d switch was all the way down …I decided it was time for bed.
I used to get heavy headaches at first… (for three days)
But now they've adjusted perfectly.
Here's a trick for those who don't have 20-20 vision:
(first off, those with far-sighted eyes, wear glasses/contacts with a 3DS… it's close to you… 3D won't really work if your eyes have problem with close objects)
Lightly close your stronger-visioned eye (don't strain it closed). Now use your weaker-visioned eye to focus on an object. After it adjusts comfortably and it's no longer as blurry – focus on another object. Continue this until you're sure the eye's finely adjusted. Slowly open your stronger eye. Your eyesight should be adjusted enough to be able to increase the 3D-slider… be warned that your eyesight will return to its normal bad eyesight if either of them are strained heavily.