3DS: First Hands-on Impression

Okay, this is the first of my posts about the Nintendo 3DS! I went to Best Buy this afternoon and they had a 3DS demo unit set up, replacing the DSi demo units.

So, here's my first impression...

Machine Demo'd: the Nintendo 3DS
Features tried out: 3D slider, touchscreen, stylus, the 3D itself, and analog slide pad
Game Played: Pilotwings(no choice there, since that's the game Nintendo's sending with the demo units to Best Buys)
Time played: Just a few minutes, since a couple of the guys who work at Best Buy had wanted to play with it, as well. XD;

My impression: It's completely awesome, and it's really in 3D! It's more of a depth 3D than the "pop out at you" 3D that you get in 3D movies. I wasn't able to test the angle to see exactly how far off center you can move it and still see the 3D, since it was fixed in one spot. When I get mine, I'll test it out. The 3D slider works really well in that, when you push it down for less 3D, all the way to 2D, you can see the background seem to move toward you until everything flattened out, and, when you move it upward to full 3D, the background seems to move away from you until everything has depth. Also, the graphics are really crisp, even in 2D mode; one definitely shouldn't use screenshots to judge the machine's graphical capabilities. In full 3D mode, I felt like I could reach into the game and grab the plane's tail.

The touchscreen...well, that's pretty much unchanged from the regular DS, so there's really nothing to say about it. The new stylus, on the other hand is pretty neat. It's telescoping, so, if you need a longer stylus to fit your hand better, you can extend it for better comfort. The analog slide pad moves pretty smoothly and isn't at all awkward.

I didn't get a chance to test the speakers, so I'll test that and everything else I didn't get a chance to this time and post about it.

So, all in all, I'm glad I pre-ordered this machine, since it's pretty cool.