Counterpoint - What I look forward to from the 3DS

So, I don't really talk about Nintendo things that much, which is just because of that old adage, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all".  Which isn't to say I have anything negative to say about Nintendo stuff (Well, I do, but that's not the point) it's just that I barely play the Wii I have access to, I barely play my DS Lite, and I completely skipped over the GameCube after the disappointment of the Nintendo 64.  I moved on, and was happier for it.  (And I was always a Sega kid, anyways.)

But with the 3DS on the (distant) horizon, plenty of people are excited for it, and they are perfectly well within their rights to be.  Despite everything I can think of in regards to it, though, I just can't get myself worked up for it, but, again, that's more of my opinion than anything.  Maybe when we're closer and we get a better idea on it, I'll get more excited for it.  Or maybe when some new things start getting announced for it, my excitement will increase (in all honesty, the only thing that's got me warming up is the idea of playing this retake on MGS3 on the thing; if that actually happens).

I think my biggest problem with the 3DS is that it's more or less a foregone conclusion.  I'm going to get one eventually simply because I'm a slave to a few series that can only be found on Nintendo products.  (Pokémon and Animal Crossing to name a couple)  Sure, I'll end up waiting til the first revision like I did for the DS or at least wait for a price-drop, but at some point in the future, as with most people, I'll have one.  And it's weird that I just can't muster up the verve for that fact, if even just for the neat gadget factor and the fact that it'll actually have a Home menu, something that my DS Lite sorely lacks that I nearly yearn for.

I guess what I want is a surprise with the system; something that comes out of left field that I wouldn't expect on a Nintendo handheld to shake up my preconceived notion on it based solely on my DS experience.  The idea that the Nintendo games on it might actually be different (Pokémon, Animal Crossing, looking at you here) could also help, too.  Instead of being, y'know, same game, new area and the like.  I mean, Animal Crossing is great the first time you play it!  It's just that just about everybody's had their first time by now.  Anyways, enough rambling, this is about why I look forward to having the 3DS when eventuality becomes reality.

1.)  The Analog Pad.

Sure, it's just one, but one, as we all know, is more than none.  And none is what the DS had, leaving several developers to try and make their own control-style that involved using the stylus to move, when there was a perfectly good D-Pad right there.  This, as we all know, was stupid.  It didn't work.  Ever.  And while a single pad might leave developers in the same boat as the PSP in how to control the camera and the like, it will hopefully make them never ever ever put out a stylus controlled game again.  The stylus is nice and fine and all for poking this, drawing that, and all that jazz, but that's about it.  You hear that, developers?  5th Cell?  You heard that?

Yeah, you did.  That's why Super Scribblenauts didn't suck.  (Apparently.  Being the game that I thought I was buying the first time leaves me little reason to buy it for real this time.)

2.)  The Graphics.

Now, I'm not the biggest graphics whore out there, but I'll admit it:  They're nice.  And while the 3DS won't be a powerhouse in the graphics department, it's nice that they've stepped their game up this time.  Given that one of the biggest deals so far is a PS2 game playing on it, well, that's progress.  It's not even the 3D itself that has me intrigued as, in truth, it might just give me headaches (Never seen/played anything 3D yet, we'll see how it works out, but I am fairly headache-prone) but it will be neat to give the ol' try to at least.  No, I'm just genuinely glad to see that the days of PSOne-Level blocky characters in anything that dares be more than 2.5D (in perspective, not, y'know, 3D-3D) are over.  Or, at least, they'd better be.

3.)  A better interface.

Nintendo likes things to be simple.  That's fine.  In a way, everybody likes simple things.  In the right scenarios, I like simple things.  But the straight-forward "Play Game, Play GBA game, mess with settings, or Pictochat" menu of the DS Lite left a lot to be desired over time.  I mean, sure, if you have a gaming handheld, chances are, you're wanting to play games on it.  That's just a given.  But sometimes you want to do more!  And while the DS didn't do more until the DSi (when it gained the ability to do just about everything media-related that the PSP had done for years, but everyone criticized the PSP for 'trying to do too much') it still eventually progressed.  Now, I'm not about to drop the cash on a DSi or XL to experience it, but I imagine having an actual menu and things to do is pretty cool. 

The 3DS, from the looks of it, now has plenty to do when maybe you don't want to load up a game and, instead, just want to tinker with something for a few minutes.  Like make a Mii.  Or check something on the internet.  Take a picture and mess around with it.  And the like.  Every sign points to things going forward without taking a step back, which is certainly welcome.

Now, I'll acknowledge that I'm being fairly negative in the way I've said things about the 3DS, and I apologize.  I want to be excited for it, and I want to want it, since I know I'm going to be dropping the cash for it at some point, but I'm just not at that point yet.  Still, there's certainly things to like about it, and still plenty yet to be revealed about it.  And there's still plenty of time for me to warm up to it; we'll just have to see what makes that happen.