Official 3DS Specs, Hardware Pics, Screens

what the hell is an AR card (i realize it probably means augmented reality) and why do you need 6 of them? does every game/sub game require a different AR card? that's an awful lot of stuff to be carrying around for a mobile gaming platform.....

"When shipped, the Nintendo 3DS will come packed with a charging stand (seen left)"

left is a blank gray space.

you must use your inner eye to see the charging stand through the fog

"the device will automatically seek out Nintendo Zone and wireless LAN access points to grab data from the Internet such as free games"

And presumably to invalidate mods, delete non-copyrighted data, update firmware in order to protect Nintendo's revenues.

You what would be nice, being able to use it for more than just games but also support homebrew apps such as using it as a PDA.

Some questions.

What is the maximum size SD card that it can support?
Can it run ported N64 games such as Zelda or Conker's Bad Fur Day?
Can it do more than just games like watch Low Res video that can be encoded and played on the console? It would be nice to be able to enjoy more than just a few casual games.

Two outer cameras? Are they for 3D picture taking?

yes, there was a bti on it before where ninendo anounced it would be a 3d camera as well .. albeit not a very high res one its still pretty cool

Yep, this is exactly what it will do. But Nintendo sure isn't going to say anything until after they sell millions of these. I wonder if it has an option to turn this "feature" off?

Thank God. No one affected but filthy pirates and a miniscule, vocal minority of hobbyists, about whom no one cares. No loss.

Ridiculously small screen resoulution...

Mariokart and Ocarina 3D?! I'm SOLD!

snicker

"The telescoping stylus is approximately 4 inches when fully extended."

Must... resist... making crude phallic joke... at the expense... of the author.

So the camera can take a 640 x 480 picture, but can only be viewed at 400 x 240?

What about the screen resolution? Will it be the same crappy quality like the old DS?

To those hating on the resolution: Take the res and double it, because it has to produce two images at all times. It turns out to actually have a higher res than the psp.

Cool, but I was kinda hoping to see RAM/CPU info here.

fuck TOM's thumbnail preview!! You're so strict at reviewing hardware and sites yet your own site is fucked up on the simple displaying of images!?!?

is it THAT practical for you that at the current state of TomsGuide to click then BACK just to swap in-between images? is it THAT difficult to put navigation buttons on image previews?

Hey joe! We're not living in the year 90's where HTML display is that limited! So work on this major flaw!

Sorry but the specs were rather useless.

Am I surprised that the "specs" included no mention on the stuff that matters to programmers? (or fanboy wankers, apparently?) No, not at all. Still, I stand by my earlier estimates of the machine's specs; the clock speeds are based on the assumption that Nintendo wants a similar power draw to the original DS:
[*]400-800 MHz ARM-11 CPU (single CPU, 3.2-6.4 GFLOPS)
[*]200-400 MHz PICA200 GPU (1.6-3.2G pixels/s, 15-30M polys/sec, unlimited/free shaders)
[*]64-128MB mDDR2 main memory, 400-533 MHz, 64-bit interface (3.2-4.3 GB/sec)
At the minimum end of the range, this represents approximately 2.4 times the pixel/memory bandwidth of the PSP, which could handle 0.66G pixels/s, and 1.33 GB/sec, respectively. The CPU would "only" have an on-paper maximum of 1.2 times the FLOPS of the PSP, however that doesn't take into account the fact that the PSP lacks hardware T&L, meaning that the GPU has to constantly hog the CPU for making those triangles. Additionally, the r4000 is an ancient CPU core, nearly 20 years old, while the ARM11 is far more modern, sporting far more instructions and optimizations that give it probably a 2:1 improvement in clock-cycle efficiency for modern gaming applications.

The only real weakness we might see is the RAM supply, which has been a constant Achilles' Heel in every single console and handheld design Nintendo has ever made from the NES onward, though given that the 3DS doesn't have a bloated iOS or Android operating system to feed, the problem will probably be the least severe it's ever been.

To try to add some thought to your questions, especially since you ask "CAN" rather than "WILL":
[*]I'd ASSUME that the 3DS would support SDHC, ("Secure Digital High Capacity") in which case it'd accept to at least 64GB. However, it's true that they don't specify SDHC vs. SD; the latter tops out at 2GB.
[*]Playing N64 games would depend on what you mean by them. Certainly, as we've seen, the 3DS has the capability to run ports of N64 games... Or even ports of PS2 games with visual enhancements. (namely Metal Gear Solid 3D) outright emulation would obviously be not what Nintendo would do, though however "homebrew" could add it. CPU-wise, we're looking at something at least similar to what we see in Nvidia Tegra-based phones.
[*]Obviously the CPU(s) on hand are capable of handling video decoding. So the question is whether we would see this; if Ninteno felt that the PSP was too successful for comfort, they may include this as an official feature. If not, it's for homebrew.



Let's not forget the perhaps 10% or so "honest," "sheeple" users who will see their perfectly legit, unaltered 3DS bricked through a firmware update. Nintendo will claim that they must've been pirates, and got their just deserts. Then, once enough word gets out that this wasn't the case, then they'll say it's a "very small" number of machines were affected. Eventually, they'll promise to repair things "free of charge." Except that this won't be for days (or even weeks) after the update, and will take another few weeks for shipping and repairs, leaving a these "normal" (as you imply) users without the very machines they bought and own for several weeks total, through no fault of their own. CLEARLY no loss.

Don't think this would happen? Well, it happened with the Wii. Several times. Overzealous anti-piracy/anti-homebrew scripts often return false positives and act upon them, or simply screw up from some unforseen contingency, such as assuming that every byte of the Wii's/3DS' internal flash is okay, when it's very liable for a tiny sector or two to be corrupt.

What also burns me is that this basically amounts to theft on Nintendo's part. At least in the USA, (though it may not be the case in other, less-free countries) for >100 years it's been recognized that if you purchase a patented device, you OWN it, and are free to modify/dispose/destroy of it as you wish.

I was one of those unfortunate people who updated their wii asap... I had nothing to fear because I didn't homebrew. However my wii died that day. It was devastating for me because Nintendo 'fixed' the problem, however all the progress I had on my online games was lost (nintendo doesn't let you backup copies of games playable online, NOR does it allow you to play games purchased on one console, transferred to another console). I have a working wii now, but I never went back to it.

it seems like it's a ds with psp graphics

Ocarina has me sold! now if they'd port FF VII ......

My reaction exactly. My last portable/console gaming system was a Gameboy Color and an N64. From there I went to PC.

But omg... OoT on the DS... I muther-effing WANT IT...

what does pda mean im not dumb okay

the 3ds cameras will be able to upload the videos taken on to the web????????
oh and do you need wifi connection to contact other 3ds users if not at what range will it be able to

ngp will KILL 3ds...with ease. and 3 cams? the extra is useless if it is for 3d photos what is the sense? it's a photo not really necessary