Isaiah's Tech

If you're willing to give up $249.99 right now then you might want to head over to Amazon. They're now taking pre-orders for the Nintendo 3DS which will be available on March 27th in the US - March 25th in Europe. This gaming handheld is able to let you play games in 3D without the need for glasses thanks to Sharp's Parallax display that they're using on it. Check it out on Amazon whenever you're ready.

[Slash Gear]

Nintendo held their conference this morning and they've unveiled a few good details regarding their 3DS launch. The Nintendo 3DS will be available in the US on March 27th for $249.99 - I don't know if this includes Canada as well. Also, the European release wasn't announced so that's really the only new date and price that the company mentioned. At launch, Nintendo says that 30+ games will be available including: Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, Dead or Alive Dimensions, Madden, and Kid Icarus. Of course, the 3DS will also have a Virtual Console so they're working on remaking classic GameBoy and GameBoy Color titles as well so Nintendo's working pretty hard. Will you picking one up on launch day?

Update: According to Kotaku, the 3DS will be available in Europe starting on March 25th. The price is unknown for them right now but it could be £249.99 (almost $400 USD) which is way more expensive than the US model. Remember that this gaming handheld will be region-locked.

[Engadget]

Apparently, if you go around to some Gamestop stores across the US then some of them are actually taking pre-orders for the Nintendo 3DS. Some stores are taking a $25 / $50 deposit and it should be shipping sometime in March so you'd have to know in advance if you actually want to get one. Sadly, you will have to get out of your house and head over to the store because you can only register for updates regarding the 3DS. Check it out on Gamestop.

[Joystiq]

We've already seen the Nintendo 3DS get shown off before but another preview of it will be coming within the next month. Pocket-Lint has been invited to an event on January 19th which Nintendo will be hosting and the 3DS will be the main event for the night. There's really not much left to tell you but the whole world will have their chance to get this evolutionary gaming handheld in Q1 2011.

[Pocket-Lint]

All the rumours can stop right now. Nintendo has just announced that their upcoming gaming handheld, the 3DS, will be available in Japan on February 26th, 2011 for ¥25,000 (around $300). In the next month, March 2011, the 3DS will also be available in Europe and the US (maybe Canada as well, I guess). At launch, the Nintendo 3DS will be available in two colours and that's cosmo black and aqua blue which is pictured. The company has announced that your Mii will be created using the 3DS' front-facing camera which is pretty neat. In the box, you'll be getting a 2GB SD card which isn't too bad.

There's another piece of great news. On the 3DS there'll be a virtual console store where you'll be able to download classic Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games and play them straight from your 3DS, which is pretty awesome!

Mark that date on your calendars folks!

[Engadget]

Some rumoured specs for the Nintendo 3DS have just been published by IGN. Apparently, Nintendo's next gaming console will sport two 266MHz ARM11 CPUs, a 133MHz CPU, 4MB of dedicated VRAM, 64MB of RAM, 1.5GB of internal flash storage, and the SD card slot for additional storage. These will be a decently powerful handheld coming from Nintendo. These are just rumoured specs right now so don't be too let down if the 3DS doesn't exactly pack all these goodies.

Now, where are those rumoured PSP2 specs?

[Engadget]

The latest rumour going around is that the Nintendo 3DS will be hitting the Japan just in time for the holiday season -- oh wait, we already knew that. This time the rumour comes with a date: November 11th. This date could possibly be when the Nintendo 3DS hits Japan and will reportedly be the date where accessories for the handheld will be available. This isn't confirmed, of course, so we'll have to wait for Nintendo to clear the air later this month - if they want to do so. Check out the Twitter account here.

Update: Nintendo 3DS Blog is now saying that the date could actually be November 20th.

[Engadget]

Yes, I hope that title didn't confuse you. A Nintendo spokesman told Bloomberg Japan that they'll be announcing the 3DS pricing and release date on September 29th. Engadget has mentioned that rumoured pricing right now pegs the 3DS to be around $300 and the release date could be anywhere from October 2010 to March 2011. Well, Nintendo will make it official in exactly two months.

[Engadget]

Okay, so Nintendo officially unveiled the 3DS at E3 last week but they didn't announce a price or a release date. Well, they've announced about half of the much-needed information. Nintendo has mentioned that the 3DS will be hitting "all of our major markets by March 31, 2011." This is pretty far away, but it was definitely expected. Furthermore, Nintendo is quick to mention that the design of the 3DS handheld isn't final right now so it could change.

[Engadget]

At E3's press conference, they unveiled the Nintendo 3DS. The top display is the Parallax display so that'll give you 3D without the need of glasses. The displays aren't the same size, but that's not a big deal; the display on the top spans 3.5-inches. You can switch between 2D and 3D by "simply moving the slider." The 3DS features an accelerometer and a gyrosensor (found in the iPhone 4 as well). The top display doesn't have a touchscreen layer because 3D and touchscreens don't go together well - the bottom one is touch-capable though. There's a front-facing webcam which isn't surprising but on the back there are two cameras so you can take video and pictures in 3D as well! As you can see in the image above there's an analog stick, which Nintendo is actually calling a "Slide Pad." If you're at E3, you might want to head over to Nintendo's booth to test it out right now - you have until Sony's conference later.

[vg247, Engadget]

At the FCC (filing here) this morning something very interesting was spotted. The filing is actually dated April 30th so this has actually been around for a while. This ATX motherboard could actually be a prototype for a Nintendo 3DS! Apparently, the 16:9 aspect ratio matches the 3.4-inch Parallax 3D displays from Sharp so Nintendo could be testing out the gaming handheld as we speak where ever they are. The prototype is being dubbed the "CTR" so keep an eye out for that naming. Sadly, the FCC images have been pulled so they were definitely hoping someone would find these.

[Engadget, Slash Gear]

Sharp seems to have cooked something up in a magical lab of theirs. They have just announced that they are working on the world's first 3D camera for phones and this camera module will actually start going into mass-production sometime later this year. No solid details are known about this small module of theirs but all you need to know for now is that it'll have 3D and 720p capabilities but who knows how well this works right now. The rumour going around is that this will be hitting the Nintendo 3DS. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

[Gizmodo]

We already know that Nintendo is working on their 3DS gaming handheld which will have 3D functionalities without the need of glasses. Iwata has just mentioned that you'll be able to turn the 3D functionality off, which is great news. We already know that the 3DS will be backwards-compatible, so this is good news that every single game will be 2D-capable. Mehh, let's just find out at E3 this June.

[Crunch Gear]

When Nintendo announced their 3DS they mentioned that it could be out in March 2011. Now the latest rumour states that this handheld will get announced at E3 and could actually be set to be released in October. I'm thinking that this is just a rumour right now because I don't really think that Nintendo will release this handheld in October, but you never know with these sort of things. This would make it perfect for a Christmas gift if you want, but let's see if it actually happens...

[vg247]

Well, well, well, Sharp has just unveiled the world's first 2D / 3D touchscreen display and you won't need 3D glasses to see the 3D effect. "The newly developed 3D LCD uses a parallax barrier system to display 3D image and taking full advantage to advances made in CG-silicon technology, our LCD can achieve both greater image quality and high brightness." The display is 3.4-inches and sports a FWVGA (480 x 854) resolution, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, and 500 nits of brightness. This display will begin mass-production in June of this year so we could see them in phones - as well as the Nintendo 3DS that's on the way.

Update: According to Akihabara News, this display is "mind-blowing" and "REALLY impressive." That's what they had to say when they got their eyes on this display.

[Akihabara News, Engadget, Crunch Gear]

Nintendo has just announced their successor to the current DS line-up, the Nintendo 3DS. Apparently, Nintendo is planning to have a 3D display (2, I assume) that will not require dorky 3D glasses since that technology is the future. Thankfully, the 3DS will be backwards-compatible so you'll be able to play the games that are currently available for the DS - and the DSi. We'll hear more about this at E3 2010 in June this year and hopefully we'll even see a prototype of this thing. This 3DS is looking to hit shelves a year from now, so you won't get your hands on this device until at least March of 2011. I put enough links below so you can choose your destiny.

Update: According to Joystiq, the 3DS will feature a "3D control stick" along with Sharp LCD screen for the 3D effect. The display will be around 4-inches diagonally (each) and there'll be rumble technology as well as better battery life and faster WiFi.

Update: According to Kotaku, the 3DS will actually be playable in June, but let's see how that goes. June 15-17 is when E3 will take place this year.

[Slash Gear, Crunch Gear, Tech Digest, Pocket-Lint, GSM Arena]