The paper actually mentions them, compares how they work and describes what was improved.

Movie DVD encryption was broken twelve years ago but that doesn't mean they didn't try.

It's 1200 euro, but that's the cost for their prototype. For a prototype it's pretty good considering it looks like a product ready to be mass produced.

The makerbots and repraps you can buy for less are all kits that you have to assemble yourself. There's a cost to that, too.

Horrible excuse really. Anything else gets to big and we call it a tumor ;-)

People are confusing two separate things here.

The big noise was about a database on the device itself. This database is a cache that stores locations of WiFi networks that the device requested from Apple because it saw the network. Yes creating that cache involves sending the WiFi SSIDs to Apple and so Apple would be able to create the exact same maps, however for some funny reason this is not what the buzz was focused on. That was only about the existance of the file, and the possibility that it could be stolen. Hence, they are reducing the amount of entries in the cache. This does not change the fact that, in theory, Apple can still build the very same database with unlimited size for any given phone. The same is true for any other system that can determine your location based on anything other than a pure GPS fix, i.e. *every* mobile phone with a GPS, since they *all* use assisted GPS or that WiFi trick, and all have to send some data to a server to determine their position quickly.

The traffic data is a separate thing where devices report their locations directly for the purpose of inclusion in a traffic database. In theory it'll end up with about the same amount of information in the hands of Apple (or Google or whoever else is doing something similar) as WiFi based or otherwise assisted GPS, but it's much more obvious, so people will want to be able to turn it off :)

He did manage to sell the company for a fourth of what Oracle later paid for Sun despite everybody being allowed to copy the source code...

Actually nowadays, the "deeper" experience is not really limited to dedicated gaming platforms anymore. The only advantage the 3DS has over the iPod or iPad is Super Mario, Zelda and Mario Kart - and none of these have been released yet. But you can e.g. play Final Fantasy III on an iPod or iPad as of recently, or GTA CTW, or SimCity, and so on and so forth, and there are several clones of popular games that are also pretty good. And they're all much cheaper than on any Nintendo device.

I did buy a 3DS for reasons mostly unrelated to actual games that were announced for it (except maybe Mario Kart ;)), but as an iPod and iPad owner I have to say Apple is doing a better job at making gaming consoles these days than Nintendo has ever done, or Sony for that matter. Also keep in mind that the iPad 2 does 1080p over HDMI now so it's also a full console with a touch screen controller... sound familiar?

Wasn't the DSi+Pokemon bundle outselling the 3DS?

I have PIlotwings. Flying around the island being awesome never wore off for me, but the game is not very long. Which is a shame.

If you get a chance, rent the Ghost Recon game. It's a turn based tactical game, similar to Jagged Alliance. I feel it gets the 3D effect mostly right, slightly understating it but doing some neat things like the HUD being actually on top of the scenery. For me this works much better than some other titles that try to exploit the 3D capability for cheap effects that don't really work for many players.

Street Pass is a great improvement over the DSi, which required you to run the same game as people you met for a similar feature. I never met anyone with DQIX, the only game where I actually would have cared for the feature. With the 3DS you don't have to run a specific game to meet people and I immediately met a few. But for this specific feature I'd agree with Nintendo that consumers outside Japan probably don't understand it ;) At least, now it works for us too...

To me it makes a significant difference that the picture is also 3D now. Of course I can see 2D pictures with stuff rendered on top on other devices. It doesn't quite feel the same way. But I wouldn't say it's a reason for getting a 3DS either, the AR stuff that is included is at best a tech demo. And they had the silly idea that it would be somehow okay to require the user to move the 3DS around quickly to play them, when the 3D effect doesn't work unless you hold it still...

I'm assuming you're talking about Face Raiders, which is included with the console.

The other game that is included is a few Augmented Reality gimmicks that render stuff into a 3D view as seen by the two cameras in the lid. Those *also* require you to move the 3DS around, e.g. you need to shoot a box from the right side or things like that.

I have no idea how they thought that this could possibly work... but none of the four games I bought required me to move the device around, so at least not everybody went mad.

To me it doesn't feel like I have to allow my eyes to go out of focus.

At least not in general. It widely varies between games. For me personally, stuff popping out of the screen doesn't work, that almost feels like physical strain. On the other hand, games that make it seem like you're looking into a box instead of a screen, with everything behind the screen, work very well for me. I don't have any problems with looking away from that and then back at the screen with games that are like this.

It only works while you hold it still, which is why I haven't bought a racing game yet... on the other hand, the Ghost Recon game, a turn based tactical game viewed from above, makes it very easy for me. Some genres will inevitably work less well than others. I'm thinking that your typical isometric or similar role playing game would also work fairly well.

I don't have any issues with holding it still enough when I'm on a train etc. Just with forcing myself not to move it around too much as if that helped cutting corners...

I don't have stereo vision normally but it works with the 3DS (and any other 3D system that I've tried that works by showing different pictures to each eye). I'm not sure how exactly that works, but it makes the 3DS even more attractive for me and less of a gimmick. I also have a bunch of other 3D gimmicks and I have some experience with professional application of 3D systems so it goes almost without saying that I'm slightly biased. I already knew I'd enjoy the 3D screen.

I agree with the horrible launch lineup. I got four titles so far, more out of desperation than actually wanting to play them ;-) Also in part because some of the 3DS' own functionality is not there. No online shop, no virtual console etc.

I love Pilotwings since the 3D effect works really well when you're flying around but it's just too short even if you do go to the trouble of unlocking everything and getting three stars everywhere.

The Ghost Recon game was a big surprise for me on the other hand. It's a very solid turn based tactics game (similar to Jagged Alliance) and has quite a lot of content. It also understates the 3D effect a bit, and that seems to work very well and really adds to the graphical style. Small things like the HUD that is actually above the scenery and so on but none of that stuff flying into your face crap that many 3D movies try to pull of.

Lego Star Wars III is another solid title if you liked the previous DS Lego games. It has some flight scenes that worked really well in 3D, which caused me to buy Pilotwings. But it's not as spectacular as the first one or two Lego games were when they were new because virtually nothing has changed.

I also got the Rayman game because I remember Rayman from back then. IMHO it's not a very good port and the 3D effect is not as good, but that might be because I've found that for me personally, stuff behind the screen works better than stuff popping out of it, and Rayman has too much stuff trying to pop out of the screen.

Speaking of that, while I don't seem to get headaches, stuff trying to pop out of the screen does feel very uncomfortable. As if my eyes are trying to look the wrong way and I know it, almost feeling as if it induces physical strain. The Ghost Recon game does the best job preventing that as far as I'm concerned. Pilotwings and the Lego game are also good but Rayman is much worse for me.

I am wondering if it it's maybe more the developers who don't understand the device, and not the consumers. From the four games I have it feels like only Ghost Recon, a turn based game viewed from above, gets it right. Then Pilotwings works but it doesn't do anything that made me think "this wouldn't work as well in 2D". Rayman just seems to be a port of the Dreamcast version with no attention paid to the 3D capability of the 3DS at all, it's just a 3D world rendered in stereo that feels like nobody ever tried to come up with some way to improve the experience by rendering it in stereo. The Lego game also feels like they didn't really think about using the 3D capability but at least that feels as if they actually playtested it.

On a positive note, I think some things have genuinely been improved. StreetPass now works if you don't have the same cartridge in and the same game running. I never found anyone around here with DQIX on my DSi but I met two 3DS systems on the first day I actually took mine outside. So big improvement here because the feature was more or less useless outside Tokyo and now it works in random German towns. You can now also pause a game and return to the main screen and small things like that. Small stuff that you don't realize until you actually own a 3DS.

A folding tablet which allows pen entry... isn't Nintendo making those ;-) Okay, those aren't really tablets, but it still doesn't sound like the distinctiveness they're looking for.