I kind of expected this as soon as I heard it. I'm able to watch movies in the theater now and I don't really have any problems with it, but as soon it was announced all I could think of was the old red and blue glasses from when I was a kid. When I was at Best Buy the other day I was completely surprised to see they actually had one out for demo. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to play with it because I had other places I had to go. So, I didn't get a chance to play it very much, but from what I did play I didn't experience any problems. That being said, I would never expect to be able to play for long periods of time with the 3D on.

The more I think about it and consider how limited the viewing angles are with 3D on and things I'm not even sure how often I will use the 3D when I get a 3DS. I think it is a cool concept and it would be fun to show people and to play for little bits of time, but I don't know that I would want to play all my games that.

I love what Nintendo has done with the 3DS, but as with the Wii, I think it is just an added element of the system. I have a lot of motion control games for the Wii, but the ones I like the most and play the most often are the games that use regular controls. Motion control was cool at first, but it isn't something you want to replace your everyday gaming with. With the 3DS, the idea of 3D gaming is awesome, especially without the need for glasses, but there is a whole lot more behind the 3DS that makes it appealing to me.

I really want to get a chance to use the 3DS for a long period of time where it isn't bolted down to a display. The way they had it at Best Buy you couldn't even move the screen, which made it very difficult to play it properly. I'm still on the fence about whether or not I like the 3D and I don't think I can form a true opinion until I have had a chance to use it more.

All that being said, I'm just glad that they did include the option to turn the 3D off. It is a great idea and really awesome, but I know it isn't going to be the right option for everyone, so at least they aren't forcing it on anyone.

^ tl;dr

Yeah, I was thinking about getting a 3DS until I remembered that my eyes are crap. XD I can't see like the rest of the human race can, apparently. Doctors say my sight is near 20-20 with slight nearsightedness, but I really can't see anything in hi-def. (that's why I passed up on any hi-def TVs, I'm perfectly content with my Orion 20 inch)
So I'm gonna pass on 3D and all that happy until they come out with a holo-deck like in Star Trek. XD

My eyes are just fine, but I just hate the 3D effect of the 3DS. My phone has the same 3D option, and I keep it off all the time because it just looks ridiculous.
I'll be sticking with a regular DS.

My eyes were so strained after the 3DS session(maybe 15 total minutes, two 7 minute sessions) that I had to nap and rest my eyes. My dog didn't like me coming home and going right to bed either, walking her with an attitude was a treat. It was not good experience with the 3DS, eyestrain and fatigue is the worst.

I played the 3DS at Best Buy a few days ago and after a 5 minute session, my vision was blurry for next 30 minutes. I literally couldn't focus on anything.

I foresee a lot of problems coming Nintendo's way because of this machine, especially when it gets into the hands of kids. I can see lawsuits popping up left and right about vision problems in kids (whether or not the 3DS was the cause).

What do you mean the NGP doesn't need a gimmick? It has shake/tilt/touch controls. None of which are actually fun or add to games.

@UjnHunter - The only thing is the DS beat the pants off of the PSP, so Sony is looking for it's own gimmicks to make it more popular.

Hey cool im from South Plainfield too! Sucks to hear about the eye strain tho.

I have yet try the 3ds, but with the comments that were posted here sounds like it bother my eyes if I did play it. I wear glasses so my eyes are okay, but if a 10 to 15 minute session causes problems like what were mentioned I'm glad I didn't preorder. It sounds like this be a serious selling point if Nintendo's non-glass 3d causes eye issues.

Well thats probably the only way they could do 3D without glasses. From what I can piece together the "3D" seems to be pulling the background back and making it slightly blurry? I might be wrong I haven't seen on in action but from what I've read about explanations thats what I figured. I'm not buying one so I don't care, but yea def go see one first before you jump is the 3D is all you want out of it.

@Ujnhunter The NGP doesn't need a gimmick that hurts my eyes to generate my interest in it. It stands on it's own with better graphics, two analogs, a backside touch control and so on. It's more evolution of a handheld rather than gimmicky add on to an existing product. Street Fighter looked good on the 3DS, it looked to me just a little better than PSP quality.

Quote: I do like the analog stick, it's way way better than the pre-GOW:GOS new analog PSP 3000 nub. I could only ever fathom playing the 3DS with 3D turned off which makes it pretty useless, my money will be better spent on an NGP that doesn't need a gimmick that hurts my eyes.

I mean I'm not telling you how to spend your money but the 3DS without 3D is still a more powerful DS with the circle pad and larger res. That's got to have a degree of attraction right there. I just don't get how if the 3D doesn't work (and for many people it won't) suddenly the system has zero value.