[quote name='Wolfpup']My 3DS impressions playing PilotWings:
-first off, if you're undecided in a color, forget blue. It's UGLY. Crazy ugly. I know it's intriguing in pictures-it doesn't look like that in real life. Just get black.
-The controls-the analog stick is pretty great. The PSP one gets the job done, but this it feels easier to push it just part way, and feels better to use too. It's the best analog stick yet on a portable (err...well, of two). The rest of the controls-d-pad and buttons-are quite a bit better on the PSP though, but the stick feels like a real achievement.
-Graphics, as expected, looked like a decent PSP game, except of course with a Nintendo vibe.
Okay...now...the screen....
What surprised me was whereas with say Avatar, the effect (such as it is) just works...you're not going to miss it. What was really weird with this is I actually had to WORK at making it look right...sort of like one of those optical illusions, where you don't see what it's supposed to be at first, and then you sort of do. This was like that every time I went back to it, and sometimes it would just sort of lose it again. I think that alone will make it terrible for long term use. Until you “see” it, it's just two blurry screens...like you can look at it and see them independently. I somehow wasn't expecting that, I guess since you don't have to work at it to “see” the illusion with other “3D” I've used.
If you force it, the effect does sort of work...in particular, what someone said about the Pilotwings vehicles/people looking like little toys in front of the background is true...particularly with the rocketpack, it was almost like a little Lego guy, with a game screen behind him. It's gimmicky, but actually interesting to look at. The background wasn't as obvious, though it did make navigation a bit harder because it was harder to judge distances...like...the “3D” effect sort of interferes with the actual 3D of the game engine, making it harder to figure out where and how far you are from something.
So...it's interesting, but I suspect more annoying than useful...better as a novelty to look at through an image viewer or whatever than on a game system..
But then we get to the effects on my eyes (besides having to work at “seeing” something other than two separate screens)-after a few minutes, I did notice one of my eyes was watering and a little weird. It wasn't super bad, and when I walked away my vision was a LITTLE weird, but not 1/4 as bad as with Avatar...
Only I only played it 5 minutes or whatever the first go versus Avatar at 2+ hours...that it did ANYTHING to my vision in that time means I'm pretty sure it'll be bad if you sit there for 2 hours...let alone 5 hours or whatever.
I intentionally left to get my vision back to normal-ish, then came back to try it with “3D” off.
And here's what I was worried about-I had the slider down all the way, and it sort of flicked and came back so I guess it was off, but there was something still “off” about it-something still unnatural and wrong looking about it that was irritating.
So I THINK it's still not right even when “3D” is “off”...which is precisely what I was worried about.
In all honesty, I really really prefer the screens on the PSP and DS XL...they're bigger, and easier on the eyes...there's nothing weird going on, no concentrating to make, the visuals look right :lol:.
So...where does this leave me? I'm not sure. I need to cancel my blue one tonight, since my doubts about which one to get are gone. But...I don't think this screen is for me...even off, it doesn’t seem right.
I think I'm going to cancel...but this is hard for me as I hate giving up the preorder, and, since I've owned every single Nintendo system since except the Virtual Boy. Why didn't I get the Virtual Boy? Well, same exact reason...it did weird things to my eyes. Passing up a new Paper Mario and game from the Mario Galaxy team? That's CRAZY hard for me...but I can't imagine having to use that for hours...so....I'm not quite ready to cancel my black preorder yet, but I rationally speaking I should
/
Oh, regarding Pilotwings itself? I would buy it if it were on another system. The control feels good-only complaint is maybe a little TOO good...not quite sim-ish enough. The original had a throttle control-this just had a neutral speed and a boost and brake button, and it felt more like Panzer Dragoon or whatever in terms of flight controls. So maybe worse in being better...if that makes sense. But still, there are so few games like this I'd bite, if it were on a different system. (Wish that Pilotwings-esque PSP game had made it over here! Hasn't been one since that early PS2 game.)[/QUOTE]
It almost sounds like something was wrong with the demo unit you tried, or you have to turn the system completely off before adjusting the slider to off so that it will completely turn the 3D off. I haven't heard of any complaints from users of Japanese systems that the screens are blurry or look bad with the 3D turned off. But I guess we have to wait till more US users get their hands on the unit for themselves.
Regardless if you buy it or not I think its gonna sell like crazy during the holidays as any new Nintendo product does. I don't expect too much demand for it in March after the initial launch but I do expect there to be shortages during the holidays so even if you bought it and didn't like it you could likely flip it for profit if you waited a while as long as you haven't sunk too much money into games you should be able to get your money back at least. But if you are planning to use ebay keep in mind fees are high and they are going to start charging fees on shipping prices starting April 29th.
