"Console-level quality" capable with the Nintendo 3DS, according to developer
One of the most welcome surprises at this year’s E3 was the arrival of the Nintendo 3DS, a brand new handheld that will be the successor to the hugely successful DS. Boasting glasses-less 3D tech, it wowed the crowds and, thankfully, it looks to be wowing the third-party development teams too.
The DS suffered from an onslaught of cheap gimmick titles, but if the attitude of JC Connors of Griptonite Games is anything to go by, third party developers will take the new console “a lot more seriously”.
“You know, a lot of the casual games that really bombarded the DS marketplace have now moved onto other platforms like the iPhone, so I think everyone looks at this as an opportunity to kind of bring something special back to the gamers,” Connors told Gamasutra.
“Everyone looked at the 3DS with just how powerful it was, and the new features, the analog stick and the 3D, as an opportunity to bring almost console-level quality games to this handheld because they could. On the DS, you really couldn’t.”
It’s a bit of a moot point saying that the 3DS is capable of “console quality” gaming in some respects. Did the DS not have a superior version of Mario 64 (let down only by a clunky control scheme), itself a console port? It’s really a generational thing – if we’re talking about a machine that can compete with the current wave of HD consoles then that is truly something special.
Either way, it’s good to see some positive movements from the third-party development community in regards to some Nintendo hardware for once. Nintendo gear always seems to get it’s killer software from in-house designers, so it’s nice to see some growing enthusiasm from a little further afield for the 3DS.
