3DS

As anyone could easily notice, we do not report the news at Gamers Unanimous. There are just too many sites with way more resources for us to compete with. Also, it’s boring. We’d rather give our own incredibly biased opinions on major news and games, droll though they are as well.

With that in mind, Nintendo announced a slew of 3DS information, including a price and release date (in Japan). I would be shocked if anyone reading did not know that it will be out (in Japan) in February 2011 for roughly the Yen equivalent of $300. It hits other territories in March 2011, most likely at a similar price point.

Clearly, not everyone has $300 just lying around for a handheld system. It’s a lot of money. Honestly, I did not think that they would break the $250 mark. $300 may be a tough pill to swallow for their “blue ocean” audience, but I’m sure a price cut will not be far behind their initial market penetration. So, should you buy it right away? Of course. If you can find it. The Nintendo fanboys (like myself) will eat this thing alive at any price on day one. But the price aside, the 3DS has some really fantastic features.

One of the biggest features on my own wish list is the “Virtual Handheld”. The 3DS will have a downloadable service similar to the Virtual Console on the Wii for GameBoy and GBA games, as well as “Classic” games, although it is not exactly clear what that means just yet. But, if you’d like to take a look at our suggestions for what games should be on the Virtual Handheld, check out our Top 20 feature.

The 3DS hardware will have a little bit of internal memory for downloading games, and will also come with a 2GB SD card for expanded libraries. Hopefully (and most likely) the system will be able to load games directly from the card so we can all avoid the Wii scenario debacle.

3DSware was confirmed for the system as well (downloadable original software) AND Nintendo claims that you’ll be able to transfer your DSiWare games onto the 3DS-futher proof that they’re starting to get it when it comes to downloadable content.

One of the really cool, and unexpected, features is the ability to create Mii’s on the 3DS, using the camera to help you create a more accurate likeness. It would be really cool if you could migrate the Mii’s to the Wii, but we’ll have to wait and see how integrated these two Mii creation tools are.

We’ll also have to wait for a more solid release date in the US as well as a definite price point. I’m personally most excited for all the downloadable content the 3DS is sure to see. Having tons of games on the go without having to carry around tons of DS cartridges will be awesome. And R4’s down count. Fucking pirates. And I also don’t mean to knock the DSiWare service. There’s some cool content there, but there’s a ton of DSlite owners who don’t even have the option of trying out DSiWare. That is a problem that the 3DS will not have. Since all 3DS owners will have access to 3DSware, hopefully many more developers will jump on board to bring more content to the service.

But I digress. I can’t wait for more information about the US release. March can’t come soon enough. There’s a couple of last hurrahs for the DS, but come March, the king will be dead. And when it is, I’ll be the first to say “Long live the king”.