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In the interest of providing you a one-stop hub for info on June 6th’s Nintendo 3DS update, we’ve gathered all the info released this week regarding the eShop, web browser, Virtual Console, DSiWare transfers, and more across all the regions. We have a lot to cover, so let’s get started!
U.S.’ eShop titles (updates every Thursday):
•Excitebike - 3D Classics, free until July 7, then $5.99
•Pokédex 3D - “3DSWare”, free
•Super Mario Land - Game Boy, $3.99
•Alleyway - Game Boy, $2.99
•Radar Mission - Game Boy, $2.99
Wired notes that eShop releases have a base price of $1.99, and that users will be able to preview up to six screenshots and six videos before buying the games. It’s unclear (and unlikely, I presume) that demos will be available at launch.
Interestingly, you will be able to play the Game Boy titles in either black and white, or gray and green, similar to how they used to look when played on the original hardware.
It’s worth pointing out that Excitebike has not only been enhanced with steroescopic 3D graphics and the ability to save courses created in the track editor, but it has also been modified to fit the system’s wide screen. Wired says there’s other trickery at work, too:
“It includes a use of the 3-D slider that I’ve never seen before. When you adjust the slider, it doesn’t just change the depth of the 3-D effect. It actually changes the camera angle of the game. When you dial down toward the 2-D setting, the camera zooms in and shows a closer view of the biker. When you make the 3-D more intense, the camera pulls back to show a wide-angle shot of the stadium’s bleachers far off in the distance.”
Japan’s eShop titles:
•Excitebike - 3D Classics, free until July 31
•Xevious - 3D Classics, ¥600
•Mystery P.I.: The Missing Film - “3DSWare”, ¥500
•3D Block Breaker - “3DSWare”, ¥500
•Super Mario Land - Game Boy, ¥400
•Mega Man: Dr. Wily’s Revenge - Game Boy, ¥400
•Kirby’s Dreamland - Game Boy, ¥400
•Baseball - Game Boy, ¥300
•Phantasm - Game Boy, ¥400
•Downtown Special: Kunio-kun’s Historical Drama with Everyone Assembled! - Game Boy, ¥400
Europe’s eShop titles (updates every Thursday):
•Excitebike - 3D Classics, free until July 7
•Pokédex 3D - “3DSWare”, free
•Super Mario Land - Game Boy
•Alleyway - Game Boy
•Tennis - Game Boy
At launch, you will need to enter your credit card or points card info each time you want to spend some money, as the eShop will not save your personal details. Wired finds this particularly annoying, as “this means that games are still tied to an individual piece of hardware, not to a persistent user account.”
Browser, DSi Transfers, and more:
Nintendo has not mentioned whether next week’s update will include the promised Netflix app for streaming films/TV, but it has detailed other features.
The free web browser — supplied by Netfront instead of Opera this time around, unfortunately — will not support Flash. It will however allow you to upload 3D photos you’ve taken with the system’s camera, and view 3D images on supporting. I’m unsure if you can upload 2D photos to sites like Tumblr, too.
You will be able to transfer photos, audio files, WiFi settings, and most of your DSiWare games from a DSi to a 3DS. You can find a list of titles that you can’t transfer here — it’s mostly junk except for Art Academy, Pinball Pulse, and Flipnote Studio — the last of which Nintendo is rumored to be updating. You will not be able to transfer files from a 3DS to a DSi, however.
Nintendo says that in “the near future” it will release “a short-form video service that will enable [users] to view specially selected video content, including 3D movie trailers, comedy clips and music videos automatically received when the SpotPass feature is activated.”
Bolded a few annoying tidbits. Both Game Gear and Turbo titles are delayed, the same trinkle of software each week (though Japan starts out with twice that of anyone else), and I'd imagine it's a pipe dream that we'll see the DS or 3DS catalog for dl even though Sony will probably tout this convenience out of the gate.
