Richard Dalm's Portfolio
Before 2014 ended, the arrival of Nintendo’s handheld product was on the verge of getting an upgrade in the United States (Ashcraft, 2014). The current handheld system at the time, the 3DS, was reaching a limit in the product line of system specs. While still a great handheld, Nintendo realized that the future of the 3DS needs hardware improvement (McFerran, 2015). But why would such a technology that already has power need more power?
The New 3DS was made and shipped to the United States and released on February 13, 2015 (Crossley, 2015). Bringing advancement for Nintendo players old and new to invest in new hardware. The software remained the same between the versions of the handheld (McFerran, 2015). This was done so that the New 3DS retained its function to play backwards compatibility (McFerran, 2015; Shanklin, 2012). Where can that backwards compatibility be found? It actually is found in the CPU. The CPU of both 3DS handhelds is the same regardless (“New 3DS specs – quad core CPU, quad co-processors, x2 the RAM, nearly x2 VRAM”, 2014). Plus, there is no difference in the programming of the handhelds or their games. Both 3DS’s use C script to play games, which is also why backwards compatibility makes sense (“Programming Language for Consoles? | Development”, 2014).
Change in the other areas, especially the outside, of the New 3DS are what really make a difference. In terms of specs, the 3DS has a 2x-VFPv2 Co-Processor (“New 3DS specs – quad core CPU, quad co-processors, x2 the RAM, nearly x2 VRAM”, 2014). Where as the New 3DS has a 4x-VFPv2 Co-Processor (“New 3DS specs – quad core CPU, quad co-processors, x2 the RAM, nearly x2 VRAM”, 2014). What that means for the processing unit is that it has been doubled to preform faster. The 3DS had only a thumb-stick, four buttons, and a D-Pad with two respective shoulder buttons (Ashcraft, 2014). On the New 3DS the changes are very prominent. A computer like mouse nub was placed on the right side of the handheld and there are two new shoulder buttons (Etherington, 2015). Specifically, the nub acts as a small version of the thumb-stick. The purpose of this extra thumb-stick was to establish a “camera-like” control pad for games that need it (Kohler, 2014).
What games could possibly need a brand new thumb-stick? After the New 3DS released, Monster Hunter was a title specifically targeted for the use of the extra thumb-stick (Kohler, 2014). To show the huge processing improvement along with the integration of all the new features of the New 3DS, Nintendo releases Xenoblade Chronicles (Kohler, 2014). Xenoblade Chronicles in fact cannot be played on the 3DS because of its outstanding size and wide use of all the hardware for the New 3DS (Kohler, 2014).
While the 3DS system is still used today, the advancement for the handheld and the games will be at a limit. Already seeing a game specifically for the New 3DS shows that there will be more games like that to come. The hardware for the New 3DS is not so outstanding that the 3DS is useless. But in order to move forward to the future of gaming, an advancement of hardware is needed. Perhaps the next improvement will be the 3DS’s software.
References:
Ashcraft, B. (2014, August 29). Nintendo Just Announced a New 3DS. It Has Another Analog Stick. Retrieved September 7, 2015, from http://kotaku.com/nintendo-just-announced-a-new-3ds-1628389333
Crossley, R. (2015, January 14). New Nintendo 3DS Release Date Comfirmed– Only XL Version Coming to US – GameSpot. Retrieved September 7, 2015, fromhttp://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-nintendo-3ds-release-date-confirmed-only-xl-ve/1100-6424634/
Etherington, D. (2015, February 3). New Nintendo 3DS XL Review: A Big Upgrade For Now, And For The Future | TechCrunch. Retrieved September 7, 2015, fromhttp://techcrunch.com/2015/02/03/new-nintendo-3ds-xl-review/
Kohler, C. (2014, October 22). Nintendo’s New 3DS XL Isn’t a Huge Upgrade, But It Will Be Eventually. Retrieved September 7, 2015, from http://www.wired.com/2014/10/nintendo-new-3ds-xl/
McFerran, D. (2015, May 7). New Nintendo 3DS Review: This Thing Is Just AWESOME : Prices, Specifications, Reviews | Know Your Mobile. Retrieved September 7, 2015, from http://www.knowyourmobile.com/devices/nintendo-3ds/22846/new-nintendo-3ds-review-this-thing-is-awesome
New 3DS specs – quad core CPU, quad co-processors, x2 the RAM, nearly x2 VRAM. (2014, December 1). Retrieved September 7, 2015, from http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/997614-nintendo-3ds/70707570
Programming Language for Consoles? | Development. (2014, January 2). Retrieved September 7, 2015, from http://forum.3dspedia.com/threads/programming-languages-for-consoles.1741/
Shanklin, W. (2012, February 16). PS Vita vs. Nintendo 3DS: How the specs compare. Retrieved September 7, 2015, from http://www.geek.com/games/ps-vita-vs-nintendo-3ds-how-the-specs-compare-1466871/