3DS initial impressions

Posted 30.03.2011 1 3938

Now Playing: Pokemon White and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Shadow Wars
Now Listening to: "In Too Deep" by Sum 41
Now Watching: Robin Hood (British version 2006-2009?) on Netflix

Love the 3D. I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face when I was going through the setup and the ‘Nintendo 3DS’ started popping out from the screen (ever so slightly) then the ‘+’ signs started sinking into the background. Awesome.

Face Raiders was fun. Only tried it once but will play it some more. It made me move which I wasn’t expecting (and I was compfortably ensconced in my couch).

Costco (Canada - Ottawa - all prices CAD) had a poor selection of games available. Considering there were so few available at launch I don’t see why they couldn’t carry all of them. The ones they did have surprised me price wise. I knew Nintendogs + Cats would be $40 and it was $37.99 (typical Costco slight price reduction �" but bigger than Wal-Mart). What surprised me was that they had half of the games priced at $29.99. I picked up Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Shadow Wars for that price.

I wanted Steel Diver and Samurai Warriors but they didn’t have those. I haven’t tried either game I did buy yet.

I haven’t had any battery concerns and don’t forsee any either. Most people who complain about the three hours max are people who like to find things to complain about. ‘Think of the 5 hour plane rides!’ Yeah, like I take those daily. And when I do fly (once a year to vacation in Mexico) I usually have my hands full with kids. Even the kids don’t do any one thing for more than an hour (except sleep and complain!).

I drive to work so my handheld gaming is mostly when I am sitting waiting for things or at home after the kids and wife are bedded. Three hours is a non-issue.

The camera picture quality isn’t that great but I was expecting that so, again, no big deal. Can’t look at the pictures anywhere else yet anyway. (Yes I know about the red/green glasses solution available through the internet to view the 3DS pictures on a computer but, not going to happen. Not for me at least).

My one complaint of the 3DS is it’s small size.

I bought a DSi XL three weeks ago and it feels and looks so nice in my hands. Imagine going from a small screen cathode tv to a large screen flat panel digital tv. And then go back to the small screen. No. That and just the comfort of holding the bigger unit. The 3DS just seems soooooo small.

I moved my Pokemon White game from the DSi XL to the 3DS and I am like, ‘No. Not good.’. I might have to keep the two systems and save the 3DS for 3D gaming only. People who talk about waiting for the ’3DS lite’ revision have it backwards. This thing can’t get a smaller form factor. I mean look at it. It already looks exactly like a DS lite. I am betting on the 3DS XL in a couple of years. I look forward to that!

Another thing that surprised me with the 3DS is the analog nub (I believe it is called). I have never used one before and I was expecting it to be something that you pushed on to make things happen. Push the top to go up, the bottom-right to go to the bottom-right. But it wasn’t. You actually move the nub itself in the direction you want it to go. Takes some getting used to and I think I prefer the + pad just from habit. It will take getting used to.

I already think that if the nub is the way to go then they should have ditched the + pad all together. I suppose there is some core gaming need to have extra buttons on there (cram more!) but I would rather have one or the other. Less confusion as I try to use either.

Sorry for jumping all over the place with these comments, I am just going with my consciousness. Tiger blood. Winner! (I crack me up)

There are a few ‘placeholders’ on the system for upcoming features. I can wait. I have plenty to do with the 3DS before I need to download more games or do other such stuff that is unavailable at the moment.

Oh. I got the plain black instead of the two-tone blue/black.

I have made my Mii using the photo feature. Personally I see no resemblance at all but I never do and it was a cool effect with my head doing the bobble on the Mii body as it was processing the change.

Why can’t games have cute stuff like that instead of ‘Loading…’ screens? I gave up on the Wii Sims game because the constant, wait, loading, screens were so annoying. Anyway, I digress.

My Simisage just defeated a Litwick and I am about to reach the Celestial Tower Peak. Gotta go.

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Seagate

Posted 07.07.2008 3 3543

Now Playing: Animal Crossing DS
Now Listening to: Go For a Soda by Kim Mitchell

My secondary hard drive thinks it is a dvd player. Unfortunately I can no longer access its data. It won't play dvds either. It does make a loud whirring noise. Which really has no good use at all. Especially since it won't play dvds.

Compared to my experience with a Wii repair, this one is not so nice.

I brought my computer in to the local computer store/repair shop and spent $50 to find out that the drive is nuts and needs to be trashed. Luckily, the thing is under warranty so it should be replaced free of charge.

It may be free of charge but it is not hassle free. Or monetarily free. I spent a half an hour searching through the Seagate web-site for technical service. Turns out my unit is still under warranty and will be replaced. I just need to ship it in a box of corrugated cardboard, with 2 inch thick foam with eggshell on one side. The drive itself must be inserted into a specialized plastic bag (the name escapes me right now), before being sandwiched in the foam and placed in the corrugated box.

A quick check under my desk, in the back of the fridge, and my back pockets reveals no baggy, 2inch eggshell foam or corrugated cardboard. Have no fear though, the materials can be ordered online at a speciality company which just happens to have a link on the Seagate web-site. For a mere $11 I can buy the required shipping materials. Another $12 will get them mailed to me.

So far, my free replacement has cost $23 and it is still sitting on my desk.

Update 1:
One week later and I received an email telling me my shipping materials have been, well, shipped. I should get them in 2-3 days.

Update 2:
Got my packing package. The box is supposed to be reused. I�ll have to go out and buy some packing tape to re-seal the bottom of the box. The drive fits in snugly. There is �cut-out� foam to remove to sit the drive in. Sending it off by Purolator, same as I did with my Wii. Unlike with the Wii, though, I have to pay for shipping. $23 and it will get to the repair factory in three days. Go.

Update 3 (2008-07-07:
I have gotten five emails from them. They all seem to be saying the same thing. It is some sort of form and I think it is telling me that I claimed to send them one unit with a serial number and they received a different unit as the serial number did not match.

Well 14 of the 15 of the numbers matched but what I thought was an 'S' is actually a '5'. Oops. My mistake. Maybe if the number wasn't printed in a 4pt font size, I could have read it better.

I don't know what they are doing or are going to do. Other than to continue to send me this same email which doesn't seem to be asking for anything. Just restating the same thin the exact same way.

Great customer service.

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Wii Availability - 18 months

Posted 15.05.2008 5 3596

Now Playing: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (3rd time)
Now Listening to: Tom Cochrane

It has now been a year and a half since the Wii came to market here in North America. It is time for an availability update.

From what I recall, units were being diverted away from America due to the lower greenback and thus smaller profits, to the UK which is now saturated with systems. Is this correct?

In Canada, consoles still sell in minutes, not hours or days.

Wal-Mart advertised units for sale at a ridiculously marked up price

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Wii Broke: The Return

Posted 27.04.2008 3 3554

Now Playing: :D Fire Emblem:Radiant Dawn
Now Listening to: Jimi Hendrix

Did I ever.

Friday. two frickin days after Nintendo confirmed receiving my Wii, I have a delivery notification from Purolator in my mailbox. No one was at home at the time they came by, so I have to go to their drop off location (6 blocks away) to pick it up.

Bloody hell. Can't be the Wii already. But it's not like I ever send or receive packages either. The wiife wants to go out for dinner but her and the starving kids can wait. I have got to pick up this package and see what it is.

Sure enough; it is my Wii. Repaired same day they received it. Replaced disc drive is what the enclosed work order states.

From the day I sent it off

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Wii Broke: Received (Part 6)

Posted 26.04.2008 0 3460

Wii received.

Got an email from Nintendo Canada that they received my Wii (Wednesday) and that it should be returned to me within 11 to 15 days. Wow. I was expecting 11 to 15 weeks, not days. Delivery time was good as well. From Ottawa to Scarborough (Toronto) is a 4.5hr drive so I figured it might take three or four days for Purolator. I figured wrong.

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Wii Broke: Popping Bubbles (Part 5)

Posted 25.04.2008 0 3200

Now Playing: nothing *sob*
Now Listening to: Jonny Lang

Wii shipping free, packing materials not so.

I loaded a couple of my girls into the van and went off to Staples (Business Depot) to pick up some packing materials so I could send the console off without it attracting any attention. I don't want those disgruntled postal employees finding and snatching my Wii. The gruntled ones neither!

It is hard to stand in the box isle and compare sizes and prices with two easily bored young girls. After a bathroom break (them, not me) and fourteen requests for Dora stickers I finally selected my plane brown box and bubble wrap. Unfortunately I had to buy five boxes (unassembled) and enough bubble warp to encase the Wii and both my girls. Why is everything in bulk? Why can't I just buy one of what I need instead of getting lots of what I don't? When I was in South Korea 18 years ago, I liked the pharmacy system they had. You go in tell them you've got a headache and they sell you two aspirins and give you a drink of water. Just what you need when you need it. Is it still like that? But I digress

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Wii Broke: Fee is Free (Part 4)

Posted 24.04.2008 4 3733

Now Playing: nothing *sob*
Now Listening to: 'Cold as Ice' by Foreigner

Say good-bye Wii fee.

I called the 1-800 service number again and got through to a voice earlier in the menu process. She was very friendly with a heavy American accent. Turns out she is a single mom with three kids living in Oregon (a satellite call centre for Nintendo of America). Her 11 year old son finishes school at 2:30 an hour earlier than she finishes work. He usually has dinner on before she gets home so that they can enjoy playing the Wii together in the evening. So how do I find out all this information about a call centre grunt? Damned if I know. Must be my voice.

She verified that my warranty was still in effect. Her explanation was that I must have made a wrong selection on the web-site to receive the 'pay-up' email instructions. As I have learned in my many many years, never argue with someone who is helping you. So I kept my trap shut and didn't point out that there was only one selection to choose from and it was probably their internal programming that messed up and sent me the wrong letter. I am 100% sure I clicked on that one-and-only link properly. But like I said, I kept my pie-whole closed and thanked her for her assistance. She emailed a new repair order number and instruction letter

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Wii Broke: Free not Free (Part 3)

Posted 23.04.2008 2 3225

Now Playing: nothing *sob*
Now Listening to: Jim Croce

My warranty is not free.

Too impatient to wait for an email response (that handy-dandy crap never works) I filled out the online ticket for service. The auto-response came back shortly thereafter with an email telling me to sign up to My Nintendo to track my ticket. Well d

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Wii Broke: Warranty (Part 2)

Posted 22.04.2008 1 3185

Now Playing: pocket billiards
Now Listening to: The Jeff HEaley Band

My Wii is under warranty!

Or so I thought. Imagine my joy as I noted that with the registration of my console the warranty was extended three months. Surely I registered it.

There is a handy dandy warranty check search in the troubleshooting section of the Nintendo support web-site. Just plug in my 11 digit serial number and voila

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Wii Broke Part 1

Posted 21.04.2008 1 3189

Now Playing: nothing *sob*
Now Listening to: Otis Redding

My Wii is broke.

The Senators were losing again. Our Saudi Arabian student was in his room singing. It could have been praying; we

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