Nintendo 3DS

I'm sure most of you have heard of Nintendo's plan to release a new version of their supremely popular handheld gaming system, the DS. The new system, the 3DS, is supposed to destroy the PSP. (the DS's only real competition.)

The 3DS is going to have a screen that allows for 3D gaming without the need for special glasses. Honestly? I think it's a cool idea and I'm excited to eventually play with one. My only worry is that the 3DS is going to be just like the DSi. Don't get me wrong, the DSi is an awesome system, it just could have been so much better. As much as Nintendo wanted people to play with the cameras and the sound apps, they just weren't as popular, in my opinion. I think most people were more excited for the DSi Ware Store that was released with the DSi, the only problem with that is that Nintendo hasn't done a whole lot with the DSi Ware Store to make it stand out from things like Apple's App Store. There are so many great things that Nintendo could be releasing on the DSi Ware Store that they haven't yet. Things like a Virtual Game Boy console, or downloadable NES & SNES games. They could still do that, they just haven't yet.

But, that's not what I wanted to talk about here. I wanted to talk about things I hope will either be in the 3DS, or in Nintendo's next portable gaming system. My first hope is that the 3DS will have some sort of built in memory that can hold more than the DSi does. Sony released the PSP Go, which had a hard drive, but they removed the UMD drive, which made quite a few people angry and caused the system to not be as popular as Sony hoped. Nintendo could totally take that idea and make it infinitely better. Have a hard drive in the 3DS, but keep the ability to play DS cartriges. I've heard that the 3DS is going to be able to play video, so I can only hope that means there will be a hard drive, otherwise we'll all have to rely on SD cards to watch our videos, which could be a pain.

One other thing I'd like to see on the 3DS is, as I've mentioned, a better DSi Ware Store. The Store has so much potential on a system made by Nintendo. They have a whole catalog of Retro games they could release in the DSi Store that would make the DS sell even better than it already is. I mentioned my want for a Virtual Game Boy console. There are so many ways that could be awesome. Imagine downloading one of the Game Boy Advance versions of a Pokemon game, playing it, then being able to transfer Pokemon from there to one of your DS Pokemon Games. It could be pretty epic.

Back on the topic of the 3DS being able to play video, I'd like to see the DS system (any incarnation of it) be able to do the things my PSP does. With my PSP, I can watch videos, look at pictures, listen to music, browse the web and the Playstation Store, and play games. My PSP can be more of a portable media device rather than just a game system. Now, the DSi can do some of the things the PSP can do, it just doesn't do them as well, or as smoothly. I'd like to see the 3DS become more of an all-in-one system. It has the potential to be, it just hasn't yet.

My final thought on the matter? Nintendo has an almost flawless track record with their portable gaming systems. I think that, even if the 3DS doesn't do any of the things I've mentioned, it's going to be successful. I can still hope for some of my ideas to be used though, right?