E3 2010: Second impression with the Nintendo 3DS: more headaches

After my first session with the Nintendo 3DS proved to be less than impressive, I decided to queue up again and try out some other games. Maybe I just picked wrong 'uns last time?

If anything, this time the experience was even worse.

Particularly poor was Ridge Racer, which aside from its terrible handling and graphics, in terms of the 3D effect was the equivalent to driving drunk, at least the cartoon version of seeing double.

At one point I'd swear I saw three versions of a tunnel entrance, although as 3D works on rendering stereo images, I guess that should be impossible. All-in-all Ridge Racer on the 3DS was virtually unplayable. I assume that's why there were only two demo units, compared to the dozen with Metal Gear Solid (of which more later).

Clearly Nintendo realises this is a problem with such early software and has trained its staff well so that the demo girls deftly adjust the 3D slider on the side of the device downwards if they see you're having trouble in terms of overly tilting the device and varying the distance between your eyes and the screen.

I queried a couple about the reason for the slider and why they were moving it, and they said it was designed so people could set the 3D effect so it was comfortable for them.

"Some people like it extreme, while others prefer to tone it down," said one.

"People who wear glasses seem to like it at 50 percent," said another, charmingly, if somewhat unconvincingly.

I don't wear glasses or contacts but have a weak right eye, so I fiddled with the slider and varied how far away I held the 3DS from my eyes, but many games remained problematic.

The notes, gestures and scratch nodes rolling down DJ Hero's music stream, which were supposed to be coming out of the screen, were surprisingly unimpressive.

Ubisoft's Dinosaur Strike was fine during the third person element where you controlled the T Rex from behind, its tail snaking out of the screen, but uncomfortable with lots of ghost images in the fixed camera battle mode.

Koei's Samurai Warriors was better than I thought it would be, but there was some ghosting of the enemy groups you attacked.

Even the non interactive video of Paper Mario, which I had hoped would be one of the better 3D demos because of the flat, layered nature of the graphics, didn't sparkle.

In fact, I had to check the 3D slider wasn't switched down to zero. It wasn't but moving it up and down during the rest of the video failed to show much difference in either state.

So it was down to Konami and Hideo Kojima - a game maker who wishes he was a filmmaker - to demonstrate the most impressive 3D effects. The seven minute long video of Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater was non-interactive but it was completely captivating because that's what Kojima does best - high production values and tight control of the camera.

It was a bit gimmicky, with attacking snakes, long crocodile mouths and tails poking out of the screen, and arrow shafts pinging into view, but the 3D effects worked well and the video was better for them.

Of course, it has to be pointed out that the poor performance of many of the Nintendo 3DS games shown at E3 isn't to say the device and launch games won't work properly whenever they're available.

I imagine developers will have been given very little time to work with the 3DS prior to E3; everything shown being best described as a tech demo rather than real content.

However it does demonstrate developers will need to put in a lot more work in terms of how they will use 3D in games if the 3DS will be as successful as Nintendo expects and hopes, at least in terms of its main 3D feature.