A Look At What May Be In The New Nintendo 3DS!!

Wow - could it be what I think it is? Judging by this recent FCC filing photo (entitled: "Nintendo CTR Target Board") Nintendo has given us a look at a testing board that is potentially used for their upcoming 3DS. It seems the company is trying to get approval for use of the Wi-Fi card in the US.

Things to note:
- It seems to be a DS with its two screens stretched out to facilitate testing.
- The top screen is now a widescreen with the lower one still being a 4:3 ratio.
- Sharp's autostereoscopic 3D technology (that's right - no glasses) seems to be included with the top widescreen (and not the bottom screen).
- Stereo speakers, DS cartridge slot and SD card port are still present. Yes - it will have full backwards compatibility with existing DS games.
- Mark June 15 on your calendars - Nintendo is expected to reveal the unit to the masses along with its official name.
- I have been hearing about a release window between October 2010 and March 2011. The former seems most likely as no manufacturer wants to miss the holiday gift giving season.

I know this will be on our family's wish list this year if it is available so, yes, I am very interested to learn more! This product will be a sure fire barn burner especially with NO 3D glasses required. No doubt about it!! :-)

Sharp Announces Autostereoscopic 3D Screen

Michael here. It's great to see that the quality of autostereoscopic 3D screens is improving rapidly. For instance, check out this new screen from Sharp, unveiled today via press release.

With touchscreen capability, the ability to switch between 2D and 3D, and high brightness and a high resolution screen, this 3.4 inch screen strikes me as something that would fit well into Nintendo's recently announced 3DS.

From Sharp:

Sharp Corporation has developed a 3D touchscreen LCD featuring the industry’s highest brightness that can switch between 2D and 3D modes. Users can view 3D images harp:
without the need to wear special glasses, making this LCD ideal for mobile devices such as digital cameras, mobile phones, and smartphones.

The newly developed 3D LCD uses a parallax barrier system to display 3D images. This parallax barrier, which has a series of vertical slits, is incorporated into an ordinary LCD to control the path of light reaching the right and left eyes, thus creating a sense of depth. However, the conventional 3D LCD with this system had difficulty in displaying high-quality images in 3D mode.

The 3D LCD developed by Sharp at this time significantly improves image quality by achieving both high brightness and low crosstalk thanks to advances in CG-Silicon technology and optimization of the parallax barrier. Advances in CG-Silicon technology have shrunk the wiring width within the LCD panel, allowing more light to pass and doubling the brightness (to 500 cd/m2, the industry’s highest) compared to the conventional model. In addition, optimizing the parallax barrier design has increased the efficiency of light, thereby dramatically reducing crosstalk. Also, the thickness of the LCD module is about the same as conventional 2D displays even though it is a touchscreen display. As 3D images can be displayed in both portrait and landscape screen orientations, it is ideal for sophisticated mobile devices such as smartphones.

Sharp has also developed a non-touchscreen 3D LCD and will start its mass production in the first half of fiscal 2010.

Looks cool. I can't wait for these next-gen AS3D screens to come out. And, like everyone, I'll have my eyes sharply trained on Nintendo for any news regarding the 3DS.

UPDATE: Check out this video of the screen (thanks Johnno!):

Nintendo 3DS! Nintendo Announces Autostereoscopic 3D Handheld Game System!

Michael here. Wow, this is HUGE news. Nintendo has announced that the successor to the Nintendo DS, tentatively called the "3DS", will be released by March 2011.

Click here for Nintendo's press release

The 3DS will not require glasses. My guess is that the 3DS will feature a parallax barrier or lenticular-based autosterescopic screen. There's also a chance it will feature headtracking for motion parallax.

It will be backwards compatible with the DS and DSi.

In any case, more details on the 3DS will be revealed at this year's E3, which starts June 15 in Los Angeles. It may even be available to play.

I can't wait to hear more about this! I'm sure Nintendo must be thinking S3D and headtracking for the Wii's successor as well, especially after seeing this video.