This is a great read, fascinating actually. The last Nintendo console I owned was a Gamecube and I've never had a handheld, so I won't bother you with my opinion. What are your opinons?

Below is just an excerpt.

http://www.1up.com/features/nintendo-3ds-past-present-future

The Bastard Console

All appearances to the contrary, Nintendo's 3DS isn't necessarily a spiritual successor to the DS.

That may seem a baffling statement on the surface; after all, the 3DS looks almost exactly like the DS, it plays DS games, and it incorporates the same touchscreen technology that was popularized by the DS. Many of the 3DS's other features are direct evolutions of the DS's innovations, too, most notably its always-on wireless communication capabilities.

What the 3DS doesn't carry forward, however, is the spirit in which its best-selling predecessor was designed. The DS was perhaps the single greatest expression of the philosophy that has long driven Nintendo's most successful hardware creations, Gumpei Yokoi's tenet of "the lateral thinking of withered technology." Yokoi, of course, was one of Nintendo's most influential designers, the man who spearheaded the creation of masterpieces like the Game Boy. The premise behind his thesis was that the ideal approach to creating a great game or toy is to eschew the cutting edge of technology in favor of more mature materials.

"Withered" technology, according to Yokoi's book Game House, is hardware that has reached a certain level of maturity and ubiquity, that can be acquired easily and inexpensively, and whose functions and potential are well-documented for both engineers and programmers alike. Rather than focus on sheer processing power, Yokoi posited, Nintendo's developers should instead aspire to come up with new and interesting applications for more humble devices -- to focus on creative design rather than visual panache, offering customers unique and entertaining experiences at a modest cost.

The Game Boy in particular represented Yokoi putting his philosophy to work. It ran on a variant of the Z-80 processor, which by the time of the system's release was more than a decade old and well out of date -- but cheap and well-documented. Game Boy's murky screen offered no color, only shades of greenish-grey. Nevertheless, it demolished technologically superior competitors like the full-color Lynx and Game Gear, because it was inexpensive, ran forever on a few AA batteries, and had just enough horsepower to play fun, appealing games. The system's longevity seems to have surprised even Nintendo; Pokémon gave Game Boy a second wind long after it should have been retired by making use of the handheld's previously underutilized communication port to let kids face off and battle one another's teams of monsters.

The DS, despite being developed well after Yokoi's death, was an even more perfect example of the so-called lateral thinking of withered technology at work. The system was announced after the PSP, yet it was blatantly inferior to Sony's competing machine. Next to PSP, the DS seemed underpowered and ill-conceived, with a chunky, toy-like casing and an unusual dual-screen design. Yet it was precisely that quirky layout that tipped observant gamers off to Nintendo's inspiration with the console, as it hearkened back to Yokoi's first electronic gaming creation, the Game & Watch line.

That Donkey Kong Jr.game looks amazing

I really didn't take anything negative away from this. I just thought it was an interesting take. 

I think after such resounding success you have to stretch your legs and see what is possible

The point of the philosophy is that is what sells a system the most. Nintendo has a right to make the system that way, but the public has a right to refuse it.

Meh.

Just cause it had 3D doesn't mean it has anything to do with Virtual Boy.

and for the love of Peach, I'm so over hearing about how "digital distribution" is the FUTURE! I like going to the game store dudes. I like OWNING my games. and that's besides the fact that the 3ds shop isn't even open yet.

Is it fun? Will it have great games? Great applications? Those are the important questions. Who cares where the idea came from, what can we do with it?

When you get people thinking spending less money to make a video game is more risky, faulty logic is unfortunately the norm.

The real problem with this article is that all of the tech in the 3DS is pretty old, even the 3D.  Sure, no one really used it this way before, but Nintendo's been playing around with it for longer than the DS has been on the market.  And all of the other tech is well used and documented.

It seems to me that Nintendo has a bigger, more subdued appraoch to the future. I think they can afford to test the water with the 3DS. Withered technology may not be apt to the 3DS, but the 3DS is necessary. 

That is what has been fundamentally wrong with Sony for years now, they spend tons of money developing technology, just for technology's sake.

I've got nothing against the 3D angle, I think it's a cool feature and a good way to differciate itself as a handheld. It also plays to the strengths of a handheld, as regular 3D on a TV set currently costs way too much and requires you to wear stupid glasses.

What I'm a bit concerned about is Nintendo falling back too much to the 3D gimmick at the expense of the games themselves. Of course right now it's just speculation, but as of now there is litterally only one game I would want in Pilot Wings, and that's not nearly enough for me to shell out a cool $250. Once the console gets Mario Kart and a 2D Mario game, I will at least consider getting it.