Does the 3DS "hang"?

[Callate]

I haven't bought a 3DS; I'm quite happy with my DSi, which was already a bit of a splurge when I purchased it, and fulfills most of my portable gaming needs. But the price of the thing, as everyone knows by now, is coming down, and my daughter gravitates towards the demo model of the thing whenever we happen to be somewhere that has one.

The funny thing about those demo models, though: twice, I've come upon 3DSs that seemed to have "locked up"- some unmoving image on their screen, unresponsive to any kind of button or stylus input.

So I wondered: is the 3DS really just not designed to be fully "on" for longer than its three-hour battery life? Are the "demo versions" of games sent out to retail stores poorly designed? Is there some kind of hardware interface problem with the 3DS being hooked into a constant power supply? Has anyone who owns a 3DS observed the hardware "hanging" like this?

I'm not one of the great detractors of the 3DS. The 3D is kind of a gimmick, the battery life on the short side, and whoever didn't consider the ramifications of putting gyroscopic control into a device that needs to be held in a very particular position to make use of its central 3D mechanic needs to have their head examined. However, the 3D also works, and is sort of cool, and is probably a more credible application of the technology than what all the TV makers with big dreams of having all their consumers throw out the HD TVs they only bought a couple of years ago have come up with. And I quite enjoy my DSi, so the basic notion of a DS with more powerful polygon graphic capabilities is certainly one I can get behind.

I feel like I'm reasonably aware of the down-sides of the thing, but this is one I haven't heard commented on anywhere. And it's certainly one I'd like to know about if there's any chance I might consider the thing some time in the future, either for myself or as a gift.

 

[Worgen]

I like mine, it is a bit weird having 3d and gyroscopic control since the 2 dont work together but the gyroscopic control seems to be better then what the ipad has, it works really well, at least in ooc, its still lacking games and its battery is a bit short but I see lots of potential

 

[doggie135]

It's only hung on me once (and I got it at launch) and it occurred with full battery while using the web browser.

Still, battery life can be an issue, just not for the reason you're fearing!

 

[MisterShine]

So I wondered: is the 3DS really just not designed to be fully "on" for longer than its three-hour battery life? Are the "demo versions" of games sent out to retail stores poorly designed? Is there some kind of hardware interface problem with the 3DS being hooked into a constant power supply? Has anyone who owns a 3DS observed the hardware "hanging" like this?

I only have two games for my 3ds right now, Zelda and the Tom Clancy SRPG game, both of which I have beaten and I've never seen any visual errors like you've described. Most of the time I have it plugged in, and I've yet to see any issues that might be occurring because of that.

The 3D is kind of a gimmick,

I have to disagree with this. I think its pretty gimmicky in some games (the Clancy game rarely makes cool use of it other than to give depth perception), but for a game like Ocarina of Time it actually looks really really good. I turned the 3d off on accident one day and I spent twenty minutes wondering why the game looked so weird, then I realized the 3d was off It really grows on you. Like cancer.

 

[F4LL3N]

I've never had problems with mine. The good thing about the 3DS is you can fine tune the 3D effects or turn them off completely. All 3D games still work with it turned off. That helps with battery life and the gyroscopic thing. You can also turn the brightness down to save battery life. I can get 4-5 hours out of mine with 3D turned on because I turn the brightness right down.

If you love your DS, it's probably worth upgrading. If you're not into handhelds, the entire thing will probably come off as gimmicky and boring.

I own SSF:IV, Zelda, Ghost Recon, and the flying resort one. Zelda and Ghost Recon are the only ones where I actually got my moneys worth (even though I got the other two online for over half price).

Ghost Recon was actually a really good tactical turn based game, to my surprize.

 

[the spud]

Yes, it is probably worth it. I am quite happy with mine (with all the Zelda who wouldn't be) and it is completely backwards campatable with DS and DSi games so consider selling the DSi for funds.

 

[F4LL3N]

I turned the 3d off on accident one day and I spent twenty minutes wondering why the game looked so weird, then I realized the 3d was off It really grows on you. Like cancer.

I'm not sure if I can trust a 3D system where it takes a person 20 minutes to realize the 3D isn't even on. That said, I played a few demo models and one regular model in London. I tried out Pilotwings and SSF43D. Both were... underwhelming, and the 3D was actually more annoying than it was awesome. I'll stick to my DSLite, honestly.

I often turn the 3D off by accident too and barely notice. Nevertheless, the 3D still makes games look better.

 

[Runding]

I turned the 3d off on accident one day and I spent twenty minutes wondering why the game looked so weird, then I realized the 3d was off It really grows on you. Like cancer.

I'm not sure if I can trust a 3D system where it takes a person 20 minutes to realize the 3D isn't even on. That said, I played a few demo models and one regular model in London. I tried out Pilotwings and SSF43D. Both were... underwhelming, and the 3D was actually more annoying than it was awesome. I'll stick to my DSLite, honestly.

I felt the same way when I tried the demo version at my local Best Buy. The 3D tweaked out my eyes and I felt like it was more of an annoyance than anything else.

My biggest dissapointment however was not the 3D technology but the horrible graphics. I truely wonder how Nintendo thinks they can squeeze out 5+ years out of the underwhelming hardware.

I understand that Nintendo has a strict policy not to sell hardware at a "loss" ever again, however I think they are going to find themselves being passed up by their competitors due to their lack of refusal to change. The portable gaming market is not what it is when the DS was introduced with also having to compete with mobile phones now.

 

[Fernadette]

I've played mine for countless hours, took it on a trip across the country via train, left it on standby for days at a time, and have only had it freeze on me once. When I downloaded and was playing around with the Netflix app. The face buttons stopped working, and I had to let the battery drain down for it to turn off. Other than that I haven't had any issues with it hanging up.

The 3D really depends on what you want out of the game. I tend to keep it off to preserve the battery, plus I can never seem to hold the dang thing still enough while playing on a bus or train. Though I did manage to use the 3D and gyroscope in Ocarina of Time with no issues on the occasions I did turn up the 3D.