This post was inspired by a recent conversation we had at work. Not “Which console is best?” – we’re not that sad – but “Which console should I buy for my children?”. It’s an excellent question, and the answer isn’t as difficult as it might seem at first glance.

Which console should you buy your children? Easy – the one their friends have got.

Sure, the geeks amongst us will always want to debate the relative merits of this GPU or that storage medium. And (if we’re dads) we’ve each got our own idea of which console is best, but if you buy your kids a PS3 but all their mates are talking about the latest Xbox game they’re playing, then your children probably aren’t going to be as thankful as you’d like.

I know parents are usually hardwired against letting their kids do “what all the others are doing”, but this is one occasion where I think it’s for the best. Consoles these days are much more social; look at Playstation Home, for example – if your kids are on an Xbox they won’t be able to join in. Even if you’ve got the same game on PS3 and Xbox, you can’t play against people on the other platform, so there’s no concept of it being “just as good” like there was with Transformers and GoBots, for example. There’ll be no ability to share games, and if Little Johnny wants to go round to Little Timmy’s to play Mario Kart, it’ll be so much easier if he can just take his Wiimote round (and it means neither kid’s parents need to worry about buying spare controllers for playdates).

By the way, if you’re wondering which console I’d suggest for kids regardless of what their friends have got, I’d have to say the Wii for younger kids (and family games), and the PS3 for teenagers (due to it having a Blu-Ray drive). My personal preference is the Xbox 360 – I think the Xbox is better for games, but the PS3 is better for everything else.

Nintendo don’t like to play the same game as Microsoft and Sony. While those two companies slug it out building the most technically advanced consoles they can, Nintendo are happy to sit back and simply make something fun that normal people want to buy. They did it with the Wii and the DS, and they’ve done it again with the 3DS.

It's bigger on the insode

At first glance, the 3DS could be mistaken for the DSi. The biggest giveaway is the addition of an analogue pad (like the PSP has) above the D-pad, and you’ll probably also notice the top screen is wider then the bottom one. Keep looking and you spot the relocated headphone socket, the membrane buttons under the bottom screen (including the new “Home” button), and the two biggest giveaways – the “3D” slider on the right of the top screen, and the two cameras on the lid instead of the one found on the DSi.

No, this is what it's supposed to look like...

All in all, it’s a nice little package. I’ve gone for the “Aqua Blue” model (pictured); I didn’t look at one in the flesh first, if I had I may well have gone for the black instead. The blue is more of a green, and there are three different shades in use – a translucent lid, a darker panel for the lower screen and a lighter shade on the bottom. The upper screen is also surrounded by black, not blue, which of course looks better on the all-black one. It’s weird, but I’ve got used to it, and the reason I didn’t want the black is because I thought it might be a bit boring – and the Aqua Blue one certainly isn’t boring! I doubt it’ll be to everyone’s taste though, so do try to check one out before buying. One last note on the case – look at that close-up of the closed unit. It’s actually designed with big gaps and different angles all over; you’d think it just wasn’t screwed together properly, but no, that’s on purpose! Very odd. I don’t like it, I’d much rather have the style of the DSi. Mind you, it’s not as bad as the design of the original DS – that was truly awful…

The controls are quite nice; in contrast to the PSP, you’ll find the analogue pad is level with the ABXY buttons. This does mean that the D-Pad is lower down, which can be uncomfortable if you’re playing DS games (which were made before the analogue pad existed), but it’s fine for 3DS games which tend to use the analogue pad more. The new Home button joins the Select and Start buttons under the bottom screen. This gives you quick access to the 3DS’s “Home” screen – contain your surprise – which serves a similar purpose to the dashboards on the Sony and Microsoft consoles. If you’re playing a 3DS game and press the Home button it’ll pause and jump you out to the dashboard; DS games need to be shut down first. The change to a membrane-type button does mean that it’s harder to push the buttons, so if you need to quickly tap Start or Select it’s a bit harder than with normal buttons. For some reason I expected them to be backlit, which they’re not.

The cameras are all very low-res affairs – they’re there more as a 3D gimmick than anything, and since you won’t be able to view any photos you take on anything other than the 3DS, I guess there’s not much point in them being better than the actual screens. Still, 0.3mp sensors probably cost tuppence so it all helps keep the cost down (or the profits high). Speaking of the 3D, the slider on the right of the top screen adjusts the amount of 3D effect you’ll see – you can even turn it off completely. If a game uses 3D then the little “3D” light next to the slider comes on, allowing you to adjust the effect to your liking (more on that later). Obviously DS games don’t use it. If you’re interested, the 3DS uses the “parallax barrier” method of 3d autostereoscopy, and that slider adjusts the position of the parallax barrier itself to control the effect. If I recall, Range Rover use the technology in their latest models so the driver can see the satnav, but the passenger sees TV.

Nintendo haven’t scrimped on the lighting effects – there are five tiny LEDs scattered all over the 3DS. One is near the 3D cameras to let you know they’re on, one’s near the tiny WiFi switch to show the wireless activity, on the front edge you’ve got a bright blue power LED that glows Apple-style when the unit is sleeping and a charging status light, and finally a “notification” led on the right of the hinge, to let you know when you’ve got system or Streetpass messages.

The last thing to mention about the device itself, before I move on to actually using it, is the inclusion of a neat little charging dock. Instead of having to plug a cable into the unit to charge it, you just drop it onto the cradle that comes with it – once it’s charged lift it off and away you go. I bought a third-party dock for the original DS but it required you to line the DS up exactly and use quite a bit of force to push it in and pull it out, but the 3DS dock is much better. I’m a big fan of docks, I wish all devices came with them… The dock has been cleverly designed to let you use the 3DS while it’s docked, and you can even access the game cartridge slot by flipping down a little panel. One slightly odd thing with the dock is that apparently WiFi downloads are faster when the 3DS is docked. I guess the WiFi goes into a low-power mode when on battery and only ramps up when it’s on charge – probably a good thing, since the battery life of the 3DS is not brilliant. I seem to be getting around two hours of use and sleep over two days (WiFi turned on, screen brightness at three).

Anyway, that’s the end of part 1; I’ll post part 2 in the next few days, when I’ll look at using the system.

UPDATE:

After a week of using the 3DS I thought I’d follow up with some observations on the hardware side of things. The battery life is pretty poor – the most I’ve got out of it so far is just under three days; that’s one hour of playing (total, not each day) and the remainder in sleep mode in my bag with WiFi on. Considering that you’re encouraged to leave the WiFi on, it’s odd that Nintendo didn’t incorporate a battery capable of lasting longer – and at only one hour over three days, I’d say I’m a pretty light user.

I also wanted to touch on the 3D aspect. I’ll go into more detail in my part 2 post about the software, but for now I’ll just say that although I haven’t experienced any headaches or nausea, it is an odd sensation and one that can get tiring. The way it works means that there is a very small “sweet spot” where it works; stray outside that area by either tilting your head or tilting the console – not easy to prevent when playing racing games – and it goes wrong. You’ll start to see both images with each eye, but because they’re effectively the same image it feels like your brain is struggling to work out why one eye is seeing double. It’s uncomfortable if that happens! As I mentioned earlier, though, you can turn off the 3D effect which solves the problem.

Professor Layton and Pandora's Box

Today’s a great day for Nintendo DS owners – a new Professor Layton game is out! Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box gives us another dose of the charming gameplay found in the first game, Professor Layton and The Curious Village.

The games basically involve you solving lots of puzzles whilst investigating a mystery. The actual story itself is pretty much irrelevant, and only serves to move you from puzzle to puzzle, but it’s a nice change to all the frantic action games that seem to make up most of the charts these days! In addition to the puzzles, there are also places to explore and items to collect along the way. The game is presented in a hand-drawn cartoon style, with voice actors playing the various characters, and the occasional animation clip for key scenes.

The puzzles range from the amazingly easy to the mildly difficult, and if you do get stuck there are hints to nudge you in the right direction. As with many Nintendo games, it’s clearly aimed at entertaining all ages. Younger players will still be able to solve many of the puzzles on their own, with or without hints, and older players will get just as much satisfaction from getting them right first time, or without any assistance at all. We had great fun playing three or four puzzles a night for a few weeks, although some of the trickier puzzles can end up in tussles over control of the stylus for “just one more go, I think I’ve got it this time – oh, no, I haven’t, just one more go”…

Amazon currently have the best prices – the first game (Professor Layton and The Curious Village) is around £18, and the new one (Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box) is around £28 – everyone else seems to be doing it for £30+ as of 25 Sept 09 – even Play, which was a surprise.

I thoroughly recommend both these games! Buy them! NOW!