The 3DS, The Social Media in the Pocket

Today, we had to test one of my favorite handhelds of all time. The 3DS.

The focus was the AR, Augmented Reality, which can create a "reality" around a certain point. The camera registers a picture, in this case a card, and creates a virtual game that animates around the card.

I know this is the technology that our teachers want us to write about, but my focus are elsewhere, and no, it's not the 3D technology.

It's the Spotpass and Streetpass.

The Streetpass are a simple funktion. While your 3DS are in sleep mode, it searches for other 3DS' within radious. Then it exchange data, which unlocks many funktions in your games. Other villagers may pop up in your town. New challengers may appear in form of other players. You gain more support for your army and so on.

Spotpasses are Wi-Fi spots that gives you data when you pass them. New items for your games, new people for your village and so on. It's great for events like GameStop exclusive items, you only have to carry your handheld to the store in sleep mode, and then you have it.

You gain bonuses for carrying your handheld console with you, and while you do, you also gets coins to spend in the games for every onehundred steps you take. You get rewards for having your handheld in your pocket at a stroll or trip to the mall.

But the bad point about this are our culture.

In Japan, people actually sits in cafés in order to play. They keep their handhelds with them at all time. In a country like Denmark, where every person minds their own business, do not gain this benefit. I carry my 3DS with me very often, but I haven't met a single one who use this wonderful feature. We have one of the most social gaming machines, we just don't use it. You don't have to share a thing about your personal life like you do on Facebook. You have the choice to share your photos, but it ends right there. The only thing that matters are sharing the love of your games.

The downside of the 3DS are that not every culture is fit for it, and not every person can use the 3D feature. Luckily you can turn all of the above off, and just enjoy the games for what they are.