3DS

I had significant doubts when I heard about the 3DS. It must be the 5th version of the hand held Nintendo have banged out over a reasonably short space of time, each time offering an upgrade yes, but also each time demanding more money, as well as horribly devaluing any consoles already in circulation. But now I've tried one and I can confirm they are good.

My initial doubts were how they would present the 3D effect, however it is good and does look good, when potentially I suppose it could have been a disaster. The effect gives a great impression of depth and the augmented reality software that comes included is excellent. I also had a quick go at pilotwings and it was nice to look at, easy to control, everything you'd want or expect from a game of that series.

Of course there are limitations to the system, Nintendo have introduced region locking on games going forward sop no importing titles early. Security has been stepped up to try and prevent DS cards fitted with micro SDs (such as the R4) running nicked software (you'll never stop them Nintendo, give up), and the 3D effect does have a tenancy of dying on its arse if you don't have the console at the right angle.

My question is what kind of software support it'll get. The Wii was a cracking idea as was the original DS, but one thing they have been plagued with from the start is mountains and mountains of shovelware. The kind of crap cheap to produce game that is purely a money maker, I'm on about the 5000 party games compilations, the 2000 variations on the sims and nintendogs. It's very easy for software companies to shovel out this crap knowing people will buy it, than invest in a deep, clever, fun game that may not appeal to a good proportion of the userbase.

The Wii has had 'proper' titles, but few and far between, with the majority failing commercially (Okami anyone) regardless of their quality. I fear the same for the 3DS, I fear the same for all future consoles casual is ever mentioned in conjunction with, I fear the same for Kinect too if I'm honest.

But the hardware and the principle is sound. It'll doubtless get the usual smattering of traditional openers, I believe Mario Kart 3DS is already on route. I'm not ready to part with over £200 to own my own, I've just bought my netbook after all, but when the 3DSi comes out next year (followed by the 3DSi XL of course) I may pick one up cheap :)

Oh and everyone 21st of this month sees Portal 2 come out. Can't express my expectations for this game, not in words!!