Remember earlier this week when I posted my impressions of Nintendo’s new handheld, the 3DS? The tl;dr version goes a little something like this: Nintendo has this unique opportunity to do something neat with 3D, but 3D itself is already pretty kitschy. So unless developers think of creative ways to utilize the system, it might end up just being a Nintendo DS with better graphics and the ability to make our eyes hurt a lot.Which is precisely why it boggles my mind that after trumpeting the handheld’s ability to provide glasses-free access to the 3rd dimension, Nintendo now seems to be discouraging devs from making games that can’t be played in 2D as well as 3D.Wired, speaking yesterday with 3DS producer Hideki Konno:At last year's E3 Expo, Nintendo showed off a massive array of software demos for 3DS. While most of them will be available soon, one of the most interesting ones seems to have been shelved entirely.The demo showed a Mario-style jumping game with transparent platforms. In the system's 2-D mode, it was virtually impossible to tell where the overlapping platforms were in relationship to each other. With 3-D on, the depth effect lets you see where to jump."We want to get software out to as many people as possible, and there are some people who just can't see 3-D," said Konno when asked about this demo. "We're moving away from any stance that says if you don't use the 3-D functionality you can't play this game."This is kind of a big deal because Nintendo has now essentially admitted that 3D is not really that important to their new platform — at least, not as far as gameplay goes. Instead, it’s intended to be more like a bottle of hot sauce that sits in the corner of your table at a diner; an opt-in visual garnish to spice up the usual menu of bland videogaming grub.Sorry, but isn’t this exactly the reason we think 3D is stupid in the first place?In their quest to please everyone, it would seem Big N has turned its back on the one thing that made the 3DS so intriguing in the first place — the potential for creating new kinds of gameplay experiences. Imagine if three days before the Wii came out, Nintendo told developers, “your games shouldn’t make the player move around, because some people are paraplegic and can’t do that.”And all the while, I can’t help but draw parallels to Nintendo’s last foray in additional dimensions, the Virtual Boy. It was during this failed experiment that Nintendo made the opposite mistake: All games for the system made use of its bizarre, monochrome visual trickery and — surprise! — everyone thought it was disorienting and weird. There aren’t any goofy goggles to look through this time around, but it would seem the principle at work here is essentially the same.I’m still at a loss to understand this obsession with 3D and why we keep trying so desperately to make it work. But even if Nintendo can’t make up their minds, I suppose it’s comforting to know that underneath all the 3D hooplah, there’s a beefed-up Nintendo DS in there. And Nintendo has never had any trouble selling those.Now, put on your 3D glasses and have a look at the header image I painstakingly constructed for you above. You’re welcome.
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