Should you Buy Cubic Ninja and is it Worth Anything? No.

Recently, everyone in the 3DS and homebrew community have been freaking out over one game, Cubic Ninja. Never heard of it until recently? Yeah, me neither and I write articles on obscure video games for a living. So just what exactly is Cubic Ninja? It is a crappy, shovelware title first released in 2011 that has languished on bargain bin shelves ever since its initial release. The gameplay, graphics, controls, and sound were all very unappealing. Everything about this game was extremely subpar.

The game sold poorly and all the extra stock ended up in retail clearance limbo, being sold for as little as $5 new in some stores. This all changed on November, 17 2014. In a single night, the game became a sensation thanks to the release and publication of a programming exploit found in the game's level sharing feature. 

Student and hacker, Jordan "Smealum" Rabet developed NINJHAX, a neat little exploit that allows a Nintendo 3DS, 2DS, 3DS XL, New 3DS, or New 3DS XL console to run unsigned code. This means the console could now be used to run homebrew applications such as games, tools, and emulators. The exploit was incredibly easy to use, all you had was load a boot file onto the 3DS's SD card, and then use the level sharing feature of Cubic Ninja to scan a special QR code depending on your hardware's firmware. Scanning the QR code causes the homebrew program to download and run, and even saves the data from it to the game's save file.

This means you can finally play all of your favorite SNES, NES, and other ROM's on a 3DS. You could even mess around with all the Minecraft clones people have been making for the system. What is most interesting about the publication of this exploit is that Smealum waited until November to release all of this, when he had actually had the entire exploit working way back in July. Why wait? Well, he figured Nintendo would patch out the exploit as soon as possible so he waited until the latest iterations of the 3DS hardware were launched, the New 3DS and New 3DS XL, in Australia. He was right on the money about that.

Nintendo released the 3DS firmware update 9.3.0-21U on December 8, 2014 which (in their words) added:

• A Shuffle Favorites feature has been added under Change Theme in HOME Menu Settings. Users can choose multiple themes and have their theme change when the system is left in Sleep Mode from the HOME Menu or turned on after being off
• Available software updates can now be downloaded from the HOME Menu
• Users can now capture screenshots with both the upper and lower screens included
• Further improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments have been made to enhance the user experience

What they didn't list in their description of the update is that it also "fixed" the exploit. This was effectively a death knell for exploit but between November 17 and December 8, the price for Cubic Ninja skyrocketed. There was a run on the market and buyers, collectors, homebrewers, and the just-plain curious all got in on the action. Prices for the game went from single digits to as high as some copies selling for $500. Even GameStop got in on the fad, raising the price for a used copy to $39.99, despite the fact that their website still lists the price of a new copy of the game at only $19.99.

Needless to say, people lost their minds during this brief time and snatched up as many copies as they could, either to horde themselves or scalp on eBay (I personally restrained myself and only resold five copies). However, as general excitement died down and Nintendo patched the exploit, the price has plummeted back to the modest normal levels of about $10-20. You can still use the exploit as long as you don't update the firmware on the system to 9.3.0-21U or higher.

Despite all the notoriety and press about this little game, I foresee the price continuing to fall as the novelty wanes and more people move onto better ways of exploiting the 3DS hardware, especially as flash carts for the system are become more available. This game really isn't worth much anymore but it will surely have a long-standing niche somewhere deep inside the 3DS homebrew community. And for that, we thank you Cubic Ninja. You snuck into our lives just as quickly as you snuck out of it. You will be remembered.

The face of a market fad.

3 Nintendo 3DS Limited Editions Released in 15 Day Period

During the 15 day period from the end of September to October 10th 2014, Nintendo is releasing three different limited edition 3DS consoles.

Nintendo released the Super Smash Bros Red and Blue Limited Edition consoles at the end of September for $199.

(I love the art design!)

The Red Smash Bros 3DS is selling for $250 already.

The Blue version is selling for a bit less than retail price.

It looks like the Red console is the one most sought after by collector's at this point.

On October 10th, Nintendo is releasing a Nintendo NES version of the 3DS. It is a GameStop exclusive.

Every other limited edition Nintendo 3DS released so far sells for substantially more than it's original price.

They are awesome items to have in a collection and they are very safe in terms of keeping their value.

One Piece: Romance Dawn Is Rare with only 16,800 Units Available

February 2014 Namco Bandai released One Piece: Romance Dawn on Nintendo 3DS eShop, but they also produced a limited edition retail version. It was sold exclusively through Gamestop or Namco's website.

Every copy of the game came with a sequence number out of 16,800.

With only 16,800 copies made, One Piece Romance of Dawn will be one of the rarest 3DS games printed. And more than likely Bandai will not produce more.

If they had called it "limited edition" but gave no quantity indication there would be a good chance for a reprint if prices increased a lot. With a known quantity printed, this is much harder for them to do without everyone knowing a reprint happened.

Romance Dawn sold for $40 at retail price, but is now selling for $60.

Romance Dawn might be the Nintendo 3DS equivalent of One Piece Unlimited Adventure for Wii. Unlimited Adventure sells for $115 brand new, more than double the $50 retail price. This makes it one of the most expensive Wii games.

Disney 3DS XL and 2DS

Disney has recently partnered with Nintendo to release special, limited edition 3DS XL's and 2DS's to coincide with the launch of their 3DS title, Disney Magical World.

The game itself is a life simulator similar to Animal Crossing but with a Disney flair. You can farm, collect, accessorize, decorate, and interact with a bunch of Disney characters. There is no main plot, which drew a lot of criticism but despite that, the game still managed to garner scores of good reviews. But you guys aren't here for Disney reviews, you guys are here to learn about video games collectibles so let's talk about the Peach Pink 2DS.

The important things to note about this console are that this is a limited-run GameStop exclusive. Exclusives like this usually garner higher values later on, like Xenoblade. It also comes with a Disney Magical World-branded carrying case but sadly lacks the game. The major drawbacks are that the console itself is not branded with anything Disney related. This is bad for resale and collectibility since Disney is such a strong brand. While at the selling point of $129.99, it rivals normal 2DS's at the same price, it still lacks that Disney branding and will probably not be highly sought-after. This is a skip in my book but the other console is another story.

Whoa, look at this. Bold white color with gold and cream mouse ears designs and a big logo representing that strong Disney brand. This is the definition of a collectible. We have the perfect storm of store exclusivity (Walmart), limited run, and strong Disney branding all wrapped up in a Nintendo console. This is a good piece. Disney effectively defined the modern collectible market and still continues to do so to this day and I see this item as just another good piece of Disney memorabilia. As a Nintendo collectible this is just another limited 3DS XL (the 8th one) and at this point they are becoming ubiquitous but with that Disney branding I am urged to reconsider my stance. I think this is will become a rather desirable piece.

One problem I have with this is that it doesn't come with the game, it isn't even preinstalled. I have a problem with this, especially since the Japanese release did come with the full game. What's up with that!?

Yoshi 3DS XL Good Investment?

Oh, look at this! To celebrate the launch of Yoshi's New Island, Nintendo is releasing a green limited edition 3DS XL complete with Yoshi being followed by five eggs. The selling price is $199, the same as a standard 3DS XL but unlike most other 3DS XL special editions, this one does NOT come with the game it is based on. Isn't that strange? You'll have to buy the game separately. They are already accepting preorders online at GameStop.

Now the question is, will this be a collectible item? Hmm... probably. That might be a little doubtful since Nintendo has been PUMPING out the limited 3DS XL's but I believe this one will be worth buying and storing under your bed. Two reasons:

1. It's Nintendo
2. It's Yoshi

Alright, those are some pretty superficial reasons but I'm gonna back up my claim with some real data that you can see. Let's look at the other limited edition 3DS XL's that have been released in the US.

The Pikachu 3DS XL initially retailed at $199 and $149 (at Target) but now sells for around double at $400 sealed or $300 just for the console itself and it shipped with no games included.

The Animal Crossing 3DS XL initially retailed for $199 and included Animal Crossing: New Leaf and now sells for around $300 sealed or $240 for just the console.

The Pokemon XY Red and Blue 3DS XL's initially retailed at $199 and included no game. They were even available for sale much earlier than either of the Pokemon games they are based on. They sell for around $220 for sealed and $180 for loose.

The Zelda 3DS XL was released to celebrate the release of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and launched around Christmas time 2013. It retailed at $199 and as low as $149 in some sales (at Target, again). It now sells for around $230 sealed and $200 alone. It is important to note that a download code for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds came with the system.

The Mario and Luigi 3DS XL was released to celebrate Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and was part of Nintendo's "Year of Luigi" advertisement campaign. It retailed at $199, $179, and even $149 (at Walmart) during different points but is still wildly available in stores for $199 brand new and you can find used copies for around $180. It came with Mario & Luigi: Dream Team pre-installed.

So what is important to note here is that pretty much all of these have increased in price over time. That is a pretty strong indicator and collecting Nintendo is a huge fad right now. People love Nintendo and people love Yoshi; there hasn't been a Yoshi game produced since Yoshi's Island DS in 2006 and the twin launches of Yoshi's New Island and Yarn Yoshi signal that this upcoming year might be the "Year of Yoshi".

The special edition Yoshi 3DS XL goes on sale March 14th but I wouldn't preorder it or buy it as soon as it came out. I would wait for it to go on sale like many of the other limited edition 3DS XL's. When it does, I know I'll be buying one to sell at a later date... probably.

Fire Emblem: Awakening Character Ranking & Growth Chart

Otherwise known as "How I Learned to Love Donnel"

I recently bought Fire Emblem Awakening for 3DS. In the Fire Emblem series it is always frustrating to raise the level of a character and then only one attribute increases. The opposite is also true when a character levels up and six or seven attributes increase. I compiled this list of the characters so you know which to keep and which to bench.

About Growth Rate in Fire Emblem

In all Fire Emblem games each character has a hidden stat for every attribute called "growth rate". The growth rate determines how quickly a character grows in each attribute - Strength, Magic, Skill, Speed, Luck, Defense, and Resistance.

The growth rate is the percentage chance that the character will increase that attribute when they level up. For instance if the growth rate is 60 for speed. Every time a character levels up there is a 60% chance that speed will increase by +1.

Any growth rates above 100 will automatically increase by +1 and the number over 100 is the chance it increases by +2. For example, 120 growth rate for HP will always increase +1 for HP but also has a 20% chance that it will increase +2.

Why Donnel Grows So Fast

As you can see in growth chart Donnel naturally has a growth rate of 325 overall. For every level up he will increase and average of +3.25 overall. A respectable number, good enough for 5th best.

But Donnel also comes equipped with the skill 'Attribute', which increases growth rate by 20 for every attribute. With this skill factored in Donnel's growth rate is actually 485. By far the best growth rate in the entire game.

Fire Emblem Awakening Character Rank

Name	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Total
Tiki	80	40	40	35	30	80	45	45	395
Nowi	70	45	35	30	30	65	50	35	360
Emmeryn	45	15	60	45	45	75	30	30	345
Walhart	75	60	15	30	30	45	45	30	330
Donnel	50	45	15	40	45	80	35	15	325
Panne	60	45	15	50	55	40	40	15	320
Anna	45	30	30	35	35	80	30	30	315
Yen'fay	60	45	15	45	45	60	30	15	315
Aversa	45	30	45	30	45	60	30	30	315
Flavia	50	35	20	45	45	55	30	25	305
Chrom	45	40	10	40	40	70	35	20	300
Kellam	50	40	15	40	35	35	55	30	300
Henry	45	35	35	45	40	40	40	20	300
Gangrel	45	45	30	45	45	30	30	30	300
Lon'qu	40	35	20	50	50	55	25	20	295
Cherche	55	40	20	40	35	50	45	10	295
Say'ri	50	35	20	40	40	45	35	30	295
Basilio	65	45	10	40	35	45	40	15	295
Avatar	40	40	35	35	35	55	30	20	290
Sully	40	35	20	40	40	60	35	20	290
Vaike	60	50	10	45	35	45	40	5	290
Sumia	35	30	20	45	45	60	25	30	290
Maribelle	30	20	40	40	30	80	10	40	290
Cordelia	50	45	15	35	35	45	40	25	290
Olivia	40	35	25	45	45	60	20	20	290
Frederick	60	40	10	40	35	40	40	20	285
Ricken	50	20	35	30	30	65	30	25	285
Libera	45	25	35	45	35	45	25	30	285
Virion	35	40	30	40	45	40	25	25	280
Stahl	50	45	10	35	30	50	50	10	280
Lissa	35	25	35	30	35	65	15	35	275
Gaius	50	45	15	45	45	35	25	15	275
Gregor	60	40	10	40	30	45	40	10	275
Tharja	40	25	45	25	45	40	35	20	275
Miriel	35	15	40	40	40	50	20	30	270

UPDATE: There is a character with a better growth rate than Donnel - Nah. She is the child of Nowi and is also a Manakete. Her base growth rate is 375. If you make Donnel the father she can inherit 'Attribute' skill as well and would have a real growth rate of 535. Every turn she will increase an average of +5 to +6.

The difference is Donnel is a playable character after Paralogue 1, but Nah is only playable after Paralogue 16.

Why is Fire Emblem So Hard to Find?

Why is it so hard to find Fire Emblem Awakening for Nintendo 3DS? The game 'launched' on February 4th, but GameStop is sold out, Amazon is sold out, and none of the Best Buy's, Wal-Marts, or Targets near me have it in stock either. The game is selling for $50+ on eBay. For a $40 game this is a very good indication that it is hard to find.

My local GameStop even told me they didn't get enough copies in to satisfy pre-orders.

Do you think Nintendo just under estimated demand, but if they don't make enough to satisfy pre-orders something else must be afoot. Maybe is was some manufacturing snafu. Or a distribution issue with their shipping provider. Or maybe Nintendo decided to see how many people would download the game from the eShop if it was hard to find a physical copy.

Whatever the reason, I am still waiting to find a physical copy of the game so I can start enjoying Fire Emblem. Have you had a hard time find the game or did you download it?

Nintendo 3DS Now Outpacing its Predecessor

From the date of its release back in March, the Nintendo 3DS has had great expectations and for the most part, has struggled to live up to its hype. As the month of December drags on closer to the second wave of winter holidays, Nintendo can take solace in the fact that the 3DS is finally experienced a consistent boost in revenue, even setting Black Friday sales records and outpacing its predecessor, the Nintendo DS.

A combination of major holiday gift interest, along with a slew of big name Nintendo 3DS games set for release in December are just some of the driving forces behind the resurgence of the console. The eight month sales for the 3DS have now overtaken the first year sales for the DS back in 2005. The 3DS had overtaken the 2.37 million sales mark for units by the end of November thanks to a strong effort in the last two weeks of the month, including Black Friday.

One of the major game titles for the Nintendo 3DS, Super Mario 3D Land was released on November 13 to heavy sales. The title has quickly become the fastest selling Mario release of all time, already experiencing over 500,000 purchases. For whole console sales in November, Nintendo saw a 325 percent increase in sales increase for the 3DS over the numbers from October.

This increase over October purchases are telling, especially when you consider that Nintendo had begun to steadily pick up 3DS sales this fall. Over 250,000 units of the handheld console were moved in October to make it the highest selling system of the month and second overall in sales for the year behind Xbox 360.

In addition to the success of the 3DS, Nintendo experienced heavy sales for the Nintendo Wii during the Black Friday rush. Wii had its largest holiday numbers yet by selling over 500,000 units on Friday, November 25 alone.

One interesting figure in a sales comparison between the 3DS and the DS is the fact that the DS enjoyed great success after a slow first year on the market to become the highest selling console of all time. Nintendo is expecting similar results for the 3DS. With major game titles such as Mario Kart 7 and Sonic Generations likely to draw in big numbers, a big start for the second year of availability is a clear objective.

Guest Author: This article was written by Justin Taylor.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D Is Awesome

I'm surrounded by tons of enemies, I can hear a chainsaw wielding man somewhere behind me, and I need to get a time bonus in 10 seconds or the level is over. My heart is pounding as I pull out a shotgun, blast a hole through the zombies, and grab the 90 second time bonus with seconds to spare. Resident Evil Mercenaries is one of the best games I have played in a long time. It is like a little adrenaline rush every time I play.

I've been playing tons of Mercenaries on the 3DS over the past two weeks and I love it. The first few tutorial levels are a bit tedious but once you get to the levels in section 4 it is nothing but thrills.

Resident Evil Mercenaries: The Basics

You choose one of the characters from previous Resident Evil games and try to get as many points as possible in a level by killing enemies. Each character has their own weapons like shotguns, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, pistols, knives, grenades, proximity mines, etc. Each level starts with two minutes and the level ends when you die or time runs out, but you can extend time by killing enemies in certain ways or getting time bonuses spread throughout the level. To advance to the next level you need a certain number of points per level.

The levels are taken from previous Resident Evil games but they are perfect. And the game is balanced very well with a low enough supply of ammo where you can't be reckless and enough enemies where you feel like you should be.

Resident Evil 3DS Multiplayer

The best part of the Mercenaries 3DS is the online multi-player. All the excitement of single player but you need to work together to get combos, heal each other, and partner-up to kill the really big enemies. For example, you'll shoot out an axe wielding monster's legs with a sniper rifle while your partner uses their machine gun to shoot the weak spot in the back.

And there are always people ready to play. I've played at 9am on a Saturday and 11pm on a Thursday and almost every time in between. I've found a partner within 10 seconds every time.

Will Nintendo 3DS Be Hard to Find at $249.99

Nintendo announced the price and launch date of their 3DS portable video game system:

Launch: March 27th 2011
Price: $249.99

Launches are notorious for console shortages and high prices in the resale market. The Wii was hard to find for more than two years. Xbox 360 consoles sold for hundreds of dollars more than retail the first Christmas. Will the Nintendo 3DS be the same?

Factors to Consider

Launch Date: The Nintendo 3DS is launching in March instead of the holidays so there isn't a huge rush of people who "need" the item for Christmas lists so that might keep demand down a bit.

Multiple Country Launch: The Nintendo 3DS will be launching world wide within several months so the supply of the systems will need to be distributed in more places. Supply might be a bit tight in some countries.

Launch Price: The $249.99 price is higher than most other portable consoles. Kotaku has a great article showing how the price compares. Will that discourage some early adopters from buying the system? If so demand might be a bit less than previous Nintendo portables.

3D Visuals: The Nintendo 3DS will be the first mainstream portable device with 3D and it won't require glasses. A lot of consumers might want to play this innovative new device. If so demand could be really high.

What do you think? Will it be hard to find at launch or will you be able to buy one with no problem?

The Nintendo 3DS is now available for pre-order at Amazon so anyone who thinks it will be hard to find can get a pre-order before they sell out.

Nintendo 3DS Review & Game Impressions

We finally had a chance to get our hands on the Nintendo 3DS. The line wrapped all the way around the Nintendo booth and took about an hour and a half to get through. It was all worth it though. The 3DS pulls off great 3D effects without the need for glasses.

The 3DS section of Nintendo's booth is separate from the rest of the Nintendo games and you are only allowed 20 minutes to see/play about twenty five different games. Most of the games are only video demos that demonstrate the 3D effects but a few of the games actually allowed some actual gameplay.

One problem with reviewing 3DS games is pictures and videos will not show up in 3D. So you really need to play the games to fully appreciate the 3D effects. Hopefully Nintendo has tons of demo stations available before the new system launches.

Resident Evil

Resident Evil was just a video, but the game easily had the best visuals. An EA developer told us Nintendo brought Resident Evil around to other publishers prior to E3 as an example of type of graphics developers should be shooting for. The video didn't reveal much about the story or gameplay, it was just a teaser. Nobody at the booth was able to tell us if the game would play like the original Resident Evil's with a fixed camera in each room or more like Resident Evil 4 with an over the shoulder style camera.

Nintendogs + cats

Nintendogs + cats is very similar to the original Nintendogs games for the DS but in 3D and with cats. 3D really helped bring the dogs alive though. The dog would jump onto the screen and hand you a Frisbee. It really felt like they were giving you something.

Paper Mario

Paper Mario is a perfect game for 3D. Enemies shoot items at you during battles, or parts of them shoot off the screen after you stomp on them. The layered effect Paper Mario has used since its creation really come alive with the addition of 3D.

PilotWings Resort

Revisit Wuho island from Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit in a series of flying games. The game will be very similar to the N64 and SNES PilotWings games, but the 3D really makes it feel like you are flying. The plane feels like it is outside the screen and flying into it. Targets start coming out of the screen as you approach them.

Animal Crossing 3DS

The exact same game we have seen since the original Animal Crossing on Gamecube. The town is just 3D instead. If you've played one of these games already, you probably won't need to play the next one unless the game is entirely redesigned before launch.

Nintendo 3DS Official Game List

Official Nintendo 3DS Game List

Animal Crossing - Nintendo
Kid Icarus: Uprising - Nintendo
Mario Kart - Nintendo
Nintendogs + cats - Nintendo
Paper Mario - Nintendo
PilotWings Resort - Nintendo
Star Fox 64 3D - Nintendo
Steel Driver - Nintendo
Crash-City GP - Rocket
VS-robo - Rocket
Sonic (name not final) - Sega
Super Monkey Ball (name not final) - Sega
Codename: Chocobo Racing 3D - Square Enix
Dragon Quest - Square Enix
Final Fantasy - Square Enix
Kingdom Hearts - Square Enix
Carnival Games - Take Two
Dead or Alive 3D - Tecmo Koei
Dynasty Warriors - Tecmo Koei
Ninja Gaiden - Tecmo Koei
Samurai Warriors 3D - Tecmo Koei
Lovely Lisa 3D - Tomy
Naruto Shippuden - Tomy
de Blob 2 - THQ
Kung Fu Panda Kaboom of Doom - THQ
Marvel Super Hero Squad Infinity Gauntlet - THQ
The Penguins of Madagascar - THQ
Puss N Boots - THQ
Saints Row: Drive-by - THQ
Assassin's Creed: Lost Leegacy - Ubisoft
Battle of Giants: Dinosaur Strike - Ubisoft
Driver Renegade - Ubisoft
Hollywood 61 - Ubisoft
Ghost Recon - Ubisoft
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory - Ubisoft
Batman - Warner Bros
Lego - Warner Bros
DJ Hero - Activision
Cubic Ninja - AQ Interactive
Etrian Odyssey - Atlus
Shin Megami Tensei - Atlus
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona - Atlus
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor - Atlus
Resident Evil Revelations - Capcom
Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition - Capcom
FIFA - EA
Madden - EA
The Sims 3 - EA
Asphalt GT - Gameloft
Music game - Harmonix
Bomberman - Hudson Soft
Deca Sports - Hudson Soft
Kororinpa - Hudson Soft
Baseball - Konami
Contra - Konami
Frogger - Konami
Metal Gear Solid 3 - Konami
Pro Evolution Soccer - Konami
Professor Layton: Mask of Miracle - Level 5
BloodRayne - Majesco
A Boy and His Blob - Majesco
Face Racers: Photo Finish - Majesco
Lion's Pride - Majesco
Martha Stewart - Majesco
WonderWorld Amusement Park - Majesco
Bokujyoumongatari 3D - Marvelouse Entertainment
Dragon Ball - Namco Bandai
Gundam - Namco Bandai
Pac-man and Galaga - Namco Bandai
Ridge Racer - Namco Bandai
Super Robot - Namco Bandai

Nintendo 3DS, We Should Have Seen This Coming

Sometimes you watch a movie and the ending totally surprises you. But when you watch the movie again, you see all the tell-tail signs and you wonder how you didn't notice Bruce Willis was dead along. Sorry, I should have given a spoiler alert there.

This morning I got a nice little gift that gave me one of those moments. As you may have heard, Nintendo announced early details on their next handheld gaming device, and the world was shocked. But I have to ask you, why didn't we see this coming?



It was right there in front of our eyes the entire time. How did we all miss this M. Night Shyamalan hint?

And if you're interested in these candies for yourself you can get some at Candy Central, Toylet, Groovy Candies or swing by your local Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Nintendo Announces New Handheld, Nintendo 3DS [Update]

Nintendo today announced their new handheld system, the true successor to the Nintendo DS, dubbed Nintendo 3DS. The new system, no pictures were released yet, is said to have 3D visuals with no need for glasses or headgear. Nintendo also promised to release it before March 2011.

The technology behind this system will use similar tech as a Japanese-only DSi release (see more here). The game uses the DSi front-facing camera to track head movement of the player. This allows the screen to move around, relative to the player's eyes, and move the object on a 3-dimensional field.

Fan created mock up. Not actual screen.

This new system was also rumored last week to have larger screens than the DSi, accelerometer(s), a processor as powerful as the GameCube and two screens close enough together that they seemingly act as one.

We are most interested in seeing the unique games Nintendo can make with this technology. And the combination of accelerometers and head-tracking could be really interesting.

Also, in typical Nintendo fashion, there will most likely be a few more secrets left for this little device. Remember the Nintendo DS initially wasn't said to have WiFi, a touch screen, or a microphone. Those are the secrets we're looking forward to the most with this announcement.

Look for more details to emerge at E3.

[Update]

These details come from a GoNintendo article. These are to be taken as rumor for now.

Nikkei

- control stick instead of dpad
- rumble/force-feedback
- improved wireless speed and battery life
- accelerometer
- screens that are smaller than 4 inches (size of a Post-It note)
- timing on the announcement could be related to decreased software releases
- Nikkei expects release in second half of 2010

Yomiuri Shimbun

- "it is believed that the system will use a Sharp 3D LCD panel."
- this 3d tech is acheived by placing a small film on the screen, which is separated by a small space. The slight differences in the image creates the 3d effect

Mainichi Shimbun

- software developers have been briefed on the system
- third party software at launch