Nintendo Expected to Disclose 3DS Details at E3

Nintendo is expected to disclose details of its coming 3DS handheld game system and show it publicly for the first time at E3 in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The company said in March that its device will provide stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of special glasses (CED March 24 p1).

Nintendo has provided few details about the 3DS, other than to say it will ship this fiscal year, which ends March 2011. It isn’t clear how much the device will cost, what companies are providing components or how it achieves 3D effects without glasses. A source told Consumer Electronics Daily that the device will use Sharp’s 3D LCD technology (CED Match 25 p1). Sharp hasn’t confirmed that. The method used by Sharp is commonly referred to as parallax barrier. 3DS is the working name, and the device could have a different name when it launches.

E3 may also bring the unveiling of a long-rumored HD version of the Wii, and a new version of Sony Computer Entertainment’s PSP handheld system, possibly also featuring 3D. Sony was mum on plans for its Tuesday E3 briefing. Sony is also expected to provide specifics on its initial stereoscopic 3D PS3 games.

Microsoft, meanwhile, is expected to talk up heavily its Project Natal motion control system. While Sony provided hands-on demonstrations of its new PlayStation Move motion control system for the PS3 at Game Developers Conference early this year (CED March 12 p3), Microsoft sat on the sidelines there. Sony said at GDC that a Move starter kit will cost under $100 when it ships this fall. Microsoft hasn’t disclosed Natal pricing or said what the product’s name will be when it ships this year. That information is expected to come Monday at its E3 briefing. Hands-on demos were planned for the evening before. Exact ship dates for both systems may finally be disclosed at E3. Always a possibility at E3 is the disclosure of price cuts on current systems by all three hardware makers.

Mad Catz Interactive executives offered an upbeat take Thursday on Natal, though Microsoft’s system basically converts players into their own controllers, seemingly leaving little room for Mad Catz to provide the sort of third-party accessories it has long been known for. Natal “is a really exciting thing for the whole videogame space because it adds an entirely different element to game play,” CEO Darren Richardson said on an earnings call. The new control system, as well as Sony’s Move, is to be released as the videogame industry has largely seen sales slow down from 2009. Microsoft and Sony are treating the launches of both systems along the lines of console launches. It’s widely believed in the game industry that the introductions will delay the start of the next console cycle.

"It’s going to be interesting to see how” Natal is incorporated into games, Richardson said, but “there is an awful lot of gaming that quite simply won’t be replaced by Natal.” For example, he said, Rock Band games lend themselves to physical controllers. “Air guitar is fun, but an actual guitar is actually more fun,” he said.

Playing Activision’s Call of Duty games with a control pad is “absolutely fine,” Richardson said. “Although it’s possible to actually hold a gun up and point out at the TV in the Natal system and play a game, it’s very difficult to physically do that for more than about five or 10 minutes at a time, depending on your fitness,” he said. Therefore, “to the extent that videogames are a relaxing couch activity, they'll probably remain a relaxing couch activity,” he said, indicating that many consumers are perfectly content to be couch potatoes and use a device to control game play while they're sitting or even laying down. Natal is a “way of actually spicing up some of the existing game content,” he said.

Mad Catz will also “have some Natal products,” Richardson said without elaborating. Chief Financial Officer Stewart Halpern stressed that standard controllers account for only 28 percent of the company’s business.