As I was browsing the video games at Toys R Us a few days ago, I happened to notice signs advertising the “Nintendo 2DS.”  At first I did a double take, thinking I had seen it wrong, but no, it turns out that in just over a week, the Nintendo 2DS will hit shelves all over North America.  Although announced in late August, this was the first I’d heard of such a device.  I asked the employee in the department about it (and he seems to know his stuff, I’ve talked with him about new and upcoming games in the past), and he gave me the low down on Nintendo’s latest handheld.

The unit is intended to function as a children’s 3DS.  That is the ultimate intention, the additional features are incidental.  The 2DS will be able to play all 3DS titles, but the stereoscopic 3D feature will be unavailable.  Backwards compatibility with DS and DSi titles will also be included.  The design attempts to incorporate elements of both the 3DS and the 3DS XL with a top screen sized somewhere between the two and a bottom touch screen identical to the 3DS.  Perhaps the most striking modification is the abandonment of the clamshell design present in all other previous iterations of the DS in favor of a flattened shape.

Nintendo claims to market the 2DS to children under 7 and the “concerned gamer.”  I don’t have any issues with releasing a more kid friendly handheld for a cheaper price, but this all seems a little ridiculous.  First of all, the 3DS was released back in February of 2011 for $249.  By the time June 2011 rolled around, Nintendo dropped the price to $169.  The 2DS is listed at $129.99.  That’s right, a difference of only $40.

I don’t think that it’s enough; what parents out there wouldn’t be willing to drop the $170 but would suddenly find $130 a more reasonable price?  It doesn’t make much sense to me.  Parents with young children have, for the most part, been aware of video games their whole lives and realize that purchasing any gaming device is an investment.  I don’t think that $40 is going to make or break anyone’s decision, parent or not, but I’d love to hear other opinions.  I think somewhere around the $100 mark would be more acceptable if Nintendo really wants to push the price difference.

The other thing that’s got me scratching my head is obviously the removal of the 3D feature.  Well, perhaps not the removal, but the fact that the 3DS has a 3D slider where the user can control the intensity of the 3D effect.  If the slider is pushed all the way down, the 3D effect is absent entirely!  Why a “concerned gamer” wouldn’t know this 2 1/2 years after the handheld’s release is beyond me; any concerned gamer who wanted to play 3DS games but had reservations about the effects of stereoscopic 3D on their vision would’ve probably done enough research in the meantime to know that playing in 3D on the 3DS is totally optional!

When it comes to the kids, I guess I could see how it would be difficult to monitor whether or not they had the 3D turned on or not.  In my experience however, younger children don’t generally enjoy the 3D effect.  Frankly, I’m not a huge fan of it either.  Certainly there are parts of games that are much easier to play with the 3D effect on, but I generally keep it turned off completely.

Although the 3D images themselves look fantastic, one’s eyes must be in perfect alignment with the device and the handheld must be held at a very specific angle.  With the nature of holding it in one’s hands and the inability to keep it perfectly steady, it’s kind of impossible to really enjoy the 3D.  At anything less than the perfect angle, it’s blurry all around.  Kids pick up on this as well, and quickly realize that even if they actually enjoy the 3D elements, it’s difficult to constantly position the 3DS correctly.

I also don’t understand why, if it’s aimed at younger children, they’ve done away with the clamshell.  One of the best reasons for purchasing a handheld for a child is to give him or her something to do on car trips, in restaurants, and other boring adult stuff.  One of the things I love about the 3DS as a parent is that my son can fold it up and take it anywhere without the risk of damaging the screen.  The 3DS and its precursors have built-in protection and portability, aspects that the 2DS will lack.

Furthermore, from the looks of it, I think kids will have a more difficult time holding it as well as reaching the L and R buttons when compared to the smaller spread of the 3DS.  Nearly everything about the 2DS fails to add up in regards to the intended market share.

Ever gone to buy beer, you know, something terrible like Miller Lite, and noticed the 24 packs, the 18 packs, the 6 packs of cans, the 6 packs of bottles, the 12 packs of bottles, the 6 packs of 18 oz cans, the singles of 22 oz cans, the singles of 40 oz bottles, and so forth?  It’s called shelf space.  The grocery store is only going to stock so many 12 packs of cans of Miller Lite, so Miller comes out with a dozen different forms of Miller Lite so that when you see the cooler, there’s a wall of Miller Lite.  With the untimely release of the Nintendo 2DS, it feels like Nintendo may be attempting a similar strategy, especially to compete with the coming wake of the PS4 and Xbox One.

With the Wii still supported, the new Wii U, the 3DS and the widespread availability of regular DS games, perhaps Nintendo is going to create their own wall.  But then again, they also seem to be pushing the concept of non-physical media, so only time will tell.

In conclusion, it looks like Nintendo may be shooting themselves in the foot with this one.  How many units is this 2DS really going to sell?  It would seem to me that most of those who want a 3DS have one at this point, and I doubt anyone’s been sitting around waiting for what Nintendo will be selling in the next 8 days.  As long as they don’t come out with dedicated games I’ll be happy enough, but I’d think that for this strategy to be truly effective Nintendo should’ve introduced this product within a few months of the 3DS.  What I really dislike about the whole situation is that it seems the 2DS will be yet another reason for Nintendo to force those of us with the Wii U and 3DS to sit around twiddling our thumbs while they focus on an extremely limited demographic.

I hate to say it, but the handheld market is dying.  The PS Vita and its proprietary memory cards just took a price drop less than 2 months ago, and now Nintendo is experimenting with a way to move more 3DS games.  Despite the sub par and all too often insipid games available for iOS and Android devices, it would seem that they’ve all but eliminated the market for handhelds, at least for the time being.

Here’s a taste of what the rest of the internet thinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re interested, it’s hitting stores October 12th, 2013.

Written by The Cubist