GoNintendo 'End of Day' thought - Cort's eShop and software hands-on impressions

Cort has an End of Day thought for us today, and it’s a great one! The lucky guy got to go hands-on with the 3DS eShop, and he’s ready to tell us what he thought of the service. Is it better than the DSiWare and Wii Shop Channels, or does it leave a lot to desire? You read on below, and I’ll catch you guys in a few, short hours!

You’ve probably been reading all the impressions pieces, or the myriad of partial news tidbits here and there about Monday’s upcoming 3DS update that will bring a new way for you to channel your earnings into the giant moneybin with the Big N on it: the eShop. Considering all the other bits of mostly empirical information, I will forego all of that in favor of something you couldn’t have read about yet: my humble opinions.

Wednesday afternoon in a mood-lit conference room, I got to check out a good deal of what will be part of the update, such as the eShop interface, the Excitebike 3D Classic, and the Pokedex 3D; which I will cover in that order.

eShop

So I have to be honest, the extent of my experience with Nintendo’s online storefronts is limited entirely to the channel on my Wii, which is a serviceable interface, but one that doesn’t really excel at much for a number of reasons…reasons they clearly want to address this time around. They have streamlined pretty much every process yet also including plenty of redundancies (such as multiple ways to browse, search, or discover content) so you don’t miss out on what they must anticipate will be an extensive catalogue of software.

They have set it up as something like a virtual shelf, where things can be merchandised any number of ways, from simple categories to individual titles, or other groupings. It can be up to twenty items long, and each item can contain up to twenty items.. you do the math, but that is a lot of potential promotion for things that the Wii would be hard-pressed to even make eye contact with if they were at the same party together, all the while being very simple and elegant. At the far end of the shelf, as an example of something fun they could do for people who scroll all the way out, was something to the effect of “Best Games Starting with W”, along with a proud Wario stoutly looking on.

It’s not just promotional things; there are a lot of standard functional items as well, from simple to robust search tools, a wish list, a ratings feature (which smartly requires you to experience something for an hour first), etc. They also manage to pack plenty of extra information into some of the entries, such as trailers/videos, screen shots, meta data or even links to more info on the web, which will launch the web browser and then drop you back where you left off when finished.

While this is the beginning, they do plan on rolling out more updates in the future; some things that might not be outwardly noticeable like speed enhancements, or could be much more visible, like 3DS game demos, or “shelf” content that reacts to your unique preferences or activity (for now, what you see is what they want you to see, and is the same for everyone). While neither of those things are confirmed features, when asked, it did sound like they were at least possible…someday.

3D Classic: Excitebike

After some time touring the eShop, I got to go hands on with one of the actual titles that will be available: Excitebike, a game I played so long ago, pixels had barely been invented. One might hear the idea of those old classics in their jagged glory becoming new and benefitting from the same glitz as contemporary games and for a split second think of the awesome possibilities, and then immediately fall into despair when you assume it can only be tacky and turdsome on the eyes.

As it turns out, your first instincts would be correct. Through smart use of sprite layers, it’s amazing how a game so simple visually can take on a whole new dimension, literally. I actually had to do a double take at some of the assets and then ask the team for confirmation that what I was seeing was the original art…which it is; just presented a bit differently, enough so that, like all other 3DS software, you really need to see to understand correctly.

The game will be launching for the very affordable FREE, but then bounce up to 6 bucks. Considering you can get the actual original on the Wii’s virtual console for almost the same price, one dollar more for this version is clearly the smarter buy. Speaking of pricing, with the abolishing of the points, expect the dollar values on the eShop to come in at about the same price in real coins, give or take a penny here and there.

Pokedex 3D

If there’s one thing I am a foremost expert on in this world, it isn’t Pokemon; I can barely spell it without a cheat sheet. So pardon what will definitely sound like a parent trying to be hip…

The Pokedex for 3DS tries to take what seems to thrill fans of the franchise as much as playing the games–the giant heap of data for every nuance of the game and its characters–and bring it to life digitally, versus the print versions or other online details, and then offer even more than those formats while also making it highly interactive, the majority of you collectors out there ought to be in heaven. With so many clickable links, grouping of content, and minutiae, at times it feels almost like a fancy Wikipedia site for just this one topic, minus the misinformation and confusing page editing.

This version only covers the most recent ‘mans from Black and White, but it does recreate each of them with very clean, new 3D models and animations, which can then tap into some of the 3DS’ features, like the top-screen’s depth, or having fun with AR mode to take and composite the characters against the real world, and then snap photos, or even use Spotpass to add to your arsenal. If you’re feeling generous, you can even toss your imaginary buddies an apple or two.

Nintendo is being careful not to call this a game, which might be odd considering some of the other interactive titles they have released in recent year that probably do qualify, at least enough to sell…maybe that’s why they won’t be charging for this, ever. They are calling this more of an application; a way to interact with Pokemon data, not the characters themselves and not toward any particular goal or ending. But when there are ways to collect things, cute magical animals, and lots of buttons, someone will find a way to make it game-like.

That’s all for now. Expect me to ramble more next week. —cortjezter