Mainstream 3D gaming is coming to the masses in mere months now. Nintendo has just pulled back the curtain on a great deal of details about its next generation of handheld gaming, the Nintendo 3DS , at a Preview Event that took place in New York City on January 19. With all that fresh information now available to us, we've updated and expanded this "Everything We Know" feature to be even more comprehensive.

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E3 2010: Press Conference Demo

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E3 2010: 3DS Hands-On Demo

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Keep in mind that this will continue to be a dynamic and organic feature, constantly changing and evolving as Nintendo offers more about the system and we get closer to its launch. Now let's dive in."3DS" is the name of Nintendo's new successor to the Nintendo DS handheld gaming platform. The brand was originally revealed to be tentative and a project title, but the official name was locked down at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June 2010.While there are several enhancements that the Nintendo 3DS brings to the current Nintendo DS form factor, the official "hook" with the 3DS will be its ability to display stereoscopic 3D effects – similar to theatrical movies such as Avatar and How to Train Your Dragon – on the screen, but without the need to wear special glasses.Other new features include improved processing power, two camera lenses on the outside of the system (aligned to enable 3D photography), an analog controller called the "Analog Circle Pad," motion-sensing accelerometer and gyroscope, an infrared port, a "Home" button that enables users to jump between tasks in-game, and a telescoping stylus.The system retains the internal camera, the microphone, and the touch-sensitive lower screen of the Nintendo DSi, though the resolution of the bottom screen has been increased from 256x192 to 320x240.The 3DS was revealed by Nintendo on March 23, 2010 in, just prior to the North American launch of the DSi XL on March 28, 2010. It was officially revealed to the masses on June 15, 2010 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, California during Nintendo's Media Briefing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.On September 29, 2010, Nintendo held a press event to reveal even more details about the device, including price, release date, and system colors. Finally, on January 19, 2011, the company held one final Preview Event to discuss the system's release date, price and initial lineup of games.The Nintendo 3DS will make its debut on Saturday, February 26, 2011 in Japan. One month later, the system will launch in Europe and Australia on Friday, March 25, 2011. Finally, North American gamers will be able to get their hands on the device starting on Sunday, March 27, 2011. Nintendo had announced that the system would be available worldwide before the end of March, and, sure enough, it looks like that will happen on schedule.Nintendo revealed that the 3DS will land on shelves in Japan for a price of 25,000 yen. In North America, the manufacturer's suggested retail price has been set at $249.99. In Europe, Nintendo choice not to announce a set price, instead leaving the pricing decision up to individual retailers. Many major chains in that territory have priced the system between £219.99 and £229.99.The 3DS looks very much like an updated Nintendo DSi. The form factor remains nearly identical, though the D-Pad has been shifted down and the stylus placement has been moved towards the rear of the unit. Side-by-side comparisons reveal that the 3DS is slightly less wide but also slightly thicker than the original Nintendo DSi.In all three regions, the system will come in two colors: Aqua Blue and Cosmo Black.Before the system announcement,revealed developer hardware for the 3DS, giving us an early glimpse of the system's use of a widescreen display on top while retaining the 4:3 display on the bottom.Nintendo has not revealed specific details regarding the processing capabilities for the 3DS system, but expect it to well surpass the Nintendo DS in both visuals and processor capabilities. To provide stereoscopic 3D effects the system must have the ability to render each game field twice, one for each of the player's eyes, a technique that will require significant horsepower to produce.Japanese company Digital Media Professional (DMP) revealed. The system is using the PICA200 graphics core, a chip designed for use in mobile phones, amusement machines, and game consoles. The architecture uses DMP's proprietary "Maestro Technology" to achieve high quality visuals with minimal power dissipation.Several developers that have experienced 3DS in its current form have reported, off the record, that it has processing capabilities that exceed the Nintendo Wii, and with 3D shaders they can make games that look close to current generation visuals on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on the lower resolution screens.Off the record information from developers working on the system have indicated that Nintendo 3DS will pack not one, but two 266MHz ARM11 CPUs, along with a 133MHz GPU, 4MBs of dedicated VRAM, 64MBs of RAM, and 1.5GBs of flash storage.The 3DS device is not using, a rumor that's been floating around since 2009.Nintendo has revealed several first-party projects in the works, including new installments in the Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Paper Mario, Pilotwings and Nintendogs franchises, a long-desired new sequel for the Kid Icarus series, 3D remakes of the classic Nintendo 64 titles Star Fox 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and at least one new IP, the submarine simulator Steel Diver. The company has officially kept quiet on the development of a new Mario platformer so far, however Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has been quick to mention in interviews how appropriately matched the 3D display would be for Mario's running and jumping.

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In addition to those retail titles, Nintendo is also developing a variety of games and applications that will be digitally distributed to the 3DS by way of a newly-revised download shop -- along with some software that will ship pre-loaded onto the system memory. That software includes Face Raiders, a shooting game that has you first take a picture of yourself and then challenges you to attack swarms of enemies wearing copies of your own face, and AR Games, an "augmented reality" design that uses the system's outward-facing cameras and a set of physical playing cards to make it appear that things like dragons and Mii characters are living on your kitchen table and out to get you.There were several more tech demos shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, though it's unclear if any of those projects will be turned into final 3DS software.Nintendo's 3DS seems to have captured the immediate attention and imagination of several of the gaming industry's biggest third-party developers, and right from the start there's an avalanche of well-known brands and series making an appearance on the system.Capcom will be one of the first out of the gates with a new 3D Edition of the wildly popular Super Street Fighter IV, and two installments in the Resident Evil franchise -- Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D and Resident Evil: Revelations, are on the way.Konami will be bringing an updated 3D version of the PS2 classic Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater to the portable, along with a new Pro Evolution Soccer, Contra, and Frogger games. And Hudson Soft, now fully owned by Konami, will be contributing Bomberman, Deca Sports and a new puzzler called Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle.Ubisoft will claim the greatest volume of titles from one company in the early-going, as it's pledged eight different games in the launch window. They include Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars, Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D, Rabbids Travel in Time, James Noir's Hollywood Crimes, new installments in the Asphalt and Driver racing franchises and a new port of the classic Rayman 2: The Great Escape.SEGA will be sending Super Monkey Ball 3D to the system, while Sonic the Hedgehog is set to show up at some point. Sonic's creator, Yuji Naka, has also announced a new IP called Rodea the Sky Soldier too. Square Enix will be represented by the next Kingdom Hearts adventure, called Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and Tecmo Koei's Team Ninja is developing Dead or Alive Dimensions, a fighting game that includes a Metroid crossover stage featuring Nintendo's Ridley and Samus Aran.Altogether there are tons of third-party projects in the works, and we'll soon be presenting a detailed guide to them all in advance of the system's launch.The 3DS system employs technology that sends two individual images to the left and right eyes of the player. With each screen displaying the same image slightly off-set, the system will force your brain to interpret depth in the same way it does with natural depth perception. There is a "sweet spot" where players must hold the system straight in front of them and at a specific distance from their eyes, and though any drift outside of the sweet spot will kill the 3D effect, it's a wide enough range to enable a certain range of freedom.The 3DS features a 3.5 inch widescreen display, capable of resolutions of 400 pixels wide by 240 pixels wide -- the system renders a display at 800 pixels by 240 pixels, but the display resolution is cut in half to provide the 3D effect.Prior to the system announcement, Nintendo. The system has a slider control on the right side of the top half of the system that can intensify or weaken the 3D effect – pushing the slider all the way down turns the stereoscopic effect off completely. An LED indicator will light up when the 3D effect is turned on, no matter its intensity.When the 3D effect is turned off, you will no longer need to hold the system in its "sweet spot" as the screen will only display one of the two images.Nintendo has not revealed which company is supplying the 3D screen technology, but it's expected that Sharp, the current provider of LCD screens for the Nintendo DS, is supplying the 3D displays for the 3DS portable. The company revealed, just a week after Nintendo's 3DS announcement in March 2010, its portable 3D screen technology.