Nintendo enjoys creating hardware that offers new ways to interact with games, such as the Wii's motion controls, or the 3D screen of the upcoming 3DS. The problem with the new portable is a distressing one, and it may become increasingly apparent as time goes on: not everyone can see the 3D images. That means that Nintendo's ability to create games that rely on that central mechanic is limited, unless they want to alienate a portion of their audience. This is the rare case of a company launching with a new technology it seems unwilling to use to its fullest capabilities.

The press was able to play game demos at the last E3 that relied on your ability to see depth in order to proceed, but now those concepts have disappeared. "We want to get software out to as many people as possible, and there are some people who just can't see 3D," Nintendo 3DS producer Hideki Konno told Wired's GameLife. "We're moving away from any stance that says if you don't use the 3-D functionality you can't play this game." This creates an important distinction between 3D that is used for aesthetic purposes and 3D that is used to give the player information or to use to solve puzzles. By forcing all games to work in both 3D and 2D modes, and not using 3D that's inherent to the gameplay, no one will be able to truly take advantage of the technology behind the 3DS.

Current 3D technology doesn't work for the small percentage of the gaming population that has issues processing stereoscopic images. Having eyes that aren't properly aligned, or suffering from astigmatism, means that you either can't see images in 3D on a screen or they cause significant strain and discomfort.

When looking at a normal image, both eyes focus on the same object, and the distance between your eyes is used to help your brain work out the distance to that object. 3D presents something of a hack in that you're looking at two different images, and your eyes must work to bring them together in order to create the illusion of depth. This isn't how our eyes, nor our brains, were designed to judge distances, and it leads to strain and, in some cases, headaches. Even when playing 3DS games that use 3D well, you can feel how hard your eyes are working to maintain the illusion.

When the system is released on Sunday, you can test how your brain switches between the faux-3D of the 3DS and the real world: try to play a 3D game in a moving car while someone else drives. Then, without giving yourself a moment to relax your eyes, look up from the screen into incoming traffic. I tried this a number of times, and my brain tended to freak out, struggling to figure out how to focus my eyes in order to see "real" depth in the physical world.

Even with eyes that work well, many gamers are going to be turning the 3D effect off and on as they play to decrease eye strain, making games that truly take advantage of the 3D technology a challenge to produce. This is a significant issue for Nintendo, akin to the company launching the Wii while saying games that rely on motion control are a bad idea. If Nintendo is unable, or unwilling, to leverage everything 3D can do for gameplay, the technology will remain a gimmick, simply layered over standard portable games.

Our hope is that someone is willing to go all-in with a 3D title that creates new gameplay ideas or mechanics that rely on the sense of depth the system delivers, instead of shoe-horning 3D effects into existing games. Nintendo as a company is relied upon to show mastery of its own hardware; if it's backing off from 3D that helps in gameplay, we can expect third-party developers to do the same.