As is the inherent nature of gamers, we love a good console war. We take sides and defend our platforms of choice. There’s no rational reasoning for any of it. In the end, isn’t it really all about the games? Nonetheless, we have our favorites and will defend them to the death. Gamers are an eccentric bunch.

In the span of a couple of weeks, Nintendo revealed more information about their groundbreaking glasses-free 3D portable–the Nintendo 3DS–and Sony unveiled their next generation PlayStation Portable–tentatively titled the Next Generation Portable. We won’t see the NGP until the end of 2011 while the 3DS will be in consumer’s hands in March. Nintendo gets a bit of a head start but, one would have to say that Nintendo isn’t really ready to launch in March–their launch titles span a launch window of about 3 months with Kid Icarus Uprising and Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D not available on day one. The 3DS “launch” is effectively a launch in name only.

Assuming Sony will have their ducks in a row for the NGP launch, the real showing is going to come at the end of the year when both the 3DS and the NGP will be in full force.

Let the Battles Begin

Sony has not announced a price for the NGP although GameStop decided $999.99 was a good guess. The actual price will probably fall around $300 and $350 taking into account past Sony practices and the technological beast that the NGP is. This will make the Nintendo 3DS look like a much more affordable purchase even though the $250 price tag isn’t sitting well with many.

While the price is important, we all know that both portables will fall to much more acceptable price levels within a few years and then it’s going to come down to the games. The question then is: will 3D portable gaming enough of a revolution to best a modernized super PlayStation Portable?

The Nintendo DS offered features that were more than just a visual gimmick: dual screen, microphone, touch screen, and wireless connectivity. The 3DS is really just a more powerful DS with the ability to display 3D without glasses. Yes, it has two cameras and better wireless connectivity but, the NGP has all of those things minus the 3D capabilities.

I am still excited by the 3DS and first hand accounts does make it sound pretty awesome to play games in eye-popping 3D. However, if there’s one thing that I learned in the last five years, it is that Nintendo has generally left the more serious gamers in the cold. I enjoyed Twilight Princess, Metroid Other M, Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros. DS, etc. but, my Wii collected more dust than it logged play time. I own more PS3 and XBOX 360 games each than I do Wii games.

Granted, I am not much for portable games anyway. I don’t own a PSP and probably wouldn’t play it any more than my DS. I play games on my iPhone about as much as do on my DS. For me, portable gaming is more or less a crap shoot. I don’t game on the go. However, the NGP looks like it can occupy a space much like the iPad. That intriques me.

I don’t own an iPad but, if I did, it would never leave my house. The NGP is bigger than the PSP which I thought was already pretty big. It looks like it is capable of current generation console gameplay experiences and then some with the dual analog sticks, front touch screen, and back touch pad. It just needs some amazing games and I think it can occupy the unchallenged third space of a portable home console.

Bottom Line

I love how the gaming industry continues to revolutionize technology and interactive experiences. No matter how we want to slice this, the 3DS is an impressive consumer innovation. Retailers have been pushing 3D TV’s that require you to wear glasses–who is going to watch a movie at home with silly glasses? 3D viewing should be glasses-free and the Nintendo 3DS will deliver just that.

The NGP is little short of a super computer in the palm of your hands. In proper Sony fashion, all their products have more raw power than whatever their competition has. (You have dual screens? We have quad cores! Eat it.) The games are going to look and perform even more incredibly than they did on the PSP.

I believe technology isn’t going to be the deciding factor. It is going to come down to how developers can best utilize each platform’s traits to create engaging and memorable experiences. If the 3DS allows for a Mario experience that I’ve never had before and will never forget–like Super Mario 64–then the 3DS will be golden. If the NGP does something similar then it will be golden.

It all comes down to the games. Speaking of which, wouldn’t it be nice to play Propaganda Lander on the NGP?

It is official! The Nintendo 3DS will be launching March 27th with a price tag of: $249.99?! Too high? Too low? I really don’t know.

Nintendo is being fairly coy on what games will be out on launch day. We know there is a 30 game launch window spanning roughly 3 months. So the 3DS doesn’t have as much of a launch date as it does a launch window. Gaming hardware–no matter how technologically groundbreaking it is–is of little use if there’s no games for it to play.

I’d feel pretty safe betting the house that Nintendo isn’t going to drop the price shortly after launch so we’re stuck with this price until the holidays at earliest. And even then I doubt a price drop will happen. Maybe holiday 2012. So deciding if the 3DS is worth it based on a reduced price is a moot discussion. And without knowing the launch titles, it is a moot point discussing whether it’ll be worth it on launch day.

So, I’m going to judge it’s worthiness through the launch window and assume that Nintendo will live up to their word and release all the games they plan to in those 3 months. Based on past history, we can be pretty sure that some games will fall through the cracks–especially first party Nintendo ones. A good deal are just remakes of older games so there is a lesser chance of delays.

3DS 125% Better Than the Wii?

The most obvious oddity–for a Nintendo product–is that a handheld gaming device is going to cost more than the home console. Is there a logical reason to why this is strange? Not really. There’s just been no historical precedent–that I know of–by Nintendo. Granted, there’s also no precedent for glasses-free 3D games so, precedence doesn’t account for much here.

The worth of a $250 3DS is in the eye of the beholder–and that beholder will need both eyes working. The most die hard Nintendo fan will be in line for the 3DS on launch day’s eve. There’s no stopping them. They are going to get their hands on it come hell or high water. These are sales Nintendo can confidently expect.

The real question is whether everyone else will pay $250 for a portable gaming device. The launch window titles suggest that Nintendo is aiming broadly. This isn’t the Wii launch where they clearly aimed for the less serious consumer. There are some serious games in this launch window like the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D–or what I’d call the Greatest Game Ever Made 3D–and Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D plus games like Animal Crossing and Nintendogs + Cats.

This is a broad spectrum, bait for everyone kind of launch.

For the more serious mobile gaming consumer, there are no other products coming soon to compete with their game buying dollars. The holidays have passed and no one else is launching new hardware. This price tag will be easier to swallow for them. There’s also enough games for this audience to justify the purchase: Resident Evil, Madden NFL, Street Fighter, and Splinter Cell to name a few and all in eye popping 3D! This audience isn’t just drawn to franchises they know but, also the magical new technologies that these games pioneer.

The real test of this price point’s success is going to lie with the less serious mobile gamer. Nintendo knows that they are competing with Apple. The iPod Touch is $229. Not very different price wise but, there’s enough apps in the Games category alone to drown Nintendo several times over. Nintendo isn’t a game factory and the App Store model is going to win in sheer magnitude every time.

Can the adorableness of Nintendogs + Cats, the coziness of Animal Crossing, and the often irresistible charm of Mario be enough to entice the less serious gaming consumer to shell out close to $300–3DS and a game–compared to $250–iPod Touch, Propaganda Lander, and a handful of other games and apps?

It is honestly too close to call.

Bottom Line

It is entirely unlike me to avoid making a stand but, I am torn myself! I am not a serious mobile gamer. I may not even be a casual mobile gamer. I do not mobile game. I have a DS. I have an iPhone. I don’t play games on either with any regularity. I am a Nintendo fan and the glasses-free 3D is exciting. I haven’t seen it in action so I can’t judge if the product is as mind blowing as I want to think it is. And I can’t make a stand based solely on my imagination.

I am sure that Nintendo will sell a lot of 3DS units. There is little doubt that there will be impressive numbers during the launch window. If there aren’t, Nintendo’s PR team will spin some up. However, I cannot confidently forecast the success of the device 6 months after launch and into the holidays. The launch itself is going to play a large role in building anticipation for the product during the holidays.

It might seem like the holidays are far away in March but, a poor launch will be anything but helpful if Nintendo wants to share stories of 3DS inventory shortages 8 months later.

I was sure of the success of the DS and the Wii. I don’t have that same sense of certainty now which may be telling but, I can’t bring myself to damn the product and the price. I will forecast a successful launch. Everything else I leave to the gods.

Unfortunately, none of us were at E3 this week. We were all busy working. That didn’t stop me from tuning into the press conferences on GameTrailers, GameSpot, and other places. I wasn’t surprised by any of the big announcements as I knew that they were coming: Nintendo 3DS, Kinect, PSN Plus.

Surprised or not, I am still excited for some of the new hardware and games!

Nintendo 3DS

Being that I wasn’t at the show, I couldn’t get a first hand experience of 3D portable gaming without glasses. In fact, there’s really no way to demonstrate the 3D except to play with a 3DS so I am excited purely on the speculation that it will be awesome. It is a Nintendo product so unless it’s another Virtual Boy, it should be pretty awesome. Can’t wait to experience the 3DS this Fall.

I’m not a big Kid Icarus fan but, if that’s the flagship title to show off the 3DS, I will have to get it. There’s a whole slew of N64 remakes at E3 showing off the 3DS. I wouldn’t mind some updated StarFox 64! Loved that game.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Even though the presentation of Skyward Sword looked horrendous due to wireless interference, I am still excited by the trust I have in Nintendo that they wouldn’t release a Zelda game that doesn’t control well. Again, my excitement for this Zelda game is purely speculation that it will be awesome because Nintendo is behind it.

As you can see, I have great trust in Nintendo to make great games–9 times out of 10 I am right.

I was expecting something different for this new Zelda but, if the sword controls are as good as I am expecting, it should still be incredibly fun. I would have liked to see some departure from the Ocarina of Time model that we’ve seen for over 10 years.

Crysis 2

I have not played Crysis or was ever interested in it. However, I saw the gameplay demo of Crysis 2 and was in awe. I have a soft spot for games that take place in NYC and who doesn’t love super soldiers? The movie alone has me excited about the prospects of this game!

Metal Gear Solid Rising

I love the Metal Gear Solid series and didn’t think much of Rising until I saw the demo from E3. The ability to cut things every which way looks really cool. A lot of people didn’t like Raiden from MGS2. I’m not one of those people. I thought Raiden was pretty cool. I have no problem with a MGS game that features Raiden–he’s kinda badass.

Kinect

It might be shocking but, I’m not interested in Kinect for it’s games. I’m interested in Kinect for what it can do for interface interaction. I would love to voice control my XBOX when watching Netflix and scroll through my queue with my hands. The video chat also looks awesome.

However, the games aren’t that interesting to me. The rumored $149 price tag doesn’t make me want it more either.

Metroid: Other M

I am quite excited about this game even before E3 and Nintendo only showed a small clip of it. This is on the list simply because I haven’t powered on my Wii in a very long time. In fact, I gave it to my brother so I’ll have to buy the shiny new black Wii to play Other M.

I have changed all my computer’s wallpapers to be Metroid themed. Just sayin’.

***

I haven’t mentioned PlayStation Move because it didn’t really interest me. I am interested in the highly accurate wands but, there aren’t any games that are particularly attention grabbing. Sorry Sony! If I see a great title for Move, I will get it. I’ve been using my PS3 the most as of late. None of the 3D games that require me to wear glasses were remotely interesting to me. I don’t want to wear glasses.

And that’s my favorite of E3 2010!