Is the Nintendo 3ds worth it if you already have a powerful Android phone?

I think your comparing oranges to apples on this one. The 3DS is pretty sweet, the 3D works quite well and it's graphics power is pretty crazy for a handheld.

A phone will do everything and then some, but is limited to whatever emulators are optimized. At the moment we've got a pretty solid PSX emulator and semi-done N64 one. The DS has barely been touched, and the 3DS will be far in the future, and even if it runs fine you will never have the 3D screen like the 3DS.

The 3DS is designed for gaming with a physical controller and it's sole purpose is for gaming. A phone is made to call, text, and communicate with the few apps on the side.

If you're a pretty big gamer, I'd definately go to the store to check it out and decide for yourself. Personally, after playing my friend's 3DS I think I may have to go pick one up myself.

Agreed, they are two different animals. If you want just a handheld gaming system, then that 3D on the 3DS makes it the choice to make. But if you want a smartphone you can game on, then you would pick an Android phone. None of the current Android phones, no matter how powerful, have 3D like the 3DS has, but then again, the 3DS can't make phone calls. This is one of those questions you answer by saying just get both, neither of them does everything.

It's hard to make that call since Android is still in its infancy a far as gaming goes. But personally speaking, I feel like hand held gamers days are numbed.

I think Sony has already seen the light, which I'd why they have released the PSP phone. No, the game market for Android hasn't caught up with either Sony, Nintendo, or Microsofts game catalog. But in two years or so, I sure wouldn't bet money against them catching up to, and possibly passing all thee of them. At that point what would a parent do.... buy his kid a $250 'gaming only' device, or a $200 dollar gaming device that he can also use to call him with, take pictures with, video tape with, etc...

It's the age-old 'killing two birds with one stone' theory. The average age for kids with cell phones is dropping by the season. So why get them both a cell phone, and a hand held gaming device if you can combine the two? Now I do see the phone companies coming to one compromise to help parents swallow this pill a little easier. Because I know some people are thinking, "yeah but not all parents are going to want to have to pay $10 bucks for the extra line AND $40 bucks for a smart phone package".

To all of you who thought that, congratulations, that's an excellent point. Which is why I foresee in the very near future carriers creating an entire new plan specifically for gaming phones such as these so parents can buy one for their child and activate only the phone portion of the device, leaving the online gaming up to wifi connectivity. If/when the kid gets old enough to pay for the data plan, then it can be activated that way.

I've met with a lot of negative feedback concerning this theory of mine, but the way I see things going..... is inevitable really.

So to answer your question, for now I'd say if you like the 3DS, go for it.

For the moment, if you want a dedicated handheld gaming device, then the 3DS is worth it if you can afford it.

Do you want a smartphone or a gaming device? Answer that question and you will have an answer on whther the 3DS is worth buying for you.

While I don't have a 3DS and haven't used one yet, I would personally just buy a cheap, preowned DS Lite... As an added bonus, they aren't region locked

darklide said:

Is the Nintendo 3ds worth it if you already have a powerful Android phone?

If you have the 3ds is it worth it?

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i don't have a 3ds but who wants to render 3d items on a ds??????

buy a used ds\dsl & r4 or a dsi & r4i you will have more fun
I bought a 3ds i didnt find it as fun as others made it it is kind of cool that they remade zelda OOT and have street fighter I guess it might get funner when more games and applications are released

It is worth noting that the 3DS has exclusive games and can play any regular ds games you want. Assuming the 3DS isn't a flop, it will slowly begin to phase out the dslite and all that jazz. I don't expect many new games being cranked out for the DSlite at all.

I would say it is worth it to a point. The reason i say to a point is the launch titles. If you like one of them then i would say get one but if not just wait till it has more games. I also have to agree with other people apples to oranges. The 3DS is a dedicated gaming device. As far as phones for gaming vs handhelds i dont see handhelds going away. Im a hardcore gamer and have a ipod touch i still have a DS, 3DS, and PSP, why because the ipod touch is not a gaming device in my opinion and either are phones. As far as Sony goes i dont think the xperia play will do well. Also they must not have seen the light all the way as outlaw puts it because they are still releasing the NGP.

I was at Target today and got to play with a 3Ds. My eyes must be getting old, they started to bother me after just a few minutes. I even played with the 3D slider to tweak it, and it made it better at the lower setting, but still a lot of eye strain for such a short usage time. I would definitely have to think long and hard about getting one. That's what she said!

I also tested the 3DS at GAME (games shop) and after 5 minutes or so I started feeling a bit dizzy, I think the 3D effect was too much for my eyes.

So make sure you test it out fully......

TankbusterT101 said:

I also tested the 3DS at GAME (games shop) and after 5 minutes or so I started feeling a bit dizzy, I think the 3D effect was too much for my eyes.

So make sure you test it out fully......

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Good news is one can turn 3d off completely on the fly, and (IMO) it doesn't detract from the quality of the game.

lordofthereef said:

Good news is one can turn 3d off completely on the fly, and (IMO) it doesn't detract from the quality of the game.

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Hence, 3D is a gimmick, and a cheap, used DS Lite is the logical purchase...

lordofthereef said:

Good news is one can turn 3d off completely on the fly, and (IMO) it doesn't detract from the quality of the game.

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So if the 3D bothers you, buy a cheaper DS instead.

Short answer: No

Long answer: Nooooo

At least wait a year or so. There are only a few games for it right now and all of them are horrible.

I thought the 3D effect was good, but it was spoiled by the low resolution

Jammy said:

Hence, 3D is a gimmick, and a cheap, used DS Lite is the logical purchase...

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You do realize there are currently (and will continue to be) 3DS exclusive games. The "cheaper DS" is literally the last generation DS. The games are not backwards compatible (you won't be playing 3DS games on your DS Lite). Even without the 3D turned on, the 3DS games are much more complex, at least graphically.

k3Ck said:

At least wait a year or so. There are only a few games for it right now and all of them are horrible.

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Super Street Fighter IV is quite good. Ocarina of time is also coming out this summer.

3DS looks neat and I was intrigued the first (and only) time when I saw it momentarily at E3 last year. That being said, for many reasons I've not been in a rush to buy one and I'm still perfectly happy to wait another year before jumping in. The whole thing is a gimmick, sure, but I do honestly believe we really will see some neat games showing up in the next year and a half. If they bring out cool version of games like F-Zero and StarFox it will get increasingly harder to argue that point

Overall I'd say that those on the fence would not be bad off waiting for the first hardware revision, which is probably not due for a year at least.

^yeah it'll be interesting to see what that brings
hopefully the price drops significantly too

not planning on buying anything for a few year yet tho