Why I think 3DS should be Nintendo's next console

I picked up my 3DS last Friday and love it to bits. It lives up to the promises Nintendo made of it. It has a lot of good games to look forward to. And it meets all my media related needs as well.

Some of you may look at the title and think "what is this guy on about? Nintendo need a new console!" But give me a chance to explain here and you might understand where I am coming from. To start with a new console is certainly very likely to be revealed this year regardless of what Satoru Iwata says. So Nintendo are very likely moving on. But why would I put 3DS ahead of a new Nintendo console?

Looking at some 3DS games (for example Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil and even Dead or Alive) due to the small screen the visual quality seems to surpass anything on Wii. Resident Evil in particular looks very close to the HD versions, though this is likely down to the small screen. I haven't seen Metal Gear Solid in front of me so I can't say about the graphics on that.

Another reason is that Nintendo handhelds do not suffer the same as Wii. Its very likely that whatever Nintendo put out next it will do something daring in order to attract more customers. Since Wii attracted a lot of casuals developers were quick to throw any old game on there regardless of quality.

However, the DS is a different story. In the handheld market the main target for shovelware seems to be smart phones. DS kept strong sales even for third party titles. True gamers on Nintendo have a lot to look forward to on 3DS, easily more third party support then Nintendo have had since SNES.

Street Fighter has proven that third party games can sell on Nintendo platforms, and this will likely lead to more third parties jumping ship. There are potential profits for some third parties (particularly the Japanese developers). It certainly isn't capable of running Unreal Engine 3, but it can run Capcom's MT Framework. This is actually a big thing. They have already hinted at both MVC 3 and SF X T. Perhaps they will plan on sending most of their games to 3DS too.

So what is my prediction with a new Wii? It may have similar third party support at first (due to developers needing to go multiplatform) but if it keeps that support is another story. Nintendo will likely have a daring trick up their sleeve for unique experiences. If it is as cheap as the Wii was (unless Nintendo do something to improve their quality control) it could likely suffer the same fate as the Wii. In fact even Kinect has had shovelware sneak onto the shelves (and 360 is expensive to develop for anyway) so it probably won't stop shovelware developers.

Ultimately this is how I see it. No I don't think Nintendo should leave hardware, that is a silly idea. Nobody uses their hardware like they do. But 3DS is able to play some games of 360 quality. I seriously don't think Street Fighter is dumbed down on 3DS, in fact I think its better than the 360 version I have since it is the original not the super version. But if third parties don't suffer the same problem on Nintendo handhelds than they do on consoles then 3DS certainly has the brighter future ahead of it.

I believe that once again Nintendo has come out with something that proves they are the kind of handhelds. And case in point, you should stick to what you are good at. And nobody does handhelds like Nintendo. This is still a machine for their core fanbase, and due to what happened with Wii, I believe 3DS is the way to go. I look forward to whatever Nintendo is cooking but 3DS seems to have more on the game side then Wii.

Crysis 2 PC : First Impressions

I was not hyped about Crysis 2, deep down inside me I was concerned about it`s success as I thought expanding into consoles won`t do anything good for the series other than increasing sales numbers. Also I was concerned about the game not making the same impact as it did in the previous game as the game takes place in a city rather than an island which would make it seem less visually impressive. Unfortunately - i say unfortunately because i really wished I was wrong and the game was perfect - , I was right about my concerns and there is more to it.

1- Graphic settings is a joke on PC. There is no advanced setttings tab, you can only select your resolution and graphics detail. This is a big minus to a game studio which is proud of being the technology leader of FPS games. Crytek you think you develop the best engine visually and you do not allow me to adjust my antialiasing setting? Are you kidding me ?

2- Why we can not play the game on dx 11 on pc as you promised ? What happened to the PC friendly game studio Crytek ? $$$ happened I guess.

3- I can not select the game language, there is no such option. The only way to change the game language is to go to game directory, change the english.pak file into something else. It`s 2011 Crytek, you can not put an option in the game for it ?

4- I bought the game originally and yet when I try to log on to servers , I occasionally get a message like ; ` serial is in use ` . Serial in use ? ...

5- Let`s switch to game itself. Crysis was known for smart enemies in single player. They had pretty decent AI in the past. In this game, I only played an hour but the AI is terrible, just terrible ! Even a blind monkey would react to it if his friend is getting killed 3 meters away from him, but some soldiers in the game don`t. It is so frustrating , even though I play the game on 3rd difficulty, AI is still pretty stupid. I prefer to play FPS games online mostly but I thought Crysis 2`s single player would be strong as well.

6- The game does not have a `wow` factor, not the game itself, not the scenario and yes not technically. Crysis had a `wow` factor in the first game with its stunning visuals, now not.

To wrap up, I`m going to spend more time on single and multiplayer of Crysis 2 but my first impressions are pretty poor and I am disappointed about it. Hopefully multiplayer would be much more fun and the game would justify it`s price tag.

We are yet to experience true next gen

Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.

CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.

Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.

Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.

She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”

More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.