Meant to be Seen

I am now the proud owner of a black 3DS and 3 games (Lego Star Wars, Pilotwings, Street Fighter).
I've logged about 8 hours on it so far and thought I'd share my impressions.

First things first. The 3D is very good. It gives a good depth to the screen. I played Lego Star Wars for about 2 hours strait my first night with it.
Eyestrain is there, but its minimal. The 3D slider is nice. I played on max 3D setting for about 20 mins and noticed some eye fatigue, then set the slider to 1/2 way and didn't have to touch it for over an hour.

One thing I really love were the card games that came with it. You set the "?" card on a flat surface then can rotate around and above it 360 degrees to play these mini games in 3D real world space. I think there is a lot of promise for games with that tech.

The 3D camera is cool. And the ability to save them and show them on a 3D monitor is nice. I wish my IZ3D monitor was still working now , but I may get a new 3D TV this year and hopefully hook that up to a PC.

The small screen does force you to move it closer to your face to get a good 3D image. I found 8-10" to be best results. Arm fatigue became a problem quickly. And I was sitting in a lounge chair at home. It isn't very realistic to do that out in public with people watching.

The main issue though, I am one of those people that likes to tilt or swivel my controller when you jump in-game. Any time you jerk the screen off axis like that, it causes the image to distort for 1-2 sec and your eyes have to re-adjust. There is no way someone in a car or subway could keep the unit still enough to maintain 3D play. For me just sitting at home, I found myself dieing alot when jumping between platforms or dodging incoming lazer bolts on Lego Star Wars. You almost need a controller that is not attached to the screen. I will most likely test the 3D out on most games, then turn the 3D off to play for comfort.

That being said, I would have bought this hand held even without the 3D. The screen is larger and its a big step up from my DSlite.
A bit pricey at $250 US, but still a nice piece of tech.

I havn't popped in Pilotwings or Street Fighter as of yet, but I will post my results when I do.

Very nice man. I too have gotten the black 3DS. I am almost done writing a full review for the site, but my quick impression is that the device is very good and well worth $250. You are right, that it can be sometimes hard to keep within the "sweet-spot". But you can work with it. I was able to play the 3DS on a busy New York City subway train, and it would only be a problem when entering or leaving a station (while there was constant motion it was OK). And the ARGames are pretty good, lots of potential there. So far I have Street Fighter and Ridge Racer, and I have PilotWings on the way. If I have time I might do proper reviews of all these games. But I am having a lot of fun with this system, really an amazing kit.

Got a DS3 too!
I found myself loosing the viewable angle quite often in the beginning and the brain doesn't seem to compensate for this automatically at once. However keeping the unit in right angle is starting to go into the spines. It's not a big issue but directly unsuitable for some games where you have to move around a lot. Faceraiders is cool but it's almost impossible to keep yourself aligned all the time. If managing the alignment all the time, then spinning around with your arms in front of you like a crazy zombie has to be a sight for gods!
The quality of the display is great! It's bright and the crosstalk is very light and not noticeable (if you're not really looking for it) just as the fujifilm w3 display. Imo you can't wish for more displaywise. The stereoeffect is inspite of the tiny display really good. It can't compete with a bigger display in immersion but it's cool in all other ways! There's not really a way to compare a luxuary bmw with a methanol rc-car but both are really great to have!
The unit is stacked with a lot of fetaures that i haven't even touched yet so the ds3 is still a lot of exploring for me.
So far i got asphalt and splinter cell (got for pc as well) which both works well in 3d. I'm trying to find the time to get some livecapture from those and recording the sound from the unit as well.

I have 3DS now but thought to change to 3DS XL. Are there any significant differences between them, in addition to the size and increase in battery capacity by 86%, if not mistaken? I just repeatedly came across the lists of top portable gaming systems and there always was 3ds xl, not 3ds.

First impressions are stronger than expected. Firstly the design of the unit has taken a similar leap to when the retro style of original DS Slope Game