I have always liked seeing a new generation of handheld consoles, starting with the gameboy advance. When this was released I bought it only a few months in; and I loved it. Naturally, when the DS was announced a few years ago, I was again furiously excited. I preordered the DS and spent hours and hours looking at pictures of the DS in magazines, dreaming on the moment I would get mine; where I could start to play games of equal graphics to a Nintendo 64 (yeah sad I know). And then the day came when my DS arrived, along with Super Mario 64, Asphault Urban GT and the demo: Metroid Prime Hunters First Hunt. I have to say I loved it, everything about it. The graphics, the 2 screens, the amazingly accurate touch screen, the portability, just, everything about it I found perfect.

Unfortunately though, times changed. With the release of the next generation of home consoles, I became a lot more interested in graphics. And I found DS games were going very much downhill unfortunately. It started out great, I bought Mario Kart, Metroid Prime Hunters, Pokemon Pearl, and a few other quality titles such as Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.But then that is where IMO the games just went downhill. Nintendo released more and more gimicky games for the system, that used the touch screen more and the power of the system less. I started to really dislike new titles appearing for the Nintendo DS, such as Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, My Sims.

I still played the console for the few decent games that I owned, but then my DS broke, and I was left without a handheld. At this point I decided I would not get another DS, since I was noticing the Sony PSP more and more. The games seemed to appeal much more to me, with titles such as God of War, Gran Turismo, Socom, Patapon, Medal of Honor and also Resistance Retribution. So it didn't take me long to decide I would buy a PSP, and to this day I have the PSP 3000, which I have got many hours of enjoyment out of, with graphics well beyond those of the Nintendo DS. I love the PSP, but I do admit, I miss some of Nintendos characters, like Donkey Kong, Pokemon, and of course I missed Mario Kart.

That is why when a Nintendo 3DS was announceda few months ago, I got a bit interested. Not a lot, especially since Nintendo now have a track record for releasing less powerful systems usually with a gimmicky (IMO) selling point. This is why I was expecting an ever so slightly more powerful DS just with the 3D.

Nevertheless, I watched Nintendo's E3 press conference live on the internet because I was interested in the direction that the 3DS was taking. Quite frankly, the first half of Nintendo's conference completely bored me; yet another Zelda game, yet another Metroid game, blah blah; I could have fallen asleep.

But then the 3DS was shown, and my interest immediately picked up. I will admit, the console showing of the system at the conference put me off massively. After all, it was just a Nintendo DS with a slightly larger top 3D screen, a gimicky 3D camera, and a slide pad. Sure, they bragged that it had more graphical power, but he didn't show much of what it could do; they just showed an advert which didn't really say a lot about the system other than it has a 3D screen and it is made by Nintendo.

So i was rather underwhelmed by the 3DS. That is until I saw a forum post right here on Gamespot, titled something like: "Wow, see these 3DS graphics". I thought I might as well have a peek at this point, but I wasn't expecting a lot. But boy was I amazed. Especially with Metal Gear Solid. My jaw almost hit the floor when I saw these shots:

There are many more shots if you find them. Since then though, my thoughts on the Nintendo 3DS have increased dramatically. The Metal Gear Solid game, even before the system is released looks better than MGS Peace Walker on the PSP; so with a couple of years where developers have a chance to get used to the hardware; I am sure the graphics will improve a fair bit, increasing the graphics lead over the PSP. Sure, I still find 3D in this way largely a gimmick, but with a Metal Gear Solid game that looks like that, and with so many decent games already confirmed, whats not to like about this system?

Well, maybe there will be a few things. Firstly, Nintendo did not at all mention any price point for the 3DS, which leads me on to believe that this may be rather an expensive handheld. I am predicting with the technology included, we are looking at a £200 handheld console.

The price on its own though is worth paying so long as the games are that go with the platform. There is already a large list of titles confirmed coming out at some point for the 3DS, including a remake of Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Mario Kart, Metal Gear Solid, and an assassins creed game. And we can be certain there will be a Pokemon game or 6 coming out for the 3DS in its lifetime too... but, this is still Nintendo. Call me prejudice, but I think that the 3D screen will just be yet another excuse for shovelware games like those found on the DS. I believe those titles I mentioned are likely to be the ONLY decent titles available for the 3DS for a long time in my opinion.

So now I am very much on the fence about this system, and I need your opinions on it, what do you lot think about the 3DS? I think on the one hand it has great graphics, it looks a solid improvement over the DS and the PSP, but on the other hand... what about a PSP2? Would a PSP2 announcement bring along a huge leap in handheld power?

What are all your thoughts on the 3DS? Tell us here!

PS: All this writing is simply my own opinion, please do not take any offense from any part, have a nice day :D