This week Family Gamer TV introduces the Emmens’ family to the 3DS. Tobi talks about what it was like to have a handheld console in the house for the first time as they jump in with Super Mario 3D Land. I also talk about my time with Mario Kart 7, and how my youngest (4) is getting on much better with the tilt-controlled first person perspective view compared to the Circle pad steering.
I found it interesting to see how particular features on the 3DS made a big difference to how they got on with it. Although much of the talk beforehand was about the 3D screen, and Tobi setup a parental control to turn this off, the younger children in the family were happier playing with it switched off.
What seemed to be more attractive to them was the Circle pad controller and motion controls. This being their first portable game experience the short battery life of the 3DS was a bit of a shock. The kids seemed to have assumed it would last for days.
Once they setup the 3DS “hutch” as they called it (the charging dock to the rest of us) the battery issue was less of a problem. Tobi also suggested that this was a good step to ensure you know where the 3DS is when you need it.
