Most Recent: 3DS

The European 3DS eShop has been updated today with the new Nintendo Video application. This gives you another avenue to get free video content, through the Spot Pass feature on your 3DS. Spot Pass activates and downloads new content whenever you come across a Wi-Fi access point, even if the 3DS is in sleep mode.

Initial content includes Oscar’s Oasis, a cartoon that’s very popular in Europe, and 3D episodes of Magic Tricks (optical illusions and card tricks). I know it doesn’t sound like much right now, but it can only be a matter of time before we’re using this to get Chris Rock stand up clips and episodes of Transformers, right?

But if you’re expecting to see the Nintendo Video application on the North American eShop soon, don’t hold your breath. Nintendo of America’s Senior Director of Network Business, Tony Elison, told 1UP, “Nintendo’s short-form video service that delivers special video content for Nintendo 3DS systems will launch in North America later this summer.”

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said back in February, “the real test of any system is whether the games and applications draw you in and keep you engaged. Through the launch window and beyond, Nintendo 3DS delivers.” In a recent shareholder Q&A, Nintendo of everywhere President Satoru Iwata admits they were wrong about the whole “through the launch window” part.

When asked about the seemingly weak library during the famed “launch window,” Iwata replied “our preparation was lacking in that regard, and we ourselves understand that is a point we have to reflect on.”

Iwata also touched on the public perception that the 3DS can somehow be dangerous to your eyes, an opinion largely spread through smear campaigns by tabloids like The Sun.

Such comments as, ‘It’s bad for your eyes’ or ‘your eyes get tired’ have wings, so much so that some people appear to have the impression that viewing a 3D image is not good for their eyes…We have carefully taken the individual differences in a child’s maturation into consideration and, because nobody appears to have the information to declare that it is definitely safe to show 3D images to young children aged six and under, we decided to proactively encourage consumers to take care when children aged six and under are using the device.

Thankfully The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D just came out, with more of that trademark Nintendo magic coming via a slew of highly anticipated first party titles for the rest of the year and beyond.