Nintendo Holds Annual Conference, Adds Button

I used to be a die-hard Nintendo DS player. But the console just doesn’t do it for me anymore. What does it say that out of all the news from Nintendo’s big 3DS conference today, that perhaps most remarkable revelation is the addition of a single button?

While it wasn’t explicitly mentioned at the conference, the Slide Pad extendor-nubbin ended up disclosed on the Nintendo website. It won’t cost much, tagged at just 1500 yen (about $20) — which is good because it doesn’t look like much. For fans of the supported games – Monster Hunter Tri G, BioHard Revelations, etc – perhaps it might be exciting. But as I think back to the days when I was first wowed by the Nintendo DS, turning it into a Frankenstein console like this just doesn’t do it for me.

Just like last year, Nintendo put off its own conference snubbing the Tokyo Game Show that starts this week. The company did announce a number of solid titles to be released in November, but the event was one without any real climax. At least for me.

The 3DS will be getting Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Mario Kart 7. And the console will also get an update in November that will enable 3D video recording on the device. So perhaps I shouldn’t be down on Nintendo. But I can’t really shake this ‘Meh’ feeling…

Nevertheless, I am far more eager to pay a visit to Tokyo Game Show this week and check out all the companies (GREE, DeNA, Konami, etc) that are eating Nintendo’s lunch (see below).

Reuters