One of the big plusses for me of the 3DS over the old DSi or even older DS, is Streetpass. I’ve written in my earlier blog about the thrill of seeing the little green light. Virtually meeting other 3DS enthusiasts is a nice feeling, completing the puzzle panels in the Mii Plaza and earning cool hats to put on my Mii in Streetpass battle is fulfilling. And for a while I was really dedicated to breeding new plants in the Streetpass Garden. For a lot of people this was the incentive to take their 3DS everywhere.
I didn’t really need that incentive. As I travel a lot by train for my work, I’ve taken my DS out with me for years now. It is after all a great device to spend waiting time: you can play it travelling by train or bus or when someone else is driving you, waiting for a doctor’s appointment, waiting for your friends to show up for a date in town. There’s always time to game. More and more people are discovering this, when you look around you in the train most people are on their phone keeping up with social life or playing little games. For me the DS is always first choice though, much to my daughters embarrassment when I whip out my sleek looking XL.
There is a downside to this though. As any woman will tell you there are heaps of things that you just have to have in your handbag, you know, just in case. (I once saw a cartoon picturing that women over 40 can survive on the contents of their handbag, this is not an exaggeration..). And for me you can add the 3DS to the contents, sometimes even two 3DS’s. I’ve sewn a special pouch of soft cloth to take two 3DS’s safely with me, and you can bet I’m super careful with them. When I fell last year on the street in San Francisco and broke my arm, the first thing I had my daughter check was if my 3DS’s had survived the crash.
Problem with that is that my neck and shoulders don’t really agree with toting around such a heavy bag. But I guess that’s the price I have to pay for gaming on the go!