Nintendo Patent Issues

I know I've not been around here that much, but that's all about to change and I thought I'd make my first thread on here.
Anyway, Nintendo have lost a court battle for using a patent for the 3D camera lenses on 3DS, so in effect they've got to hand over a massive bill and around £1.80 for every 3DS they sell from now on.

Thoughts on this one? In all honesty I would just drop the 3D camera on it, I can't say I've ever used that feature and if I'm not mistaken you didn't even need it for face raiders. Alternatively, if Nintendo don't want to do a re-design of the console they could keep the dual cameras on the front but not use any of that technical wizardry and code that makes it 3D.

Oh, was it only for the camera? I thought it was for the whole glasses-free 3D malarkey. Or was that the previous lawsuit? Anyway, I used the camera for Face Raiders for less than an hour and then never again. It's a nice touch, but if Nintendo can release a cheaper 3DS without said camera I don't think they'd be missing much (apart from annoying the otaku who want to ogle Agnès Oblige off Bravely Default positioned in their living rooms).

Balladeer wrote:

(apart from annoying the otaku who want to ogle Agnès Oblige off Bravely Default positioned in their living rooms).

You leave Fronkhead out of this.

Anyway, to contribute: I probably wouldn't miss it. That being said, at the Zelda concert last year, I did discover that even in 2D it's a better camera than my phone

Only ever used the camera in the first year or so I wouldn't mind if a redesign removed it.

I can't vote in the poll though, because I don't think it's a steaming pile. It's nice to have. I just wouldn't miss it much.

I'd say to drop it as well from a business standpoint, though I suspect perhaps they haven't dropped it because it might break software compatibility with some games that include AR features?

I wonder if the 3D-ness allows the systems to determine how far objects are away from the 3DS camera. Especially so since they included it in 2DS, which has no 3D slider so anything saved from that camera wouldn't show 3D anyway.

I do like the 3D camera, though, but while we likely all bought a 3DS to some extent for the exciting 3D functionality including the camera, new buyers probably won't be as interested (which is a crying shame).

Thank goodness Nintendo weren't ordered to pay a flat fee, at least, and hopefully they'd have saved as much money per unit by eschewing the AC adapter and charging dock (as well as huge packaging) with XL models.

beemoh wrote:

Balladeer wrote:

(apart from annoying the otaku who want to ogle Agnès Oblige off Bravely Default positioned in their living rooms).

You leave Fronkhead out of this.

Anyway, to contribute: I probably wouldn't miss it. That being said, at the Zelda concert last year, I did discover that even in 2D it's a better camera than my phone

Hey, I don't do that!

fronkhead wrote:

Thank goodness Nintendo weren't ordered to pay a flat fee, at least, and hopefully they'd have saved as much money per unit by eschewing the AC adapter and charging dock (as well as huge packaging) with XL models.

That's what I was thinking too, and even if they make a profit of say £45 per unit, them losing £1.80 or so off of that isn't too bad at all since it would technically be a tax write off.
Still though, I wonder what their reaction was to this whole issue. It's lucky the patent owner didn't want say £10 million for it, that would have been a serious blow to them.

I use the camera quite a lot, but I was over the 3D aspect ages ago. I can't see them removing it or anything, though.

Never used it. It wasn't much of an advert for what the 3DS was capable of, I thought. Take it out and replace it with
N64 GAMES ON THE VIRTUAL CONSOLE.