Maybe we'll get a surprise game for launch?
Probably not. Nintendo of America's director of product marketing, Bill Trinen, tells us that we can expect the launch-day games to consist of some selection of the games shown in New York this week. That narrows the possibilities to any of 15 or so games we just saw, including the likes of Nintendogs + Cats, Pilotwings Resort (we've been told repeatedly that Kid Icarus Uprising, which was shown in New York, is not a "launch window" game, meaning it shouldn't be expected until some time after early June.
How's the battery power?
The system will take about 3 1/2 hours to charge and then last about three to five hours on a full charge. That's with the 3D effects activated. The company guesses that people who keep the 3D turned off could get as many as eight hours. Turning off the system's wireless via a switch, lowering its brightness settings or even running it in a dimmer power-save mode will all help the machine last longer. The system charges off of a power cord or while sitting in a plugged-in "cradle."
The 3DS seems like a pretty capable machine. One of its less ballyhooed features is that you can multi-task with it. How does that work?
A 3DS owner user can suspend any game they are playing at any point and access one of several options (all displayed across the top of the screen) that let them access a virtual notepad, a web browser and even a friends list that lets them see who else is online. As for how useful this might be: "Specifically for an example with Zelda," Nintendo's Trinen says, "If you're stuck in the water temple and you're trying to figure out where the last of the switches are that you have to hit to draw the water level down and get all the way down to the boss, you can immediately hit the home button, bring up the browser, go to whatever tip site you want to go to, figure out where that is, then switch over to the game notes, draw a map on your screen to refer to or go right back into the game." All of this can be done with the game suspended, which is superior level of support for multi-tasking than any game machine has ever offered before.
You can also get points for walking?
You can earn what Nintendo calls "play coins" for every step you make while walking around with the 3DS. Nintendo isn't saying what kind of rewards will be unlocked, but the basic idea is that walking a certain number of steps will earn system owners a set amount of coins that could then be spent to unlock game content or features in the apps that are pre-installed in the 3DS.
We know the Friend Code system is better this time around. Can you even send messages to people while you're playing, maybe while the game is suspended?
Trinen says "the goal is there will be some messaging functions" but couldn't lock in details for us.
How many friends can we have registered in the system?
Nintendo's pegging it at "about 100."
