Stealth interaction. Mario walking around your table. And 3D pictures - but is it enough to merit its 'ground breaking' tagline?

I've been playing video games consoles all my life. From the First Gen grey Gameboy and the Sega Megadrive, right through to today's seventh Gen consoles; and so I'm always excited when a new console arrives on the market. However, being let down by recent releases such as Xbox Kinect, I wasn't holding out much hope for Nintendo's latest arrival, the 3DS; but the opportunity to get my hands on one almost a month before its official release date was an opportunity I wasn't going to turn down.

The Console

Coming in only two colours at launch - cosmos black or aqua blue - the console looks stylish, although from the outside not much has changed since the standard DSi. Like previous models, it features dual screens and Nintendo's standard D-pad and push buttons; however, it is when you open the console that you begin to see some big - possibly ground breaking - changes.

The first subsequent change has to be the inclusion (finally!) of an analog stick to their console. After the announcement that Sony's new handheld console - the NGP - would feature dual analog sticks, it became almost mandatory for Nintendo to include one. However, while this inclusion has certainly been a long time coming, it remains unknown as to whether said addition comes as a response to fans requests - which have been somewhat frequent - or whether Nintendo are simply trying to steal Sony's spotlight is unknown. Either way, it feels nice, reacts well and is sure to be a hit with previous DS fans that may be looking towards the 3DS as their future upgrade.

The right hand side of the screen features a small slider, which could be mistaken for the volume control, however it actually affects the 3DS biggest selling point and the main reason everyone is getting excited about it. If you have been living under a rock for the past 3 years and if you haven't already guessed it from the name, the 3DS comes with 3D technology, which you don't have to wear 3D glasses to view. The slider allows the user to view the top screen in 2D or 3D; although, after my preview experience, I fail to see why anyone would want to play in 2D.

No games had been released when I got my hands on the console so I had to make do with the built in software, but that alone was enough to make me feel like a kid on Christmas day. In order to get the 3D to work the console has to be positioned at an exact angle, which is slightly frustrating as it is not a particularly comfortable position to hold your arms at the right height and angle in front of your face. However, once you get over this initial shock - and find the console's optimum position - you gradually forget all about it.

My first encounter with the 3D capabilities was the Nintendo sign coming out of the screen at me and from that moment I was hooked. The software on the console includes a 3D camera which I played with first. When I first heard of the 3DS I was sceptical about the consoles end result, fearing that this inclusion would be nothing more than a gimmicky add-on. Please disregard this thought, because the console is just phenomenal. 3D has become huge over the past couple of years, saturating our cinematic market; and, from the looks of things, is here to stay. Unfortunately, more often than not the inclusion of 3D means a lack of depth, with Hollywood more concerned with the visual effects than the actual script and storyline. Fortunately, the 3DS is an exception to this rule.The photos I took on the 3DS not only had depth, but the objects in the foreground looked so realistic that I felt I could reach out and touch them. Although the quality of the camera wasn't brilliant, the fact that you are able to take 3D photos completely overshadows that.

So...3D pictures, an analogue stick - anything else? Well now that you ask, yes. In the box the 3DS comes in, Nintendo have included a small pack of cards, each depicting a different Nintendo icon (think Mario, Zelda etc). When you place said cards on the desk in front of you, the character pops out in front of you in full, mind-blowing 3D. You are then able to choose a pose and enlarge or shrink your character before taking pictures of yourself with them. This is a cool little feature but it was the card with a question mark on the front that really caught my attention. After all, who can ignore the call of the mystery card? When our mystery card is engaged a set of boxes appear, before giving way to a number of targets that I then had to shoot. The game encourages you to move around the card, shooting the targets as and when they appear from a number of different directions. As such, I went from sitting in front of the card to hovering above it; before moving from left to right.

When I finally dispatched of the crafty boxes, I thought I was in the clear - until a huge dragon emerged from the ruins of its fallen box brethren. With one final push, I concentrated intently and slaid the dragon - with an element of grace Saint George would have been proud of - and order was once again restored. However, this augmented reality feature blew me away because, while it has featured sparsely on a handful of next gen consoles and newer phones, the possibilities of playing games in 3D on it are extremely exciting. Although no games were available at the time of testing, Nintendo has confirmed that fan favourites - Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong - will all feature at some point; and I'm expecting a lot of these releases to come with cards that add yet another dimension to gameplay. Pokemon cards that let you battle on your desk? Or Mario running and jumping over your keyboard while trying to rescue Peach? The possibilities are endless.

A mixture of the two features I have mentioned appear in a built-in game called Face Raiders, a game that uses a 3D image of your face as the enemy in a mini sci-fi shooter game. If it sounds odd, wait until you play it. I was greeted constantly by my own face - winking and blowing me kisses - and yet, despite those dashing looks, all I wanted to do was shoot them into oblivion. The fun thing about this game is that it captures other people's faces around you and encourages you to 'collect' them to shoot and play against.

Unfortunately, as I only got a short amount of time on the 3DS there were several features I was unable to try out. Now, out of the ones that I missed there is one particular addition that sticks out - Street Pass. Simply put, if you keep your Nintendo on while walking down the street - and pass another person doing the same thing - a quiet exchange of data happens so that when you next open your console, you have another person to play against. Theoretically speaking, if the 3DS can match - or better - the sales of its DS predecessor, this feature could connect you to hundreds of gamers that otherwise you would never have met.

I do however, feel I need to address one of the main criticisms of the 3DS. Although I only played with the console for a small amount of time, it did seem to make my eyes feel strange once I had put it down. Nintendo have openly said that the 3D features on the console may affect the way young children process regular images, however there is no medical reports to prove this, and many believe it is Nintendo's way of covering their backs in case of any future problems. It may have possibly been that my eyes weren't used to playing a handheld game in 3D and, over time, will adjust. Yet, with the technology and work that has gone into this console, surely correcting this should have been a priority? Saying that, the health issues that you may face from playing the 3DS are probably no worse than sitting in a dark room playing video games for hours, whilst ignoring the warnings to play in brightly lit rooms and to take breaks every hour, like we all do.

I've never been a Nintendo fanboy. I owned a Gameboy and a N64 when I was younger - and my flatmate and I play on his Gamecube from time to time - but I've never been overly impressed enough in recent years to go out and buy a Wii or a DS. The 3DS has changed this. I'm not usually one for impulse purchases but, after playing the console, I have to have one. Although there are only a select few games coming out at the release, the future possibilities of games in 3D and the AR features are just too good to miss. It may sound clichéd, but I feel now is the right time to say that the Nintendo 3DS is the future of gaming.

The Nintendo 3DS is due for release on the 25th March and is expected to retail at around £199.99

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