Daughter number 1 is asking for a 3DS for her birthday. I noticed that they have been around a while, is it old tech? Mind you it would be mostly for Minecraft. Is there something new on the horizon?

is it old tech?

Yes – but there aren’t many hand-held games machines around now. Tablets have pretty much replaced them.

I’d get a 2nd hand one of eBay – and spend the saving on another pressie.

Is Minecraft even available for the 3DS?

3ds is likely to be phased out with the switch taking over as Nintendo’s home and portable. Still, loads of cheap games for them about my kids love theirs, the eldest has a 2ds now though as the hinges go on the 3ds and the screen falls off. Daughters is fine but she doesn’t use hers as much.

For minecraft though, pocket edition seems to be more feature rich, even than the console version, we have it for wiiU and the kids both have it for their ipods. The eldest uses his ipod more, as you can use mods on that but not on the Wii.

I don’t see the appeal personally, but that’s me.

The new 2ds xl is probably the best option. Large screen, plays the same games, just no 3d option. But the 3d gets old very quickly and you soon switch it off anyway.

Our kids still love their old 2ds, no 3D but that may be a positive, same games. Can you get minecraft for Nintendo?

I’m thinking you can, I’ll need to check. I think she saw it on a Minecraft video. Currently she is playing it on a tablet, kindle fire, I’m not sure the 3ds is going to offer much more. I’ll need to quiz her a bit more on why she wants one.

Looks like you can’t officially get minecraft on the DS, you need one of them dodgy cards.

Cheers, that’s quite interesting, I’d assumed you could because you can get it on the wii.

I went 2ds to avoid the hinges breaking too. No1 son had a ds lite years ago and broke the hinges so when son No2 requested a ds we went 2ds and he seems to love It.

still love their old 2ds, no 3D but that may be a positive, same games.

The real advantage of a dedicated console like a DS is that they’re less reliant on an internet connection and there’s less chance of them accidentally buying something if you don’t nail the settings. We’ve been away before and the games the kids have had on iPods just don’t work without wifi so the DSs have had some hammer.

They do use iPods more though, when they can.

Cheers all for the input. After a chat it seemed it was Dan TDM to blame playing a tamagotchi game. I’d imagine that once the novelty wore off it would be back to minecraft on the tablet. Bluetooth speaker and some new sports kit instead.

It looks like Minecraft is coming out on the 3DS

Link

Be aware that there’s original and “new” 3DS’s. The new one has an extra joystick and something or other different as well. The games are the same, unless that is they’ve brought out some which can only work with the extra stick. It’s something worth looking into if you’re buying one.

We got our 8yo son a 2DS last year for Christmas. Suffice to say it comes out once every quarter for an hour, the rest of the time he plays games (mostly Minecraft obviously) on the iPad Mini instead.

Oh god, my boys are going to explode!