I finally got to have a (very) brief hands-on with the 3DS this afternoon, and I have to say, after weeks of tempering my expectations in response to what I've been told, I think you guys are out of your minds.

This whole "viewing angle" thing you keep complaining about... it's not a tenth as bad as you made it sound, neither is switching from the 2D bottom screen to the 3D top screen. The location of the d-pad isn't *that* awkward either (maybe it was someone on a different podcast complaining about that? I'm not sure, just throwing it out there anyway.) Should any Monster Hunter clones come out for this thing (practically a given in Japan) at least the setup will make "the claw" a little easier to pull off.

As for the 3D... I was sort of impressed, if not altogether convinced that it was necessary. It adds nothing to the games, but it takes nothing away either. Maybe some games are different, but I didn't see a huge difference between the cranking the 3D up to eleven and having it set very close to zero, though the lower setting was a little easier on my eyes.

I will admit, though, aesthetically, the 3D does add a nice "pop" to the image, so it's definitely something I'll take advantage of from time to time.