Nintendo had that big 3DS update the other week, but do you know what feature was missing? If you were thinking of the promised messaging service, you would be correct! Swapnote, also known as Nintendo Letter Box in Europe, is the eShop application you'll be on the lookout for. It will drop in Euroland on Thursday and will probably appear everywhere else on the same day.
As you can see in the video, it operates a lot like PictoChat on the DS, only now you can add photos and sound clips to your messages. Oh, and the messages can be sent via StreetPass and SpotPass, so there you go. Chew on that.
Tony Ponce (aka megaStryke) is a culturally confused, Canadian-born Puerto Rican who grew up in Japan and South Florida ... yet can only speak English. He specializes in writing features and maintaining an immaculate goatee. Likes: Any and all things related to Mega Man, Contra, Castlevania, 2D, PB&J sandwiches, applesauce, and candy corn.
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Do all your friends have to be within the app to work? Like the forsaken wii chat thing? Or is it like an email system? I wish it was just integrated into the system itself...
Meaning I'll have to exit my game in order to send someone a message inviting them to play with me, or asking for example, what gamemode they want to play?
Um, what's the different between Spotpass and Streetpass? If you have to go to a special location (Streetpass hotspot) to receive letters, then this app is still complete shit. Why not just let us send/receive the messages over any Wifi connection?........................... -_-
Oh goodie! Now I can send and receive messages to my friends in a way that's totally not obnoxious whatsoever. I would've preferred sending messages directly through the friends list, but this works too. :/
Wow nintendo finally steps into 1996 . Now I can message those people that I had to break the da Vinci code to add only to find we could only communicate via a very short status message . Nrrrrr
The funny thing is that I own a 3DS, but I've never utilized either Streetpass or Spotpass. If Spotpass means over Wifi, then that's great! FINALLY we get a....semi-...online messaging system.
@masterballs I was thinking of when 'IMing' became a big thing . I honestly don't understand how anything Internet able wouldn't give you the means to communicate with people easily as a first port of call
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Contest:
1:00 AM on 12.21.2011 | 
Do all your friends have to be within the app to work? Like the forsaken wii chat thing? Or is it like an email system? I wish it was just integrated into the system itself...
Have you never used Spotpass at all? At least half the games I've had for 3DS make use of it in some fashion.
Although, question: is it usable during game sessions?
Meaning I'll have to exit my game in order to send someone a message inviting them to play with me, or asking for example, what gamemode they want to play?
Nintendo, failing at online yet again.
And of course someone somewhere would find something else to complain about.
Hey there Einstein; by Streetpass means you can exchange messages locally... y'know, like Pictochat?
And you can receive messages over any wi-fi connection. That's spotpass.
You obviously don't own a 3DS. Go look up what Spotpass is. Please, be knowledgeable about a subject before you start trolling.
In terms of gaming consoles, wasn't the Xbox 360 in 2006 the first one to send proprietary messages? :P
"I love it when dem bitches Swapnote"
Sounds fun though. Now I can spam bomb my roommate from across the house when he's playing whatever-fuck he's playing atm.