Nintendo is ignoring its biggest weapon on the 3DS...

So Nintendo has more or less admitted that the 3DS is in critical condition, but to their credit they are taking fairly drastic steps to turn it around, namely with a huge price drop and an emphasis on what looks to be a pretty strong holiday lineup with the trio of Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart and Kid Icarus Uprising.

That's a pretty good start, but I really think that Nintendo is ignoring a major aspect of its system that they have barely mentioned even though the potential applications are huge. Much like the Wii, the 3DS has a Mii system, where you can make little simple avatars or you, your friends and family or even famous faces and characters. The new hitch to this is Mii Plaza combined with the 3DS' street pass feature. Essentially you carry your 3DS with you wherever you go and odds your 3DS will contact someone else's 3DS and you'll swap Mii's to be used in the simple but surprisingly addictive Find Mii RPG. It's a fun but limited application of what this feature could really be. With the right steps this could be a huge social media tool, right up there with facebook or twitter. Add in new games to play, incentives to meet people (you already can get hats for your Mii through playing Find Mii, getting more exclusive items for your Mii through playing new games or simply meeting enough Miis would add a lot of variety to this feature). The 3DS has internet capability as well, so integrating this into something like Facebook or Twitter could make it all the more appealing.

Social Media and networking is a huge thing. We know this. Nintendo has something that can really take advantage of that fact and they are virtually ignoring it. Don't get me wrong I'll prefer a slate of really solid software over social media bullshit any day but it doesn't change the fact that tons of people do similar stuff on facebook already and if Nintendo really pushed and marketed this right it could be one of the defining selling points of the system that really helps it stand out from all the portable competition. But odds are that won't happen because if there's one thing Nintendo's really known for, it's introducing a really cool new idea and then barely even bothering to support it...

That's all for today, I should theoretically have another post up this weekend. Until then, here's your free game of the week: Penguin Overlords