Nintendo to Debut Dinosaurs in 3-D

Most dinosaur-themed video games seem to fall into one of two categories—the ones that give players a ridiculous arsenal of weapons to gun down dinosaurs and those that allow players to be the dinosaurs. To be honest, I have always found the latter type of game to be a bit dull—one can only bite, stomp, and tail-whip virtual opponents for so long before it gets old—but gaming giant Nintendo is hoping to breathe new life into dino-fight games with its forthcoming Battle of Giants: Dinosaur Strike.

According to previews of the game given at the E3 gaming conference, Battle of Giants will allow players to navigate a customizable dinosaur through a virtual world. As they run through the jungle they will occasionally encounter dinosaur opponents, at which point the game will shift to pit one dinosaur against the other in a bit of button-mashing action. Interestingly, Battle of Giants is going to be released for the new Nintendo 3DS system, a handheld bit of hardware that claims to achieve 3-D effects without the need for glasses. This gimmick alone will surely draw some attention, and perhaps we will see more 3-D dinosaur adventures in the future.

Riley Black | | READ MORE

Riley Black is the author of The Last Days of the Dinosaurs and many other books. She is a science correspondent for Smithsonian magazine covering fossils and natural history, and she writes about the prehistoric past for a variety of publications.