Let's get out of the way everything that it isn't. There's absolutely no sign at all of an NVIDIA Tegra GPU in this as previously reported, and clearly the graphics technology is not in the same league

What we do have is a massively significant increase in rendering power over the existing DS, leap-frogging the PSP and probably offering around the same horsepower as a Dreamcast, maybe in some respects giving PS2-level performance. But from everything I've seen so far there's no sign of the sort of rendering features that you see in iPad or iPhone 3GS, so no evidence of programmable pixel shaders or other state-of-the-art OpenGL ES 2.0 loveliness.
 
Nintendo being Nintendo, there's very little coming out of the company about the technical make-up of the machine itself. However, it's clear that it is using ARM CPU architecture (albeit with a likely significant speed boost over DSi) so as to maintain compatibility with the existing range of DS hardware.  
 
Well-informed sources have told us that after the NVIDIA deal went south a while back, Nintendo sourced a new graphics processor from closer to home. Japanese firm DMP is strongly rumoured to be providing the GPU for 3DS: certainly the firm's association with close Nintendo partner NEC, along with the fact that its graphics core is already being used with an auto-stereoscopic display, make it the most likely candidate by far.

In contrast to the current 3D screens using glasses, there's absolutely no dulled image quality with 3DS. Conventional stereo 3D requires half of the light emitted by the display to be sent to each eye, reducing overall clarity. Not so with 3DS, which is vibrant and beautiful.  
 
One thing to be clear of here though is that, generally speaking, the sweet spot for the 3D effect is much larger than you would think. There is some occasional cross-talk (i.e. image data for one eye encroaching onto the other eye) but for the most part the effect is crystal clear and you won't have any problem enjoying the full effect.

There's plenty of it, too - a refreshing state of affairs for a system still apparently in development. Star of the 3DS content is clearly Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater, presented in a so-called "Naked Sample Edition" for E3.
 
Oli's already raved about this, but this is an important title not least because Kojima Productions has put its name to it, meaning that it's the real deal. Not only that but the demo itself is very reminiscent of the extended trailers Kojima-san's team used to put together to thrill us at the trade shows of yore. There's just one difference with this one: it's clearly running in real-time, and we have control of the camera via the analogue nub.
 
Switching between first- and third-person cameras we get to see Snake moving stealthily through the jungle, facing a giant snake that pops out of the screen, negotiating his way past an enemy patrol, crossing a rope bridge and evading a swarm of bees (!) before facing off against a boss [surely "Boss" - Ed] in a field of flowers shedding their petals. Beautiful stuff. If you ever get to check out this demo, you will instantly want to buy a 3DS. It's that compelling.

What impresses here is that it looks as though Capcom has tried to scale back its Resident Evil 5 models to work on the 3DS. While backgrounds are very simplistic, those player models are astonishingly well-realised and very good-looking. The fact that the Chris Redfield model is readily recognisable from his HD adventures speaks for itself.

What we do see are fairly basic but nicely rendered 3D environments and some nicely detailed karts and characters. The game engine is clearly locked at 60FPS, and one particular section, where Mario propels his kart skywards, offers some impressive views of the track ahead.

That being the case, to compare 3DS with Wii, or even GameCube, in terms of graphical quality based on this beautiful demo probably doesn't do the home console justice. The best demos we see based on actual game assets are of Dreamcast quality. While this may seem like a disappointment, bear in mind that we're running on a very small screen here, with a fairly high pixel density that will magnify the impact of that level of horsepower. Generally speaking, 3DS is a hugely attractive platform.

We never anticipated Nintendo incorporating this, and it really is cool. A simply capture tool allows you to line up and snap your chosen subject (with a stereo 3D viewfinder of course), and then you can view the images you've taken any time you want on the 3D screen, using the d-pad to adjust the parallax. It works, it's uncanny, and it's a great talking point.
 
What you can actually do with these images beyond looking at them on the 3DS screen remains to be seen, and you can't help but wonder what plans Nintendo has for this. In the other demos and games there was no need for this at all, and Nintendo builds its machines to a cost: there's no scope in this company's masterplan for any superfluous tech.

Any kind of fast motion game using the sensors and gyroscope must surely be incompatible with the 3D screen, though, so the question is, why is the kit in there, and can it really be the case that Nintendo would allow non-3D titles to be released for the 3DS in order to best use the new sensors? Wouldn't this introduce a huge level of potential confusion for game buyers?

Another massive surprise in the 3DS package is the support for 3D movie playback. I had the chance to view two 3D trailers: Disney's Tangle and Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon. Oli pointed out that the 3D effect here is rather subtle, and so it is. There are two likely reasons for this. First of all, you're viewing the content off the back of playing video games which really exercise the full depth available. Secondly, these trailers were designed to be viewed on a honking great cinema screen, not a relatively tiny 3.5" screen!  
 
Thankfully I was proved completely wrong. Movies playback beautifully on the 3DS screen, and while the 3D effect is subtle, it only takes a short while to grow accustomed to it, and turning off the 3D functionality clearly impacts the image in a negative way. Just about the only criticism you can have is that the screen itself is very small at 3.5", so not exactly immersive for movie viewing.

Speaking of which, it is interesting to point out that the 3D depth slider doesn't work for movie playback, where you effectively get a choice of watching in either two or three dimensions with no tweaking of the latter. This effectively confirms that the 3D slider is computationally altering the twin in-game 3D cameras on the fly in actual 3DS software, and that the 2D mode most likely works simply by turning off the output to one eye and adjusting the cameras accordingly.

the 3DS is indeed codenamed Nintendo CTR. That's what the debug game launcher code we spied on the development units said anyway.

In many ways, this new device is classic Nintendo. It's clearly built to a cost and the chances are that the platform holder will be in profit on this unit from day one. Just like Nintendo DS in its day, the GPU is under-powered, but on the flipside this should help immeasurably in maintaining battery life. And again, just like classic Nintendo hardware, it has a concept that is way ahead of the competition. The 3D screen propels the visuals into a different league, it's that good.