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Nintendo president takes 3DS eye impacts seriously

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata explained that while the company is warning the public about the dangers the 3DS could have on users’ eyes, he would not label it dangerous.

The WSJ also implies that Nintendo’s motivation to issue the warning wasn’t entirely based on goodwill. The possibility of threatening lawsuits could have been enough to cause the company to caution future 3DS players.

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Still, any backlash from the announcement isn’t causing Nintendo to hold back on the handheld gaming device’s release. Iwata claimed Nintendo will still ship four million 3DS units internationally by the end of March. And Iwata maintains the device is safe as long as used correctly and not for long hours. “Parents sometimes use video games almost as a babysitter for their kids,” Iwata told the WSJ.

At this year’s CES, we heard that Panasonic intends to collaborate with the Japanese government in order to establish international rules regarding healthy use of 3D devices, including television sets.

Molly McHugh
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…
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