In a few short months, Nintendo will be launching the new 3DS. Will it be as successful as the original DS? We couldn't tell you, but we can confidently foretell that games and hardware updates for the 3DS will likely be rolled out in a very predictable series of stages -- a cycle that has applied to pretty much every Nintendo console since the Super NES (and no, the damn Virtual Boy doesn't count).






Nathan Birch sees patterns everywhere. He also writes for GameSpy and Cracked.com, creates his own webcomic over at Zoologycomic.com.