Nintendo 3DS suffers from crashes after launch

AFTER ITS LAUNCH on Friday, owners of Nintendo's 3DS have been reporting a 'black screen of death' system crash.

Over the weekend owners of Nintendo's 3D handheld console have been posting reports online that their brand new game console systems were crashing and requiring a hard reboot. It appears that some users have solved the issue with a reboot or formatting the SD card, but others have resorted to taking the device back to retailers for a replacement.

Nintendo told The INQUIRER, "Our recommendations are that if anyone is experiencing any problems with their Nintendo 3DS console, we recommend that in the first instance they download and install the latest system update, now available online. If the problems still persist we recommend they contact their local Nintendo Customer Service centre to investigate the problem."

It is unclear where the problem lies at the moment, with forum posts commenting that the console crashed while playing various titles and the built in software. Users might encounter the problem because they have not updated the firmware, which Nintendo strongly recommended after purchase, with one post claiming, "I did update the firmware last night but it worked fine all today with the new firmware."

The Nintendo 3DS console, which costs around £200, went on sale on Friday and saw hundreds queue to get the first units in the UK. For a closer look at the 3DS take a look at our hands-on review and our video demo. µ