Experiencing headaches, dizziness or nausea?

[sirpigmeat]

Awhile back when I told my cousin I'd gotten a 3DS he asked me if I'd felt dizzy or sick after playing it. I hadn't, but I knew the rumour he was refering to. Now after playing many games for many, many hours on it, with the 3d up to full and not taking breaks like the games keep telling me to, i've yet to have any adverse reactions. In fact as the 3DS uptake has increased since then, the rumour seems to have completely disappeared.
Has anybody here had a bad reaction that can be directly attributed to the 3DS? Or is it hogwash?

What i'd like to know even more is did the Virtual Boy actually make people nauseous? I've always assumed this was true. I've played it once for a short period and felt fine... It felt a bit odd and like it would take getting used too, but then so did the 3ds... Has anybody played virtual boy enough to make a judgement here?

Just to broaden this out, whats people worst video game related illness or injury?

[ArchaicKoala]

I've never used a virtualboy so I can't comment on that unfortunately but in regards to the 3ds, I can't use the 3d mode for more than a few minutes at a time as it gives me a headache

On a similar note, the only games in general that have made me feel Ill after/during play are Prey on the PC, something about the movement makes me feel sick. The other game is Bubsy 3D, every time I played that as a kid I'd develop a migraine.

Maybe that was my bodies way of telling me that the game is terrible

[sirpigmeat]

My brother can't play first person shooters full stop, they make him feel sick... Actually a few people I know find 3D games in general confusing... they don't seem to be able to understand camera control in platformers, can't seem to judge distances properly and find the movement makes them feel sick.

[Dave300]

I play my 3DS XL occasionally and have not yet had any of these symptoms. Even with faster moving games like Super Mario Bros. 2. However I might expect to get them if I played for many hours, or if I played while tired.

[Ferret Oxide]

I've never had a problem with the 3DS, no matter how long I play it for.

The only game I ever really had trouble with was a demo of Darkseed on the Amiga. For some reason I would get a crippling headache almost as soon as I started to play that.

[Liamh1982]

3D and me don't mix. I mean - it works but after not much more than five minutes I'm incredibly nauseous with a splitting headache. It's like me reading a Richard Littlejohn column but without the intense urge to kill.

[adippm82]

The 3DS has never given me much trouble, once I found the level of 3D that suited my eyes, which is just under half way on the slider, the only thing at all that makes me feel bad is using it to take 3D videos and play them back, I cannot take more than a few seconds of watching those.

As for the Virtual boy, I have never once had headaches or anything else using mine, it has to be setup properly for the users eyes, every game has a setup up screen, four square boxes are put in each corner, there is a dial on top that adjusts these, once they are all visible and sharp, the machine is setup up for the distance between the players eyes, then there is a slider for focus, like a pair of glasses, you would not wear someone else's prescription, it has to be set up properly for an individual person.

Having said that though it, is estimated that around 12% of the population just cannot see 3D properly, and will always have some adverse effects trying to watch it, but not using these machines properly will affect some of the other 88%.

[retroman83]

When I was younger I could never play Duke Nukem and some other first person shooters without feeling what I called "car sick".
BUT, I remember playing Doom fine. So it's definitely all about how the character moves (swaying left to right I think causes it).

Recently picked up an N64 bundle, can play GoldenEye fine, but Turok and again Duke Nukem gave me the same car sickness feeling I had all those years ago and I'm now 30.

I can also play Unreal Tournament on the PC fine.

So it's definitely 1st person shooters that do me in, but only certain ones, possible because of the left/right swaying when walking.

[kelp7]

The only thing at all that makes me feel bad is using it to take 3D videos and play them back, I cannot take more than a few seconds of watching those.

Yeah they're not great but the slider has no effect on those or the photos, the 3D effect is either on or off for videos/photos.

I have to say that I've not experienced any of the negative effects that rumours were supposed to indicate. Been playing 3D Mario Land a lot recently on my 3DS XL for quite lengthy periods and not had any issues.

[Black Ridge]

I cant focus properly on the screen when its in 3D. Its ok for a moment but after a while I really struggle to look at the screen.

I remember renting Forsaken from Blockbuster years ago on N64. I had to turn it off as I had an awful headache whilst playing it and felt really sick.

[Sel Feena]

As I had expected with my 3DS, extended play did start to give me a bit of a headache. Though I did have the slider all the way up, so I'll have to try halfway next time and see how that goes.

[c0nfu53d]

I have no problems with my 3DS. The sound on highlander on the CPC gave me bad headaches though. It was a dog of a game to boot.

[gunbladelad]

For the 3DS I'm fine as long as I turn the 3D effect off. (The added bonus is no 3D = extended battery life) - I have one eye very much dominant, so any 3D effects are wasted on me.

[Liamh1982]

Playing ISS 2000 in hi-res mode with the Expansion Pak makes me feel queasy - must be a combination of the frame rate taking a nosedive and the slight flickeriness.
I can see why most N64 games stuck with the blur - may have looked crap but at least you held on to the contents of your stomach!