The Louvre's Got Game, Replaces Audio Tours With Nintendo 3DS [VIDEO] (Mashable)

[brightcove video="1331731972001" /] The world's busiest museum is getting an upgrade. Starting in March, the Louvre will offer visitors Nintendo 3DS hand-held game consoles instead of the typical audio players most museums use.

[More from Mashable: Use an iPad to Play With Real Pigs ? Without the Mess [VIDEO]]

The Louvre is getting the 5,000 3DS devices through a partnership with Nintendo. This summer Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said the company was exploring the possibility of offering the handheld to deliver "realistic experiences" when visiting museums worldwide.

Those efforts are clearly now bearing fruit, and Nintendo isn't wasting time with small fish -- as museums go, it doesn't get any bigger than the home of the Mona Lisa. The Louve attracts 8.5 million visitors every year, Agence France-Presse reports, although just four percent of them opt for the audio tours, which cost 6 euros each.

[More from Mashable: What Is Anonymous? [VIDEO]]

With the 3DS, that number might go up. At least that's the plan, says Agnes Alfandari, the Louvre's head of multimedia.

"We are the first museum in the world to do this," Alfandari told AFP. "People's habits have changed. But that offers us a huge opportunity to extend the museum's territory, and build a lasting relationship with our visitors."

When visitors choose to tour the museum with a 3DS, they'll have access to themed itineraries and commentaries, including child-appropriate ones, in seven languages. It's not clear how the console will use the 3DS's glasses-free 3D display to enhance the experience, but it'll no doubt figure prominently in the experience. (For a creative take on how 3D tech could enhance classic paintings, check out this Samsung ad.)

Nintendo is developing the tour material, though the museum has editorial control. Around the same time as the consoles' debut, the Louvre will also update its smartphone and iPad apps as part of an overall digital makeover. Perhaps one day we'll see QR codes on every Renoir.

What do you think of the 3DS as a museum aide? Does Does it make you more inclined to take a tech-enhanced tour than a regular audio player? Let us know in the comments.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/videogames/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20111216/tc_mashable/the_louvres_got_game_replaces_audio_tours_with_nintendo_3ds_video

bérénice marlohe bérénice marlohe google offers tim gunn tim gunn death clock death clock