GAMERS ARE COMPLAINING that the new Nintendo 3DS console is making them dizzy and giving them headaches.

The gadget was launched last week in Europe and the US, and eager fans queued overnight (squaring off against iPad 2 fans in some cases) to get their hands on the latest offering from the gaming giant.

But it seems that the 3DS’s revolutionary 3D screens might be giving gamers more than just a thrilling visual experience, with hundreds claiming to have suffered headaches and sickness after playing the console.

Entertainment Weekly’s Adam B. Vary has already given the 3DS a test drive and says:

It is a sure-fire headache machine. In order to view the screen properly, you must keep your eyes within an unforgiving sweet spot roughly 9 to 12 inches away. If your head or the 3DS itself tilt to either side much past half an inch, the screen’s image begins to double up, and your eyes pretty well freak out trying to make sense of what they’re seeing.

And hundreds of tweeters are having similar problems, with one saying “the new Nintendo 3DS is a very impressive machine. I’d like it better without the headache and motion sickness”. Another complained “tried the Nintendo 3DS out today…now I have a headache and kind of want to throw up. Great”.

Nintendo has responded to the reports, saying that it has received no calls or complaints about the alleged side effects of playing the console. Nintendo says the controversy “seems to have arisen from a few tweets and comments following the US launch last week”. Users are advised to use the console correctly, and to take a break every half an hour when playing in 3D mode.