Coming Soon to the Nintendo eShop: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the Rest of the Louvre

Nintendo has come up with some Nintendo 3DS software artistic enough to make even a 16th-century icon smile. For more than a year, visitors to the world-famous Louvre museum in Paris have been able to rent Nintendo 3DS systems loaded with software that serves as an interactive museum guide. Now Nintendo is making this software available to Nintendo 3DS owners everywhere. Owners with a broadband Internet connection can visit the Nintendo eShop beginning Dec. 2 and download the Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre software for $19.99.

Nintendo announced the availability of the software during a Nintendo Direct announcement today. To view the full Nintendo Direct video, visit http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct.

The software contains more than 600 images of artwork from the famed French museum, in addition to more than 400 3D photos of the museum's interior and nearly 30 hours of audio commentary. Users can zoom in and view select paintings up close, or take a three-dimensional look at famous sculptures like the Venus de Milo.

The software available in the Nintendo eShop has features not found in the Louvre version, including an artwork slide show and a mode that lets users select and admire particular works of art while the audio commentary plays. Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre will also receive updates when a new display is added, in order to stay on top of all the latest exhibitions in the actual Louvre. To access the updated content, users just connect to the Internet and select "Update Guide."

A 3D video featuring the famed Venus de Milo sculpture can be viewed from the Nintendo eShop starting today, giving a taste of what Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre has to offer. The software is a great way to take a virtual tour of one of the world's most renowned museums, or it can be used as a planning tool, and during visits to the museum, for people who are inspired to take a trip to Paris to see the real thing.