PARIS - For the Louvre, the existing audio guide is so 20th century.
So the famed Paris museum is going 3D visual with its electronic guides in a deal with Japan's Nintendo to provide game consoles to help visitors who navigate its labyrinthine halls by the millions each year.
The game consoles launched this week offer 700 recordings on celebrated works like the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, and the Mona Lisa.
The guides can also offer virtual glimpses of artistic touches that are tough for the naked eye to see -- like tiny details on towering tableaus in the museum's wood-paneled walls.
The guides, in seven languages, and accompanying headsets cost C5 ($6.50) on top of the museum's C10 standard admission price.
