3DS XL Announced

[A Black Falcon]

I didn't expect it to be smaller, just have upgrades like better viewing angles on the 3D mode and better battery life. This gets the better battery life, but at a cost I'm not sure I like.

And it does do some of those improvements. As for the price, though, what should they have done? Seriously, the price is exactly where it should be. The 3DS and 3DS XL are expensive systems, yes, but they have a lot of hardware in them... Nintendo started losing a good bit of money on 3DS hardware sales as soon as they dropped the price to $170, and I don't know if they're making anything on the systems yet. Given that, and the decent sales now, there's no way they'd be dropping the 3DS price already. And given that, and that the XL is a larger model, of course it has to cost more, and $200 is the natural number. I think it's good that they didn't try to go higher with it, like they initially did with the 3DS; that's about right.

The Circle Pad Pro added two extra shoulder buttons, not just a second analog stick. That's why I mentioned it. Technically it added 3 but the 3rd was an alternative "right shoulder button" to make using that easier with the layout of the addon.

On a handheld, having two shoulder buttons on each side -- again, through what, a horrible two per side design like the Wii CC? -- would not be an improvement, no.

I really don't buy your argument for not including the second analog stick. Maybe you don't like it, but what does it hurt to have MORE buttons? It's just more options available.

The fact that it'd split the market, and that that'd be a bad thing, is a pretty strong point. You don't do that just a year into your console's life. That angers your fanbase, of people who bought the original model, too much. And if only the larger model had it, it'd be pretty counter-intuitive, because the XL isn't a replacement, it's a supplement. So what do they do, release a new 3DS that adds the second stick too? And anger people who on the systems even more, all in the name of a pointless, unnecessary change? It'd be an awful idea, and it's good that they have not gone that way.

The fact is, a lot of games on the 3DS suffer for lack of a second stick. I just got done playing the Kingdom Hearts 3D demo, and the lack of a second stick to control the camera gets annoying. It's more so because I actually HAVE the circle pad pro and apparently KH3D won't be supporting it after all. The "support" for it in Kid Icarus is also pretty bad. That's the fault of the programmers though. Having a remodel that just added it in from the start would get more developers to support it. Yeah it splits the market, but that bridge was crossed the second they released the circle pad pro.

The thing basically was made for Monster Hunter 3G. People then blew it up into a much bigger thing than Nintendo clearly ever actually meant it to be. I don't have a 3DS yet, but I do have a DS, and I can't think of one DS game which has made me think "you know, what this game needs is a second stick/pad"... have I wished for one analog stick? Yes, of course. But two? No.

Anyway, the reason why few games are supporting it is because it's clearly meant not as a required addon, but an option for those few games like Monster Hunter which actually do benefit significantly from something like that. And clearly, that's where it's going to stay. We'll see what they do for it with the XL; will there be another addon for it, or will they just ditch the addon like they did the DS rumble pack, or what? We'll have to see.

If they had to release a bigger model, it should have been a bigger model of a true remodel of the base system. That's what I think anyway. I see why this wasn't announced at E3, it's a big disappointment.

No, you don't do a full remodel of a system just one year after its release. Quite a while in, when you're releasing a new, upgraded system, like the DS to DSi, maybe, but you really want a full remodel, with different controls on the system, in just the second year? Oh come on.

Anyway, it's certainly not a disappointment, it looks great. Looks like it's getting a mostly positive reception from the press and internet, too. I'm not surprised.

And with that now you know why I hate it..

-$200
$200 for that you can get a awesome system like a PS3, with games that aren't all made for three year old's.

So I should ignore anything you have to say about the system because all you've got are stupid, false, childish insults? Check.

-90% larger screen than the regular 3DS, and 46% better battery life -- this new model has 6-10 hours of battery life.
I agree with DJ, that's not showing me much value for my money.

It's only $30 more, for some definite improvements. The 3DS isn't cheap, I agree, but there IS good hardware in there, particularly for the 3D. It's the price it is for a reason, $170's actually under value for the hardware.

-Otherwise the same as the first version. No, no second analog stick, thankfully.
Again, I shop for hardware not 4 year old innovations.

Dual analog is highly overrated.

-Will launch in all white, red cover with black inside, or blue cover with black inside. Japan gets silver cover with black inside instead of blue.
Japan was like fuck America!

I'm sure we'll get a few more colors eventually.

-In Japan it won't come with an AC adapter, but in the US it will.
Then they were like, we fuck ourselves, because were so awesome.

Japan often has gotten a worse deal... like, even back on the NES and SNES, in Japan consoles never, ever came with packin games -- you always had to buy them separately. Here, though, consoles usually came with a game or two in the box. Japanese consumers are more willing to spend more for stuff.

-Better Start/Select/Home buttons (see the below pic)

Now if we could just get some decent games, that wasn't made for a old model, some decent developers on board, better graphics hardware, better controls. Need I say more?

The controls are fine, and the graphics hardware's fine too. As for the games, the 3DS has a decent game library so far. It is fairly early in the system's life, but it already has a small number of good games, and has more great-looking ones upcoming like Paper Mario 3DS and Etrian Odyssey IV. The library's coming along.

Now if you want a thin library... well, for that you've got the Vita. Now that has a thin library, and the poor sales to match.