Nintendo 3DS XL announced
Nintendo redesigns the 3DS with a bigger screen
Nintendo has announced a hardware revision of the Nintendo 3DS called the 3DS XL (3DS LL in Japan). The new hardware features a different shell and larger screens for the top and bottom. The stereoscopic 3D screen jumps 3.53 inches to 4.88 inches., while the bottom touchscreen increases from 3 inches to 4.18 inches.
In Japan, Nintendo announced White, Red/Black, and Silver/Black as available colors. In North America, Red and Blue were the announced colors, while Europe gets Red, Blue, and Silver. The new system will have longer battery life. A 4GB memory card will come packed in, but an AC adapter will be missing in order to keep costs down.
The new system will hit Japan on July 28 for 18,900 yen, with later release in North America on August 19 for $199.99. Europe will get the system on July 28 alongside Japan, but no price was given.
UPDATE: Nintendo confirmed to Destructoid that the U.S. version of the console will have an AC adapter.
Ultimately the whole DS line is going up a dead end unless they put a phone in it. Sad but true.
Yes it is, or soon will be, the best selling console in history with over 150 million units. But soon smartphones will be selling 10 times that every year.
I think the fear (hope?) that the mobile market will win out and decimate the dedicated portable market is a valid one, and your opinion is welcome. However, we also get to see that exact opinion from you as the 1st post on nearly every article on the website. ^_~
I mean no offense, and apologize if I have done so - but we get it, you think console gaming is gonna be dead soon.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Matt Walker on 22nd June 2012 9:48am
Sorry Bruce but not only do we have a precedent showing us that having a phone in your portable game console doesn't guarantee success but it doesn't guarantee it will outsell non-phone capable portable consoles either.
Further than that but the mobile phone market and the mobile console market can, should and will co-exist. Why must you constantly remind me of a religious zealot every time you post?
As for this redesign, this will likely do as well as the original DSi XL/LL redesign. Which is to say not as well as the original units. Pocket portability just took a pretty big hit with the new size and there's not enough 'new' to give it a big sales advantage over the original 3DS.
Why in the world do I need my games to be on my phone? Anyone who enjoys gaming and their peripherals know you only have so much battery life.
So if you want to make that emergency call or receive, you cant game. If you want to game, eventually your phone will die. Far better to have SEPARATE non integrated devices.
Second why would I want a phone on my game console? What is this obssesion the industry has with a single device that can do everything. When im only interested in curtain specific things.
A second stick (and extra buttons) would have been nice ... but it also would have caused significant issues re: backwards compat. I guess Nintendo may release a Pro Controller shell thing for this one too.
As for a phone on a handheld... no thanks. We all want a *good* handheld, and we all need a *good* phone. They are mutually exclusive - otherwise products like the Ngage or the Sony Playstation phones would actually be a success.
And as Bruce failed to mention - its only a couple of models of phones that are selling *very* well. Many, many models are flops - and don't sell enough to exist in the market. The DS/3DS will have outsold 95% of phone models ever released.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Doug Paras on 23rd June 2012 5:04am
None of the must-have 3DS titles require a second pad, nor would they have been improved by the addition of one.
(and I say this as someone who completed Resident Evil Revelations using the Circle Pad Pro)