Games and Gadgets: Nintendo 3DS Goes XL
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First look at a 3DS XL (Nintendo)
Portable gaming is something that’s been around since Mattel’s original Football, and with the advent of new technologies, has evolved into the handheld gaming consoles we have today.
With the passing of this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, otherwise known as E3, there was little revealed for handheld consoles. Aside from Nintendo’s gameplay demo for Luigi’s Mansion 2, Sony was particularly disappointing to most in that they largely ignored the still-struggling PS Vita.
Alas, a recent announcement from Nintendo has handheld gaming aficionados in a stir. Instead of heading in the direction of a redesign for the 3DS, Nintendo has announced that they will be releasing a 3DS XL.
Aesthetically, the new 3DS XL appears to be ditching the glossy finish of the original, in favor of a matte covering. It is similar to the DSi and DSi XL models, but ditching a single solid color in favor of a colored lid, the exception being the completely black model.
Similar to what they did with the DSi XL, the 3DS XL will feature screens that are 90% larger than those on the original 3DS. While this may appear tantalizing at first, the larger screens could become troublesome for those who try to use the 3DS XL to play regular DS games. As the original 3DS already had issues with DS game picture quality, the 3DS would take that already lower-quality image and scale it up 90%.
Along with the larger screens, Nintendo claims that the 3DS XL will feature a longer battery life than that of the original 3DS. This is particularly interesting because the short battery life of the original 3DS was a common gripe among consumers. Also, good news for North American consumers, the 3DS XL will ship with a charger, unlike in Japan where it will hit shelves charger-less to keep retail prices lower.
The 3DS XL will also ship with a 4 GB SD memory card, as opposed to the original 2 GB SD card.
The planned date for Nintendo to release the 3DS XL is by August 19th for $199.99. If you already own a 3DS and don’t want your DS games looking like a hot mess, or if you feel like Nintendo made the wrong move by releasing an XL version instead of a revision, you may want to hold off on purchasing this moderately priced handheld.
Comments
Another 3DS with no improvements? Where's the second analogue stick? Definitely for casuals.
At this point, we can only hope Nintendo knows what they are doing. I agree, it is quite odd they would release an XL instead of introducing a redesign with two analogue sticks which would fix some of the issues consumers have had playing some games. Perhaps Nintendo just wants to move more units before doing a complete overhaul, or simply haven't finalized a redesign plan for the 3DS, and want to keep the hype up.
nice article, newer versions mean older ones become cheaper for me YES
Thanks, and there is some thought among other sites that there could possibly another price drop in the works for the original 3DS, which currently sits around $170. Not sure exactly what this means for the older DS models, as Nintendo has not made a complete shift from DS to 3DS models.