Nintendo 3DS XL Is Out Now 90
Busshy writes "A few months after the rather subdued release of the PSVita comes the release of the Larger screened 3DS XL, improvements are the obvious larger screens and much improved battery life, CVG report that the 3D effect has noticeably improved. As you'd expect with a larger display, the sweet spot in which you have to angle the device to consume your trio of dimensions is far easier to find on the XL. The console is shipping in 3 variations with sites such as Amazon offering different deals depending on where you live in Europe. Those wanting the Transparent version of the 3DS XL are out of luck at this time. Slashdotters in the USA will have to wait till Mid August for the new console."
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Eh, well I would've preferred "for now," but that's just me.
Re:"at this time" (Score:5, Funny)
On one hand, and it is your privilege as the reader of my thesis to decide if it should be the left or the right one, there is some concern about essays overusing proven formulas like the beloved "intro-for-against-conclusion" artificialy lengthened by space eating expressions that will typically generate way too long and difficult to read sentences.
On the other hand, so far, and as far as this thread is presently being concerned, it has mostly been a concern for anonymous cowards which are at the moment known to not be currently a reliable source for now.
Therefore, I don't think we can conclude that college kids are the only ones filling their essays with space wasters at this time
It's out now? (Score:2, Funny)
--
Not all of us live in Europe. Wish /. would remember that. Why so Euro-centric? You know there are OTHER countries in the world other than those in Europe?
That sound whiny to you? It does to us US slashdotters too when you do it.
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From TFA:
Slashdotters in the USA will have to wait till Mid August for the new console.
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Yeah, but until it's released in the US, nobody should hear about it! >:[
Games? (Score:1)
Re:Games? (Score:5, Informative)
There's also Mario Kart 7 and Resident Evil: Revelations, but I haven't personally played either of them quite yet.
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Why is it called Super Mario Land 3D?
I checked some videos now but it rather seem to be Super Mario Bros 3-inspired?
Super Mario Bros 3-D?
Where does the land come from? Or does it have parts of Super Mario Land to? I never had a Gameboy but Super Mario Land seemed pretty awesome and I had the Nintendo magazine with Super Mario Land comics.
Lovely magazine. No such things nowadays. (I wonder if it wasn't free? Or maybe for a while? Seem very weird if it was but for marketing intentions maybe. Or I just had a n
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Except the boxes.
The music.
The rooms with items..
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Wrong. It's called Super Mario 3D Land (not Land 3D) because it makes use of the 3D effect.
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It is called 3D because it's (for the most part) a 3D Mario game
I think aliquis was questioning why Nintendo used "Land" in the title, not why they used "3D" in the title.
Remember the old Super Mario Land [wikipedia.org] game for the original Gameboy? While I don't remember much, what I do remember is that it was even less like a Mario game than Doki Doki Panic [wikipedia.org] was, while Super Mario 3D Land [wikipedia.org] is very much a standard "go beat up Bowser and rescue Princess Peach" Mario game. Definitely not like Super Mario Land for the original Gameboy at all. So why use "Land" in the title?
Revelaitons (Score:2)
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The 3DS versions also play games written for the DS versions, so the libraries are extras on top of the regular DS library.
The 3D games/3D effect isn't a reason to buy a 3DS if you already have a DS. It's a reason maybe to spend a little more and buy the 3DS if you don't already own a console of this type at all, but the older non-3D consoles seem really cheap at the moment so now's a good time to get one for each of your kids if you have more than one child.
My son and also my nephew have a 3DS and they bo
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I didn't know it could take 3D photos - thanks for the tip.
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Yes and no. It depends what you want.
If you have a massive, deep and uncritical affection for Nintendo's traditional franchises (and let's face it, a lot of people on slashdot do), then it's fairly good. You've got Mario, Mario Kart, a Zelda remake, a Starfox remake and so on. That said, none of these are doing anything interestingly different. They are straight technical facelifts for the old franchises.
But if you're expecting to find a line-up like the DS had - where the machine was basically the de-facto
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The DS was a handheld version of the PS2
I think I get what you were saying, but let me just go ahead and be a pedant and say that the PSP was a handheld version of the PS2, spinning disc and all. And the hardware is clearly descended from the PS2 hardware, which is what actually brought me here to whinge.
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Oh, in a technical sense, you're absolutely right. What I was talking about, however, was the software line-up and the general market position.
The PS2 dominated its generation in a way that I don't think any other console has achieved before or since. It had a vast installed base, but that's not all of it - the Wii also has an installed base, but is a long way from being a dominant platform. What the PS2 had was the game-sales momentum to go with that installed base that made it a pretty much unstoppable fo
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If you have a massive, deep and uncritical affection for Nintendo's traditional franchises (and let's face it, a lot of people on slashdot do), then it's fairly good. You've got Mario, Mario Kart, a Zelda remake, a Starfox remake and so on. That said, none of these are doing anything interestingly different. They are straight technical facelifts for the old franchises.
Yeah, that's it. A massive, deep, and uncritical affection. It couldn't be because people get tired of sifting through drek and don't mind that there are consistently solid (if not always truly inspired) games available for Nintendo's systems. I didn't bother reading the rest of your spiel because I've heard it before.
But besides that, why the fuck do you care what people play?
--Jeremy
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Because the thread's about whether there are any killer titles for the 3DS? And because, as a 3DS owner, it's fair enough for m
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Make sure you try one out before buying one. I bought a 3DS on launch day and then I found out that the 3D effect gave me a headache within minutes of play.
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The DS models are not all functionally identical. Things changed with the release of the DSi:
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added support for the 802.11g standard.
...which isn't supported for standard DS games since Nintendo put the Wi-Fi settings into the games rather than the firmware*.
*There's enough internal memory to save your Wi-Fi settings on a standard DS, though, which is why it's remembered across games.
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So, what, are you trying to argue that -- unlike the refreshes of Nintendo's handheld hardware -- the yearly refreshes of the iDevices are functionally identical?
--Jeremy
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No, I'm not. The iDevices are a different case.
Re:they should learn from Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
"They should learn from Apple"
Apple has released 5 iPhones in 5 years, usually with an accompanying iPod Touch model to go with it. Nintendo has released 6 "DS"-branded consoles in 8 years: the DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSi XL, 3DS, and 3DS XL. I'd say they're doing something quite similar to what Apple is doing. Apple releases two versions of the same product depending on if you want the addition of the phone functionality or not; Nintendo releases two versions of the same product depending on if you have larger hands or not.
Now I'll concede that the DSi models don't really differentiate themselves from the original two DS models as much as they should have, but the 3DS is enough of a complete change that I would say it's a brand new machine.
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I'm an Apple lover, but I definitely don't want Nintendo following Apple. I've found that it's been very easy to find just the right Nintendo I want for whichever target person. Nintendo has done remarkably well here. It's only really a problem if you're the sort that wants to own one of each because you'll have to buy one more iteration. Apple does make it mostly easy to decide which Apple model one wants, but I myself often tend to fall in between the cracks where there's either overlap between models or
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"should have"? They were still DS consoles that primarily played DS games.
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-The smaller size and crisper screen of the Gameboy Pocket made it a worth-while upgrade to the original Gray Brick.
-The front-lit screen of the GBA SP made it a worth-while upgrade to the original GBA (even to owners of GBAs modified with the Afterburner lighting system, again IMO, just as all of these are).
-The back-
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Don't forget that you only needed two batteries for this model instead of four.
I hear it's not that much of a difference. Not like I can see for myself as the revision was only distributed sparsely in a couple European countries.
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Nintendo is doomed if it continues to price its games in the traditional sense.
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Nintendo has been doomed [imgur.com] for a long while, you know. ;)
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100 slightly different devices? You mean 2? The DS lite was designed to replace the original DS in the lineup in the same way Sony and Microsoft occasionally sell newer revisions of their consoles. There was no need to get it. It merely sported a better backlight and battery life. The XL was mainly for people who couldn't see smaller screens or would enjoy larger screens.
The DSi was a straight upgrade from the DS line in the same way Apple went from the iPhone 1 to the iPhone 2. Specs were better, screen wa
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ds ds liite dsi 3ds 3dsxl all in what a span of 8 years?
compare that to gameboy
gb, gbp, gbc,gba,gba-sp in the span over the span of 19 years?
shit if they spent a little more time focusing their goals instead of chasing trends (who even cares about 3d now) they might have a better product worth wanting, I like the op keep looking at them and saying "why bother" the next one will be out soon, but then another one will be out soon, and then another one soon ... I dont like buying shit thats obsolete within mon
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First of all, the GB -> GBA SP was not 19 years, it was 16 years, and even then you're putting the Gameboy and the Advance into the same product lifecycle, when they were two distinct products that were merely part of the same branding line. You're also skipping products. It goes: Gameboy -> Gameboy Pocket -> Gameboy Light (JP only) -> Gameboy Color. Then the Advance cycle goes: Gameboy Advance -> Gameboy Advance: SP -> Gameboy Advance Micro.
The original Gameboy line went from 1989 until 1
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And is it me, or is the Xbox 360 the only one of the current consoles that hasn't lost features along the way? The Wii lost the ability to play MP3 files in a software update (though it was optional and you could refuse it), and the newer Wiis drop backwards compatability. The PS3 dropped Linux on all versions, and the originals could play PS2 games and SuperAudioCDs, which the new ones can't. The Xbox 360 added HDMI, but hasn't removed anything as far as I can tell. (Though their new dashboard SUCKS, it do
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The Xbox 360 added HDMI, but hasn't removed anything as far as I can tell.
The S models no longer have the slots for memory units. They also require different hard drive modules from the originals.
They did release a no-hard-drive model but only after they started letting you use USB sticks instead.
In the west (japan didn't get it until a bit later) the xbox 360 was available without a hard drive form the start.
The first no-hard-drive model was the xbox 360 core system. It came with no user storage at all so if you wanted to save your games you had to buy a hard drive or memory unit seperately. It was later replaced by the arcade which came with 256MB or 512MB of storage*. This in
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You can't really put the Game Boy Color in the same line as the original Game Boy. While the hardware was mostly the same, it had its own game library. Early Game Boy Color games were compatible with the Game Boy, but if I remember correctly that introduced a limitation on the amount of colours you could use in the Game Boy Color version.
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The advance line went till 2008
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My dates were referring to dates in which Nintendo was developing or releasing new hardware for the product line. 2005 was the release of their last Advance hardware, but of course games continued to come out after this date.
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AND they still produced hardware post release (imagine that) till 2008
SO the lifespan of the gameboy is 2008 - 1989 = 19
sheesh
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The specific games were mostly games you could buy on the online store and a couple retail games. The DS game library was still the primary medium of the device.
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100 slightly different devices? You mean 2? The DS lite was designed to replace the original DS in the lineup in the same way Sony and Microsoft occasionally sell newer revisions of their consoles. There was no need to get it. It merely sported a better backlight and battery life. The XL was mainly for people who couldn't see smaller screens or would enjoy larger screens.
The DSi was a straight upgrade from the DS line in the same way Apple went from the iPhone 1 to the iPhone 2. Specs were better, screen was better, more services, had specific games (but remained backward compatible), etc.
The 3DS is an entirely different product line from the DS and only shares "DS" in the same way the Gameboy shared it's name with the Gameboy Advance. So far the 3DS and the 3DS XL are the only two products to choose from in the 3DS line, and like the original DS line, it depends entirely on your physical needs whether to get one or the other.
What a pointless thing to whine about.
Nintendo hasnt had a original idea in decades. They really havent.
The 3ds is a upgrade of a dsi, which is a upgrade of a ds lite which is a upgrade of a ds. They are all essentially the same system, only slightly upgraded each time. Take a original ds game and compare it to a 3ds game, sure the 3ds game might look a little better but its still the same games with the same look and the same feel because its still limited by the same hardware. Nintendos inability to provide more than minor tweaks has locked t
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Nintendo hasnt had a original idea in decades.
Motion control gaming hadn't been done well before the wii came out. The DS was pretty original (although maybe derivative of the old game-and-watch toys).
The same games with the same characters.
These are consistantly the most fun video games on the market. I don't care about the newest features, Mario et all are a great diversion! Every Zelda game is a fun adventure that I look forward to embarking on.
I don't need new charecters to be honest; the old ones are just fine.
Can't wait for the North American release (Score:2, Interesting)
Can't wait for the North American release. I've had a 3DS since launch day and despite the naysayers it's more fun than a barrel of Donkey Kongs.
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but is it more fun than a barrel of donkey dongs?
How can a barrel of donkey dong be FUN ???
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Don't ask questions you don't really want to know the answer to!
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Don't ask questions you don't really want to know the answer to!
I only want to understand how a barrel of donkey dong can be fun
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I was disappointed that they released the XL, out of jealousy, since it seems to fix the battery life issues and the small screen for not crazy amounts of money.
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But you knew this would happen, didn't you? You could have delayed your purchase.
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I didn't know when I made the purchase. That they'd make revisions? Sure, but I was expecting a slim model with dual thumb pads, not a bigger and more efficient one.
I assume they saw how many people were buying DSi XL units for the bigger screens and decided to forgo the smaller Lite model and go straight to XL to pick up the 3DS's lagging sales.
That the new version would be more efficient was a no-brainer, though.
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I was board of donkey kong in the 80's, had a slight revisit in the 90's
thats why I dont bother with nintendo much, its the same franchises in even more stupid situations, I want something new and original but the nintards keep screaming for zelda 103 so its a wonder why the market has pretty much peaked a decade ago
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Personally, i can't wait for Zelda 103. Most consistantly fun franchise in the world.
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> I'm never going to get one of these because they had to add
> region locking
I second that.
Look! (Score:3)
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Holding Out (Score:2)
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Nah, hold out for the Super 3DSi XL 64 Turbo Hyperfighting EX Plus Alpha 3rd Strike Championship Arcade Edition 2012 Lite ...which will obviously be the definitive competitive platform, at least until they release DLC.