Dcubed

This week's haul: Not a bad week. Toki Tori is good, as is The Last Blade and the selection of Theatrhythm DLC

The PPI can't be improved without either making the screen smaller (defeating the purpose of an XL model) or by making it higher resolution (requiring a complete successor, rather than a simple revision) The battery life is also more or less as good as you're gonna get (With 3DS games ranging from 4hrs on max to 8.5 hours on the lowest settings http://n4g.com/news/1045423/3ds-xl-battery-life-check). A smaller model wont last as long, because you can't fit a bigger battery in there. Really, you're making a simple trade off. It's just like the difference between playing on a smaller TV or a bigger one; you lose some image quality for a bigger display. And some games suffer less than others, simple based on how the visuals were designed. MK7 looks great, while TOTA looks rubbish. Generally, if it looks clean on the original 3DS, it'll also look clean on the 3DSXL.

The DS game is a crime against humanity. It's made by Artoon (a big warning sign right there!) and it's an utter disgrace to the SNES original. The original Yoshi's Island is a masterpiece; YIDS is a pile of smelly, diseased garbage.

Because the DSiXL had it. Granted it's almost useless with 3D on, but it's good for those who play in 2D/DS&DSi games I guess Wouldn't that kind of break compatibility though? You'd have to design your camera imaging with 2 different sets of specifications!

BTW, there's an update for the eShop version out now. It allows you to trade Formes with the retail game.

That's just utterly insane. You'd be nuts not to pick it up at that price! Easily one of the best games on 3DS and it's a measly £15!? Bargain!

Hey, I just noticed something odd. Seems that the 3DSXL has no secret brightness upgrade when you plug it in (like what you got with the original 3DS when you plug it in and the screen brightness increases) Wonder why they removed it... (Maybe it was just too much of a drain on the power adaptor? They did mention in the Iwata Asks that they were having trouble getting it to not drain the battery when playing while you had it plugged in )

HOLY SHIT! I think that may well cause blindness! Seriously, TOTA looks jaggier than some 3D DS games on a DSiXL! As for those other artifacts, I did see them on the original 3DS (aside from the SM3DL and RE:Revelations ones - which are really quite minor, even on the 3DSXL), but they really stand out like a sore thumb when you play them on a larger screen, so I thought it worth pointing out. A few of those games (namely KIU and OoT 3D) really took advantage of the Original 3DS' high PPI to cover up some of their flaws (which in turn actually made them look more detailed), but they fall apart somewhat (OoT3D moreso) when you blow them up sadly. That being said, I'd still say that RE:Revelations is the best looking 3DS game; followed by SM3DL, KIU and Monster Hunter 3G. I bet you'll see more games supporting Anti Aliasing from this point on (even if its 2D only). It makes a huge difference to games like OoT3D and it's trivial to implement in 2D mode (they just take the unused 2nd image and Supersample it to do 2x SSAA in 2D for free) Otherwise, I doubt you'll see much change.

Ok, so after trying out all the games in my 3DS library (as well as the demos of games I don't have - I haven't done a System Transfer), here's how I rate them in terms of how they look in comparison to how they did on the original model 3DS. Near Perfect Mario Kart 7 Theathythm (The game looks great and the FMV looks shockingly good! Puts all other 3DS downloadable videos/in-game FMVs to shame!) Starfox 64 3D Mario Tennis Open Kingdom Hearts DDD Mutant Mudds Dead or Alive Dimensions Bit Trip Saga (duh, it's mostly square!) Tetris (no surprise here either!) Nintendogs & Cats Pilotwings Resort Some noticable flaws but otherwise OK Super Mario 3D Land (minor colour banding, more noticable aliasing - particularily on anything red) Super Street Fighter 3D (HUD looks awful, game looks great) Heroes of Ruin (2D HUD and characters in menus don't look great, but the rest of the game looks fine) Mario & Sonic 2012 Olympics (2D crowd looks bad and a few HUD elements look dodgy, the rest of the game looks fine though) Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D (Bad texture filtering is very noticable, as is the aliasing on the grass but strangely everything else looks fine ) Steel Diver (Some bad textures are more easily noticable) Kid Icarus Uprising (Easier to see lack of detail on distant objects, aliasing more noticable) Resident Evil Mercenaries (Dithering is very noticable) Resident Evil Revelations (Dithering is slightly noticable, S3D crosstalk is more noticable) MY EYES! THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!!! Ocarina of Time 3D (The aliasing is horrible! Thankfully it looks great in 2D at least since it adds 2x AA in 2D) Tales of the Abyss (Each pixel is a shard of glass that sears the retinas and sends them home crying. 2D fares no better - The PS2 version was a jagfest as well BTW!) Rhythm Thief (2D stuff looks ok, 3D stuff looks like pixellated garbage) Rayman Origins (It's pretty much a badly compressed Youtube video stretched out to fill your TV screen!) All 3DS downloadable videos/FMVs that do not come from Theatrhythm.

As I said, it varies from game to game. OoT3D looks pretty bad when blown up, but Mario Kart 7 looks boss! Why not try one for yourself? They should have demo models in stores now!

Yep. Mine's like that too. Mind you though, it'll probably loosen up a bit as you use it more.

E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G (even the position of the icons on your Home Menu!)

You just copy and paste the folders using a computer. That's it.

3DSXL Get! No dead pixels, slightly warm/yellow tinted bottom screen. Initial impressions below... The Screen: The top screen is pretty much the same size as the PSVita screen (which is HUUUGE!) The 3D effect feels stronger by nature of being bigger and has a really strange immersive quality that really feels like you're being sucked into the screen (turning 3D on full whack in certain games like Zelda OoT 3D takes up almost your entire field of view! ) The 3D sweet spot seems to be ever so slightly larger, but not by much. The 2D viewing angle is also a bit better, but not as good as the DSiXL sadly (which had a fantastic viewing angle!) As for the actual screen quality... it varies from game to game. Generally speaking, the lower PPI is not bad in of itself, but rather what it does is exacerbate the flaws in the visuals of each game. Games which generally have a very clean look look just fine when blown up, while games that suffer badly from aliasing like Zelda OoT 3D look really bad! Generally, I've noticed some games that would use the high PPI to cover up their flaws (dithering in RE:Revelations, colour banding in SM3DL - flaws that I never even noticed before on the original 3DS!) and having them blown up does take away from their premium sheen a bit when you see some of the flaws you never noticed before, but otherwise they look fine (RE:R is also one where I noticed some extra details that were too small to see otherwise!) Flaws like S3D crosstalk are also much more noticable as well. It's the games with strong aliasing (Zelda OoT, Tales of the Abyss, KIU) and bad S3D crosstalk that I reckon will suffer the most from the lower PPI. That and the low quality of the eShop's videos & screenshots becomes a lot more noticable too! For everything else, aside from flaws that you might not otherwise see, they look just fine on the 3DS XL (not unlike going from playing the Wii on a small TV, to a large one) The Speakers: They're slightly quieter and give a bit less bass. Not bad, probably about the same level as the DSi/DSiXL, but a slight step down from the original 3DS. I haven't really tried a game that takes advantage of the simulated surround though (which is really good on the original 3DS!) The Buttons/Circle Pad: The buttons are heavenly! Tight and responsive and the D-Pad is back to DSi/DSiXL levels of quality No problems hitting diagonals here! L & R Buttons are also very good and like the GB Micro, can be hit at any point (from edge to centre to edge) and it'll always register just fine ) The circle pad feels a bit tight and requires a bit more push than my original 3DS, though that may be because it hasn't been broken in yet. I'm not a fan of the new stylus though. Feels cheap, it's shorter than the OG 3DS stylus and it's not as comfortable to hold. Almost feels like a 3rd party knockoff one That being said, it's really nice having it on the right hand side again, much more natural than having to reach for the top of the console! The Home/Start/Select buttons are no better than on the original 3DS. They're just as bad and still require you to hit the middle of them for them to register On the other hand, you can still hit them with the tip of your stylus, like you could on the original 3DS (handy for games like KIU and Theatrhythm ) The Design & Feel: In many ways it reminds me of the DSiXL, but rounded off. The matt finish is nice on the hands, doesn't pick up fingerprints, but doesn't feel cheap (just like its other jumbo counterpart) If you've experienced the DSiXl, you'll be right at home here! The weight is also about the same (though feels a bit lighter in the hands as the weight is shifted more towards the middle) Original DS Games: It's exactly what you expect. 1-1 mode is exactly the same size as on a DSi (not DS/DSLite). Nice and large, easy to use, games look great. This is definitely the way to go (blown up mode is ugly beyond belief!) Overall, it's a lovely device, but I think there will be a few games that I wont play on it (Zelda OOT springs to mind) What looks good on the 3DS still looks good here and what looks bad now looks very bad. Now to go and try out the rest of my collection

Great! cheers! I'd imagine that they'd work perfectly fine as most DS games do, but it's always nice to have confirmation Oh and Happy Pre-birthday! : peace:

Hey, I don't suppose you know whether or not US copies can play multiplayer with UK ones do you? I know that they usually can, but there are a few DS games that don't let you (and almost all 3DS games disallow it too, with cross regional download play blocked off altogether!)

Porting to Wii U from PS360 is cheap enough because it's piss easy. Porting from PS4/720 however will be harder and probably more costly. Either way, I'm sure devs/publishers will continue to make excuses not to support Wii U. Hell I bet that they'd complain even if Nintendo themselves ported the game for them!

Shopto, dispatched!

Someone's sarcasm detector is clearly broken...

Ok! Shopto have taken my pre-order and claim to be using a 24 hour delivery courier (they also shipped New Art Academy today). Looks to be all good

Anyone's shipped from Shopto yet?

Yeah, me too. In many respects, it's like NSMB2 is a Nintendo made fan game and a continuation of Super Mario Advance 4! (while NSMBU is a straight sequel to NSMBWii) We should be seeing some really different level designs in this one. Even if they're not as refined as NSMBU's levels (since that's being made by the seasoned pros), I think that this game might actually have a more interesting make up, precisely because its levels are being made by both first timers and people who worked on the Super Mario Land/Wario Land series! (much like how Wii Play Motion had an interesting array of experiences, because it was made by a gaggle of lots of different developers) It'll also mean that this game will be more modular in its design approach, in comparison to NSMBU - which will be more of a "complete" experience. That's probably why they've chosen to highlight DLC with NSMB2, rather than NSMBU - since the way the game is being made, the separation of coin rush mode and the approach taken with the Mario Cram School should make NSMB2 much better suited to DLC than NSMBU.

December 31:

The NSMB2 Iwata Asks http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/nsmb2/0/0 is out now and there's more than a few bombshells in this one! Turns out that it's not being developed soelly by EAD, but in fact it's actually developed by people from all over Nintendo, as part of a new initiative called the Mario Cram School (where staff from all over Nintendo departments are taught about 2D Mario level design) In addition, the Super Mario 3D Land team helped out with development (particularly with the S3D effect and the use of Bokeh Depth of Field - yes it works in real time and can be adjusted with the 3D slider; the backgrounds aren't just pre-rendered as blurry!) The DLC (which they make a point to note that they haven't started on any DLC courses yet), will be developed as part of the Mario Cram School (meaning that we could theoretically get levels made by staff from Retro Studios, Intelligent Systems, HAL or even Monolith Soft!) Development also started in a different way than from most Nintendo games. Instead of the core mechanics being made first, they came up with a bunch of levels and then built the rest of the game (and the coin mechanics around them - the coin focus only came into it during mid-development) Other points of interest... The giant Boo from the trailer is called Boohemoth... Details on those special super fast stages as seen in the trailer... Multiplayer details (and how it differs from NSMB Wii's multi)... A name change mid-development from New Super Mario Bros Gold to New Super Mario Bros 2! The revelation that the paid DLC was something they wanted to do as a result of the failure of the eReader and the extra levels for Super Mario Advance 4! And many more goodies amongst the ever funny...

Well Shopto have taken my pre-order for New Art Academy (which comes out on the same day as the 3DSXL), got the confirmation email. Hopefully that means that my 3DSXL and New Art Academy get shipped tomorrow (can't remember how it usually goes, but they're usually very fast and are happy to break the release date on software)