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3DS XL

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Ordered the sliver one. I'm normally more of a "blue" person, but I think the silver looked cooler this time (and I'm not a "red" person at all). Looking forward to playing these on it:

 

Paper Mario

Luigi's Mansion 2

Animal Crossing

Epic Mickey

Star Fox 64 (which I've saved)

Code of Princess

 

...And hoping for localisations of Etrian Odyssey IV, Dragon Quest Monsters, Rocket Slime 3 amd Bravely Default. Here's hoping for a great few years of the 3DS, with Zelda, Metroid, Dragon Quest et al. :)

 

Haven't played through Master Quest on OoT yet so looking forward to playing that on this :)

 

Same here. :)

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You guys read Eurogamer's review of this? They're completely trashing it for not being a new console i.e. not having a second circle pad, not increasing the resolution, changing the type of touchscreen etc

 

Yep, it was an utter disgrace. They're treating it as if it were a successor to a smartphone...

 

It's a shame that the media feel the need to resort to slander, in order to fit their typical "handheld gaming is doomed"/iOS future narrative.

 

They should know better, especially when it's going to enroach on their precious AAA console games soon...

 

Oh BTW, finally settled on Blue as my 3DSxl colour of choice (though I really wanted the white one but eh, what can you do?). Looks gorgeous in photos! :D

Edited by Dcubed

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You guys read Eurogamer's review of this? They're completely trashing it for not being a new console i.e. not having a second circle pad, not increasing the resolution, changing the type of touchscreen etc

 

Their review is a mixed bag, but here's my view on a handful of their points (for what its worth).

 

Having a second circle pad is exactly what the 3DS needs though. An update should have included this. As long as it was mandated that all games utilising the second circle pad also supported stylus control what would the problem have been? The people who care about a second circle pad would have bought a 3DS Pro and the people who didn't care would not have. Eurogamers comments are valid. They also missed the opportunity to provide greater grip on the circle pad which is a big shame.

 

The issue of resolution is difficult, aside from the difficult decision to remaster current crop of games for the higher resolution (perhaps via a significant DLC patch), it would have required a bump in processing which effects the battery life - which in turn effects the weight, shape and cost. Higher resolution would have been nice but comes with a crop of problems for Nintendo (and its third party partners). Eurogamer should have known better to raise this as a concern, or should have included some caveats to their views.

 

This issue of touchscreen is interesting. I don't believe resistive is great tech, but I actually think for gaming a stylus is necessary due to its increased precision over chubby fingers. Over resistive, a capacitive screen would have offered an improvement for both finger and stylus controls. But, its not a deal breaker. Eurogamer are nit picking.

 

Yep, it was an utter disgrace. They're treating it as if it were a successor to a smartphone...

 

I'm not sure I would agree that Eurogamer is adopting a 'its not a mobile phone' stance, but generally there is this pressure from commentators that Nintendo should be in the mobile phone space. And lets be frank - they should be; with apps and services to support their core business - something like:

 

 

The review raises a couple of valid points and it is, in my opinion, neither positive or negative towards the 3DS XL. The main problem is that its just so ill thought out, as if the reviewer let their pet mouse walk over the keyboard an hour and a half.

Edited by david.dakota

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Their review is a mixed bag, but here's my view on a handful of their points (for what its worth).

 

Having a second circle pad is exactly what the 3DS needs though. An update should have included this. As long as it was mandated that all games utilising the second circle pad also supported stylus control what would the problem have been? The people who care about a second circle pad would have bought a 3DS Pro and the people who didn't care would not have. Eurogamers comments are valid. They also missed the opportunity to provide greater grip on the circle pad which is a big shame.[/Quote]

 

The whole point of a console is to provide a platform that gives developers a set spec to work with and the players the same general experience across all games and devices. Touch controls are not the same as a stylus and there's nothing to stop dual analog games from using the touch screen. This breaks compatibility as developers are forced to design their games for two completely different control schemes (with neither being as satisfying as they could be) and stifles any kind of creativity with game control schemes (not to mention discouraging developers from using the touch screen for anything other than virtual 2nd analog controls)

 

Also you (and Eurogamer) forget that the Circle Pad Pro also comes with two extra shoulder buttons (Zl & Zr) making for a total of 4. There's no way to fit those onto a handheld, so to play CPP games, you'd still need an attachment anyway!

 

The issue of resolution is difficult, aside from the difficult decision to remaster current crop of games for the higher resolution (perhaps via a significant DLC patch), it would have required a bump in processing which effects the battery life - which in turn effects the weight, shape and cost. Higher resolution would have been nice but comes with a crop of problems for Nintendo (and its third party partners). Eurogamer should have known better to raise this as a concern, or should have included some caveats to their views.

 

They'd have to remake every game from scratch to have it work (and two different versions of every future game would have to be made). It's a ridiculous and ludicrous suggestion to make, end of.

 

This issue of touchscreen is interesting. I don't believe resistive is great tech, but I actually think for gaming a stylus is necessary due to its increased precision over chubby fingers. Over resistive, a capacitive screen would have offered an improvement for both finger and stylus controls. But, its not a deal breaker. Eurogamer are nit picking.

 

Capacitive Styli are not the same as Resistive Styli. Your typical Resistive Stylus has a very fine tip, with pixel perfect accuracy; Capacitive Styli on the other hand all need to have very thick and wide tips (almost like a crayon) in order to work and they're not accurate at all (owning one myself, there's no way you could use it to play a game like Trauma Center or Kid Icarus Uprising!)

 

I'm not sure I would agree that Eurogamer is adopting a 'its not a mobile phone' stance, but generally there is this pressure from commentators that Nintendo should be in the mobile phone space. And lets be frank - they should be; with apps and services to support their core business - something like:

 

The review raises a couple of valid points and it is, in my opinion, neither positive or negative towards the 3DS XL. The main problem is that its just so ill thought out, as if the reviewer let their pet mouse walk over the keyboard an hour and a half.

 

I'd feel the same way... if Eurogamer (and everyone else) hadn't been posting these kinds of anti handheld articles for years now...

Edited by Dcubed

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Had the 3DS XL in my hands earlier today at the Game Britannia Replayed Expo in Sheffield.

 

Very comfortable and the screens are huge, much bigger than I was expecting.

 

Before today, I had no intention of buying one but now I'm seriously considering it.

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Had the 3DS XL in my hands earlier today at the Game Britannia Replayed Expo in Sheffield.

 

Very comfortable and the screens are huge, much bigger than I was expecting.

 

Before today, I had no intention of buying one but now I'm seriously considering it.

 

How's the D-pad?

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Had the 3DS XL in my hands earlier today at the Game Britannia Replayed Expo in Sheffield.

 

Very comfortable and the screens are huge, much bigger than I was expecting.

 

Before today, I had no intention of buying one but now I'm seriously considering it.

 

Chalk me up exactly the same! i was there yesterday for a few hours and had to have a look/go on the xl

 

Its surprisingly small, holding my 3DS next to it it wasn't a lot bigger length/width wise and was about the same thickness wise.....but the screens were freaking HUGE! and i really couldn't see the difference in picture quality at all!

 

Overall it just felt better built than the 3DS, it was chunky and sturdy, the clicks and stiffness to the screens was a welcome improvement, the new start/select/home buttons were much better than the now cheap fealing ones on the normal 3ds, and the matt finish throughout made it seem more professional.

The XL is much between quality than the 3DS, its quite depressing really its quite a marked difference.

Not saying i'm a day one purchaser, but i'm considering getting one more than i was

 

 

EDIT: notice question about d-pad....better than the 3DS one

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Is it me, or is it slimmer?

 

It seemed slimmer to me in person, not by much but still slimmer

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Just noticed the release date is the 28th, which is a Saturday. What's up with that?

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Just noticed the release date is the 28th, which is a Saturday. What's up with that?

Well, according to Wikipedia;

 

Saturday is the day of the week following Friday and preceding Sunday. Saturday is the 2nd to last (sixth) day of the week (according to ISO 8601). Its Latin name dies Saturni ("Saturn's Day") entered into Old English as Saeternesdaeg. Saturday was named no later than the 2nd century for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day according to Vettius Valens.

 

:grin:

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Well, according to Wikipedia;

 

Saturday is the day of the week following Friday and preceding Sunday. Saturday is the 2nd to last (sixth) day of the week (according to ISO 8601). Its Latin name dies Saturni ("Saturn's Day") entered into Old English as Saeternesdaeg. Saturday was named no later than the 2nd century for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day according to Vettius Valens.

 

:grin:

 

Silence you!

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Just noticed the release date is the 28th, which is a Saturday. What's up with that?

 

I've noticed this a few times before, mostly with video games. However they silently rectify it before the release date nears, so it was a saturday then they'll pull it back a day etc. But were only 16 days away and yet the release date remains on Saturday.

 

Also anyone still unsure about system transfers between 3DS systems, here's a short vid.

Edited by -Dem0-

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http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/07/12/why-the-3ds-xl-doesnt-have-a-second-circle-pad

 

Why the 3DS XL Doesn't Have a Second Circle Pad

 

Nintendo president admits adding second stick 'possible'.

 

The 3DS XL introduces a number of improvements over its predecessor, save for one notable omission - the system lacks a second Circle Pad, despite seemingly having the space for one in its lower right corner. In an interview with the UK Independent, Nintendo global president Satoru Iwata finally revealed why the revised system doesn't have what seemingly everyone wants.

 

"Attaching a second analogue stick is possible but it would have made the system even bigger," Iwata said. "It perhaps puts a burden on people that really want that second stick, [but] it’s a call we had to make and these people will have to live with it.

"

 

"When we looked at the design of the 3DS XL we had to look at various factors," Iwata said, explaining the XL's design further. "One was battery life, one was the overall size of the unit, and we had to make some trade-offs. The choice, if we were going to include the second analogue stick, was to reduce the size of the battery or make the unit much bigger."

They already decided to make it too big for your pocket, so I'm not exactly with them on this 'trade off' reasoning. Adding an additional inch (1.5cm either side) or something wouldn't have made any real difference at that point.

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I played one of these in GAME today. The staff were amazing, they let me play Mario Kart 3DS, then my own copy of Kid Icarus on it... then finally Mario Kart DS to see how DS games looked. I preordered one on the spot. This is definitely the 3DS I need in my life.

 

I dunno if it's every store, but get down to GAME and see if they have one to play.

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Mario Kart DS to see how DS games looked.

 

So how did it look? Was it blurry?

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So how did it look? Was it blurry?

 

It looked pretty cool, a lot nicer than on the smaller 3DS. To be honest, I wish we'd looked at a sprite based game because the 3D ones always looked pretty great.

 

One thing I will say for sure is that the 3D is MUCH easier on the eyes than on the original 3DS. The bigger screen truly is a wonder - I mean, I was adamant I wouldn't get an XL until the moment I played one. Nintendo really need to get these on tour sometime, the public needs to know.

 

I figure trading my current 3DS in and grabbing the new one for the difference is a decent upgrade. My eyes and hands deserve it.

 

Ordered silver by the way. That was the one they were demoing. I have no idea what the other colours look like.

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Played Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS XL for a good 10 minutes this morning in Gamestation, looks fantastic.

 

The 3D viewing sweet spot is much improved.

 

Apparently the deal gamestation are offering is:

 

£20 deposit

£105 trade in value for the 3DS

£75 on the day

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I figure trading my current 3DS in and grabbing the new one for the difference is a decent upgrade. My eyes and hands deserve it.

How will you transfer your stuff between the consoles though if you trade it in?

Played Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS XL for a good 10 minutes this morning in Gamestation, looks fantastic.

 

The 3D viewing sweet spot is much improved.

 

Apparently the deal gamestation are offering is:

 

£20 deposit

£105 trade in value for the 3DS

£75 on the day

So they're charging £200 for the console?

Hmm that's dissapointing, but then £105 is a good trade in price.

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