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Nintendo Reveals New 3DS and 3DS XL

Aikouka

Aikouka

Lifer
During today's Nintendo Direct, Nintendo unveiled a "refresh" for the 3DS and 3DS XL that has a couple new features:


  1. Upgraded CPU
  2. Analog nub positioned above the buttons on the right
  3. ZL and ZR buttons beside the existing L and R buttons
  4. Amiibo support via new NFC support
#1 is a relatively important distinction here because as some may suspect, it does fragment the systems a bit. For example, Xenoblade Chronicles is coming to the 3DS, but it is only supported on the new models. Changes #2 and #3 are nice to see as they essentially took the second stick add-on and built it into the device. Although, I'm not sure how well the "nub" will work as it reminds me of those IBM Thinkpad cursor sticks.


Thoughts? Think it's a bad idea to keep the same name?
 
Looks like they didnt learn from the Wii U naming fiasco. Also Nintendo should really get some new UI designers, the UI on the 3ds/2ds etc is just downright awful and the screen are so bad. I am surprised they sell so well, especially now that people are used to high resolution tablets and phones
 
Look at that little nub they expect people to use as a second analog input. It looks nearly impossible to use in any way.

The name is bad, fragmenting your audience because some 3DS games only work on the "new 3ds" but old games work on the new one is terrible, and adding more L and R buttons to a device that already had uncomfortable R and L buttons is just a bad idea IMO.

Sad really.
 
I agree that fragmentation is risky, but I'm also not sure how they would make it better. It's a 3DS with a better CPU, not sure what they'd do to rename it as a new console with almost the exact same hardware layout as the predecessor. The DS->3DS indicated the 3D addition. What would this be called to do something similar, the DualStick?

The Wii U naming complaint, I don't agree with. I mean, they threw the word "Super" in front of the NES and didn't confuse people. The Xbox 360 just added the "360" to the end, and no one was confused. What made having the "U" after "Wii" such a drastic difference in perception for consumers, are they just that stupid?

Anyway, my interest in getting a 3DS has now changed. I was waiting to see about a cheap one so I could play the new Fire Emblem and Pokémon games, plus Dream Drop Distance, but now I'll have to sit and wait for both an American release and a decent price drop (because $180 for a handheld is more than I'd be interested in spending).

Oh, and here's hoping that this new 3DS iteration is joined with a real networking endeavor from Nintendo. Online multiplayer for their systems needs to take a BIG step forward.
 
So it's sort of what they did with the Gameboy Color, except what's the benefit here? It's a pretty poor move to start fragmenting their handheld market when that's the only segment of their business that's making money.
 
Lil Frier said:
The Wii U naming complaint, I don't agree with. I mean, they threw the word "Super" in front of the NES and didn't confuse people. The Xbox 360 just added the "360" to the end, and no one was confused. What made having the "U" after "Wii" such a drastic difference in perception for consumers, are they just that stupid?
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The people who bought an NES and then an SNES are core gamers back then. The people who bought a Wii are casual and generally casual gamers don't know crap about the games industry or the latest trends. So the wiiu is a terrible name when probably 90% of your audience doesn't follow the industry and doesn't know wtf a wiiu is.

Plus the snes didn't play any nes games and there was no confusion about what games work in which console. The nes played only nes games and the snes only played snes games.
 
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Well with the naming, extremely few amounts of games are going to be made exclusively for the refresh but the few that are I'm sure some people could buy it and wonder why it doesn't work with their old 3DS but it's not a whole new system so there's no reason to call it anything different. It's just a refresh. Also the IBM/Lenovo nub looks dumb. Why they didn't go with a regular size is dumb.
 
Yeah, I think it's a bad idea to keep the same name. Just as there was consumer confusion between what is and isn't compatible between the Wii and Wii U, I see the same problem occurring with a 3DS, 3DSXL, New 3DS, and New 3DSXL.

Customer: I bought Xenoblade Chronicles, but it doesn't work on my 3DS.
Cashier: You need a New 3DS to play it.
Customer: But it is a new 3DS. I just bought it last week.
Cashier: Did you buy a 3DS, or a New 3DS?
Customer: I bought a new 3DS.
Cashier: Then it should work.
Customer: But I'm telling you, it does NOT work!
Cashier: Then you must have done something wrong.
Customer: Argh.
 
Nintendo has outdone themselves once again!

You thought that "Wii" was the worst console name they could come up with, but then they showed you the "Wii U".

Surely, "Wii U" is the most confusing name they will come up with, you think, and then BOOM!

"New 3DS, it's a 3DS with extra buttons and features that's backwards compatible with 3DS and 2DS games, but has exclusive content only available on new 3ds"

Haha! Woooo! I honestly didn't think they could pull it off, but Nintendo wins once again, at worst console names! Can't wait to see em' put out a "new 2DSi XL" or something, to top this!
 
If you are going to fragment a console like this, at least make it a bigger upgrade. Not too happy about either selling my Zelda 3DS XL or buying a second one for a handful of games.
 
Much as I like my 3DS, I'd have to agree that the fragmentation is quite a poor choice on Nintendo's part.

Though if they went all in, and gave it a Snapdragon chip, I would have forgiven them.
 
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Zodiark1593 said:
Much as I like my 3DS, I'd have to agree that the fragmentation is quite a poor choice on Nintendo's part.

Though if they went all in, and gave it a Snapdragon chip, I would have forgiven them.
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Yeah I sold my 3DS so if I bought another for a game that comes out I would be buying the new one probably.(although there is no release info for areas outside of japan) If they put as you said a brand new CPU & GPU in there like a Snapdragon 801 or similar the potential for better looking handheld games would definitely be there so it would be an easier pill to swallow. You're going to have to do a marginal upgrade if you want to play any of the new games that use the new CPU.
 
cmdrdredd said:
Yeah I sold my 3DS so if I bought another for a game that comes out I would be buying the new one probably.(although there is no release info for areas outside of japan) If they put as you said a brand new CPU & GPU in there like a Snapdragon 801 or similar the potential for better looking handheld games would definitely be there so it would be an easier pill to swallow. You're going to have to do a marginal upgrade if you want to play any of the new games that use the new CPU.
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It's got double the RAM but Nintendo has been tight lipped about CPU specs. Either way, it's still not going to be able to match the Vita. Which itself is starting to feel a bit dated. Granted Nintendo has a vastly superior library to Sony's orphaned handheld. I'm just not convinced the speed bump will be worth it. Especially so soon after the launch of the 3DS. The GBC was technically a whole new platform that came out 9 years after the original launched.
 
mmntech said:
It's got double the RAM but Nintendo has been tight lipped about CPU specs. Either way, it's still not going to be able to match the Vita. Which itself is starting to feel a bit dated. Granted Nintendo has a vastly superior library to Sony's orphaned handheld. I'm just not convinced the speed bump will be worth it. Especially so soon after the launch of the 3DS. The GBC was technically a whole new platform that came out 9 years after the original launched.
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I think they should have made a premium version that packed a Cortex A15 for web browsing. Other features for premium including aluminum or carbon fiber exterior, IPS displays, perhaps higher res with hardware filtering + scaling, build quality, things of that nature basically.
 
Zodiark1593 said:
I think they should have made a premium version that packed a Cortex A15 for web browsing. Other features for premium including aluminum or carbon fiber exterior, IPS displays, perhaps higher res with hardware filtering + scaling, build quality, things of that nature basically.
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Well I think the 3ds is still targeted to children and younger gamers so adding premium stuff that you find in the latest smart phones would bring the price into areas people would never pay. Who wants yo buy a handheld game system when it costs $600?
 
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Remember when the 3DS originally launched and everybody freaked out that it cost $250. Yeah, that's why it doesn't contain premium hardware.
 
mmntech said:
Remember when the 3DS originally launched and everybody freaked out that it cost $250. Yeah, that's why it doesn't contain premium hardware.
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That's mainly because of the 3D, without it the cost would have been a lot lower. No one still cares about 3D. Especially after all this time they are using most of the same components as the normal 3DS.
 
zerocool84 said:
That's mainly because of the 3D, without it the cost would have been a lot lower. No one still cares about 3D. Especially after all this time they are using most of the same components as the normal 3DS.
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After the 2DS came out, I was thoroughly convinced 3D was dead to Nintendo. Especially since a lot of games don't even use it anymore. After Avatar came out, everyone doubled down on 3D. That whole trend fissiled out very quick.
 
At this point, I'm curious how many games will end up being "New 3DS-only". Honestly, I don't suspect that too many will be, but I do wonder if they'll consider rereleasing Xenoblade Chronicles for a more common console. Xenoblade Chronicles HD for the Wii U? 😛

cmdrdredd said:
I still like 3D for movies on blu-ray and in theaters. For games not so much.
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I think it's cool being able to use top-bottom 3D to turn a split-screen game into a full-screen game for two players. You can do it without any extra feature in the game, but the game will look a bit stretched for each player since the game isn't taking into account the stretching.

I do think that 3D was majorly screwed over by a few different facets. The 3D TVs are too expensive compared to their 2D counterparts. The problem is that you're charging too much for a fringe feature that you're still trying to get adopted. Also, the actual media was far more expensive, and they rarely ever went on sale. Why would people want to pay $35 for a 3D Blu-ray, which only gives them one more disc when they can pay $10-15 less for the 2D version?
 
I regularly get new release 3D blu-ray movies for under $30. There is always the outlier that I don't buy but I haven't paid over $30 for any in my collection. As for the TV itself, I bought my TV which happens to do 3D because it was the best picture quality at the size range I was looking at with the lowest input lag I could find. 3d was a secondary feature to me but after using it I kind of enjoy it.

I just can't see playing games for multiple hours at a time in 3D.
 
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cmdrdredd said:
I regularly get new release 3D blu-ray movies for under $30.
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Oh, it's not impossible to get 3D movies for a decent price, but it's rare to get them for a price that doesn't feel unfair compared to the 2D release's price. Although, I was trying to pick up Captain America in 3D for the longest time, but I could never find a price below $30. :\

cmdrdredd said:
As for the TV itself, I bought my TV which happens to do 3D because it was the best picture quality at the size range I was looking at with the lowest input lag I could find. 3d was a secondary feature to me but after using it I kind of enjoy it.
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Do you use passive or active? My first 3D TV used active, but as someone with corrective lenses, double the glasses is not double the fun like double mint gum. 🙁 I use a Vizio M-series TV downstairs, and it's pretty good overall.

cmdrdredd said:
I just can't see playing games for multiple hours at a time in 3D.
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I only ever tried it with a TV once, but TVs are fairly limited in regard to their 3D. You pretty much have to run at 720p50, 720p60 or 1080p30. On my PC, I can use NVIDIA's 3D Vision and run at an effective 1080p60 (120Hz split between both eyes). It's fun in some games like Trine, but I rarely ever use it.
 
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