Nintendo Reveals "New" 3DS With Updated CPU

I'm pretty on board with this if the price is right, but man, you gotta do something about that name. SUPER 3DS is a much better idea, then label the exclusive 3DS titles as SUPER 3DS titles. Its pretty easy.

That said, I don't really know where the hostility is coming from, doesn't Apple release a new iPhone/iPad every 9-12 months?

Would old 3ds games perform better on this? There are some games like Pokemon Y that have noticeable drops in framerate.

Both kind of and not surprised at the negative reaction in this thread. I'm not saying anyone has to like constant yearly hardware revisions, but that is how the small electronics market works. Look at phones, do you know how many "galaxy" or apple branded mobile devices are out there? I just hope people are consistent in their displeasure.

I kind of get your point, but more pixels means you need more of everything instead of (what I assume to be) a rather minor clock speed bump on this. An upgrade like that would truly split the player base. Not gonna happen until the next generation of handhelds.

Print more Xenoblade Chronicles for Wii, damnit.

And they still didn't find a way to cram on a second thumbstick onto this. Granted only a few games would benefit from it, but it would have been nice to have it built in should developers want to use it.

Interchangable covers! :3 I'm imagining all the cute ways I can mix and match my 3DS!

Well I'm a sucker. I'll definitely pick one up.

Some info on the specs.

http://www.reddit.com/r/3DS/comments/2ewr38/two_new_nintendo_3ds_revisions_with_a_second/

Terrible name. This is going to cause a lot of confusion and there are guaranteed to be lots of people returning games that were purchased for them as gifts that are not compatible.

AS someone who bought my 3dsxl six months ago, I feel like I got screwed a bit. Xenoblade was the only game that ever made me consider buying a Wii. I dont want a Wii U. So the most likely method is now going to be the NEW3DS.

I hope MH4 goes FULU POWA on this so buying my first 3DS is going to be worth it.

It amazes me that Nintendo still has an audience after years of blatantly anti consumer moves such as this.

How is updating old hardware anti-consumer? By locking out 1 game that would run at 5 fps on the old 3ds?

Seems pointless.

@theterriblefamiliar: Why not just play it on a Wii or Doplphin in 1080p? And save yourself 200$ + 40$ for the game?

Do you mean how they name stuff? If so, I think you are being a little overboard on confusing names. People will eventually figure it out.

If you mean upgrading stuff... just I'm not sure what to say to that. Products get upgrade all of the time, especially in small electronics. That is hardly considered anti consumer.

Now is the time..the time for me to buy a 3DS. Well, the time will be when this hits US retailers, that is.

Huh indeed... what's sad is that I'm gonna end up buying this shit again, I know it !

Fuck it go all in, release a new version of the old 3DS and then release a new version of the New 3DS then you can have an old old 3DS, an new old 3DS, a old New 3DS and a new New 3DS

As someone who has not had a 3ds in over a year or more. I'll buy one when they come out here.

Fracturing the userbase 3 years in? 3 years? I mean, yeah, sure, release a PS5 in a year that's a bit better and has exclusive games. Cause that's a good idea. Come on Nintendo, this is pretty dumb.

Edit: That being said, I WILL buy one. I'm kinda angry that it's been only a year since I've bought my 3DSXL, but hell, 200 bucks ain't gonna kill me.

I have the first 3DS but it's as good as new.

This thing will be out in Japan in a month or two, why do people keep saying this isn't even the final design?

This just drives me nuts. WTF is Nintendo seriously doing are they just throwing darts on a wall and hoping one of their ideas "will be the one" to catch on with consumers. I think the one thing that really pisses me off and I'd assume hopefully others is the loyalty fans of their games show and their inkling to milk each of us dry with each iteration of console they release. 2ds now the new 3ds? Nintendo figure out wtf you're doing and stop trying to fool us with your shennanigans. I'd probably actually be excited for this if they totally dropped 3ds from the name of this one and just called it something else. At least if they did it wouldn't feel like we were being conned by Bojangles McGee.

A new CPU may help battery life.

I have so many questions.

Didn't it take them forever to get traction with 3DS sales after they released it? Wasn't that not that long ago? Are they sure they want to fragment their already surprisingly fragmented userbase with a backwards but not forwards compatible new sku again, so soon?

Who is going to want to develop games that take advantage of the New 3DS features, and automatically be selling to a vastly smaller install base, when they can just keep making 3DS games and appeal to both, leaving most of the New 3DS features unused?

How are you supposed to do anything with that Thinkpad-style nub? How are you going to press the new shoulder buttons without accidentally pressing the old shoulder buttons all the time, since they're in-line with each other and you're supposed to be gripping the unit tightly? Are you supposed to, like, arch your fingers around the larger outside buttons?

Is Nintendo desperate, or have they just lost their minds?

What's with the scare quotes around new?

how the fuck do they make this and not put dual sticks on it

I'll say this forever: The circle pad pro is great. it looks ugly, but it's great. It makes modern camera-control games completely comfortable to play on the 3DS.

I worry about the usability of the C-stick and the ZR and ZL buttons. If I hold up my hands and close my eyes, and imagine what these buttons would feel like, I imagine that the C-stick feels like an IBM/Lenovo red touchpoint stick thing.

With the ZR/ZL buttons, I feel like there's a very real possibility that there is no perfect placement for them that is correct and isn't too close that you accidentally hit it when you use R/L trigger, or too far that you have to move your hand to use them. I feel there's a reason why doubled triggers since PS1 have been stacked, and not outer/inner.

@benu302000 said:

Tell me about it. Original 3DS and The Link Between Worlds 3DS XL here. As much as I like what they're doing with this new one, I'm having a REALLY hard time justifying purchasing a 3rd.

I hope they don't make the "new wii u" in the next year with a more powerful CPU. I mean, at least call it something different. Also, the n64 had the expansion pack which was a cool way of getting more power for the machine without creating a whole different system.

Dear Nintendo,

Give up.

Thanks,
Stefan

Its interesting to me that theres a regular and an XL version of this. I assumed Nintendo thought of the XL as an improvement over the regular 3DS rather than just a preference.

Also, that name is way stupid.

@blessmystars: Maybe it's just me, but I've always been pretty happy sticking with the non-XL versions. I can respect that it probably is the better option, but there's just something about the XL that continues to look weird and comically large to me.

I finally took the plunge on a 3DS XL two weeks ago and now they announce a new sku with an actual change to the hardware. I've been loving the system so far and would definitely buy it again if given the choice to wait until the new 3DS is released in NA but I'm still annoyed. Also the potential for exclusive games on the new sku is a scary prospect since the 3DS still has a lot of life left in it.

@blessmystars: @chaser324: You'd think with each new handheld Nintendo would think of improvements in designs but then we are just reminded about the Nintendo 2DS. Seriously that is the most akwardly designed handheld I have ever seen. You really can't carry that thing around in your pockets unless you wear XL baggy pockets jeans.

Another thing I have to be warry about too is if they keep the same dimensions for the smaller new 3ds and how will it feel in peoples hands. I don't know about the lot of you but my original 3ds felt so uncomfortable in my hands that I couldn't do any sort of extended gaming without getting cramps in them. I evenetually bought an ergonomic attachment which helped a lot and made it easier to play games which required more dexterity with the fingers. It would suck if you had to play something like xenoblade and the system just didn't feel quite right.

@duxa: Yeah I already own it on the Wii from years ago. I might use Dolphin if I were to go back through it again now, but a kid and lack of time means portables are a great fit for my current lifestyle. Plus I like hardware. Nintendo always iterates on theirs and I always end up with all of it :)

I doubt this is going to split the userbase as much as people think it is. The improved CPU will probably be for ports. That's what the analog stick and extra shoulder buttons seem to mean at least.

@harkat: They did add a second stick, that's what the little gray nub above the buttons is.

Well, this thing looks like the worst. I mean, what is up with that second analog stick? The thing is microscopic and placed somewhere that looks like the bottom of your thumb would always be mashing on the X/Y buttons. Those new shoulder buttons look clumsy too. And what's up with the name? is this a successor to the 3DS or not?

I might get this cuz I love the 3DSXL. That tiny nub second stick looks turrble but I like what I hear about the CPU. The biggest bummer has been framerate problems in some of the nicer looking games like Pokemon.

I work in a game store so screw this.

@tortoise: Yeah, kinda makes me happy too.

Y'know what else? Even though the Wii U is a confirmed, weapons-grade abortion of a games console, it has got me playing games in a handheld-type fashion for the first time in my life - NES, SNES, GBA and Wii U originals, I play them all in bed on the Gamepad while my girlfriend watches TV. Which makes me much more likely to buy a 3DS than I ever would have been, otherwise. And I'm sure that's not an accident, on Nintendo's part.

For all of its failures, the Wii U did have some astute ideas behind its idiosyncratic hardware. Pity it took almost two years for those ideas to be visible to me...

… still, I don't regret buying it.

What the fuck is wrong with Nintendo? People already had a difficult enough time realizing that the Wii U wasn't just an addon for the Wii, and now they're naming their new handheld system NEW 3DS? For fucks sake.

You don't get to release another new handheld because you wasted your money on the Wii U Nintendo. I've always had the handheld Nintendo consoles since the original Gameboy but I'm thinking this is where the train stops for me.

I love the games on my 3DSXL but I've been getting more and more fed up with the hardware.

OS tasks - It's just so, so slow. Opening the estore takes an age and once in there it takes ages to load pages. Particularly when you think of the minuscule amount of data being pushed. Not to mention being unable to go straight back to the home screen at times as the system is playing catchup. Same with notifications; 8 seconds to enter the screen, 2 seconds to read it and then another 8 seconds back to the home screen. If the new CPU makes app switching as quick and seamless as a Vita or a smartphone, then I'm all for it - especially if it means that bandwidth is no longer bottlenecked.

2nd joystick. I'm one of those people that are constantly adjusting the camera in games. I hate not being able to point it where I want. Now in most 3DS games that I play it isn't an issue, but in others it drives me to distraction. Having the 2nd joypad solves that issue immediately. Again, not even an issue from some, for me a godsend.

3D Tracking. Now this sounds interesting. I've always had to turn the 3D off if I try to play in a moving vehicle or laying down as the sweetspot keeps shifting. If this tracking works, it sounds like a fantastic solution. Again, another issue which many won't care about but I bought a console that does 3D and so I want to use it all the time (even if Nintendo themselves don't - I'm looking at you Pokemon X)

Ergonomics. Now this is where I'm unsure how much of an improvement there is. Just holding my own XL in my hands I'm intrigued as to how operable the new joystick will be without it resulting in a million accidental presses of the X button. Same goes with the new shoulder buttons. Playing Mario Kart already gives me hand cramps, and I can't see how these new buttons will prevent that. I can actually see it getting worse as it looks like you'll really need to arc those fingers to avoid triggering the existing shoulder buttons as the fingerpads can't rest on them any more. It looks like the Vita retains its crown as most comfortable handheld.

Account transfers - I've not seen anything that says that your entire account (including Streetpass hits) can transfer over. I guess this one will be a wait and see as more news comes out.

Cases - I'm a bloke that's way too old for it, yet as someone that has played way too much Animal Crossing over way too many years, boy do I want a Mable case. Maybe I can pass it off as Sonic to those that aren't in on the secret!

TL:DR I think there are some good improvements, but not enough to the ergonomics which I've felt were the systems biggest issue in the first place.

Word. My launch DS Lite is still kickin', those things are tough as hell.

So my 3ds is obsolete and won't run new 3ds games then? This is dumb. I just bought my 3ds and I'm not at all interested in new hardware.

"It won't run on the 3DS you own right now"

are you kidding me Nintendo...