Nintendo Reveals "New" 3DS With Updated CPU

People are annoyed because this is basically a new handheld console. It will have games that are exclusive to it. Nintendo just seem to want to avoid calling it that. Don't get me wrong, it seems like a great device, and if someone doesn't own a 3DS right now, this would be the device to wait for. It's just that if you purchase a console, whether handheld or at home, the expectation that it will last you a while and that you will still be able to play all games released for the thing, whether you get a launch model or a slimmer/larger model later. Current 3DS owners have a right to be annoyed, especially if they may not have the money to spend on this new model.
I don't quite get the Vita comment though. Vita TV looks kind of cool, especially if you don't own a Vita. There are no exclusive games for the Vita TV. There were no exclusive games for any version of the Vita.

Fucking lame. Only bought a 3DS last month :(

Nintendo still thinks its 2000 when Japan was the dominate market for console, learn from Sony the west is key Japan is dead for consoles.................

They make me unhappy; they look really tacky :|

Anyway, don't tell Nintendo, but I'll definitely pick one of these up when they're released.

COLORED BUTTONES!!!!!

(This is stupid, but I am a sucker for these small touches.)

And of course I just bought a a replacement 3DS XL back in July....

My 3DS XL isn't as quick as it used to be. Load times seem to take longer now. I may get one of these and pass mine off to a family member if it get released in North America next year.

The Nintendo 3DS: What we should have done in the first place edition.
Blowing my mind Nintendo.
Why would they bother with a slightly better "New 3DS?"
Obviously this will fragment their audience and give devs another reason to not develop on yet another Nintendo platform.
Nintendo should focus on software and work on true successors to both machines that work with each other.
Booo.
That being said...
When can I pre-order one??
lol

Why not update the 2DS? :P

Device fragmentation, nothing could go wrong!

Well the 3DS has now become souls friendly. Hope Namco puts out Dark Souls for this.

Why is this not a totally new system? Why not give it a different name, instead of making the EXACT SAME MISTAKE they made with the Wii U?

And Nintendo fanboys rage when we say Iwata's the problem.

The New CPU means games like Xenoblade will NOT run on the original 3DS at all. They are fragmenting the market and making old systems obsolete

What's especially hilarious about this is before the announcement was made, I was just thinking about how I'd totally get a new premium model of 3DS XL if they came out with it. No joke. I was thinking about that on the pot at work today.

What I'm trying to say is I have precognitive abilities.

your probably right, maybe the new CPU could have a better battery to help it run. Still, the 3DS is designed to consume power, rendering the screen 2 times for stereoscopic 3d and a Wifi that's always on for Street Passing just eats up a battery less then 3 to 5 hours. I was replaying the DS Lite, and and god damn does that thing spoil me with a battery that feels like it can run for 2 weeks without recharging.

It came out in late July of 2012. That's barely two years ago. Yeah, it's not a replacement model annually, but the 2DS came out just last year and the regular 3DS came out in 2011. I can see why some people would get fatigued about this, though I'm not personally bothered. I'd like the 3DS XL to be a little fancier than it is, honestly.

ZR/ZL, second analog stick... something tells me it's not a coincidence you're basically holding a WiiU gamepad at this point.

Well fuck you Nintendo....

Oh Goddammit, Nintendo.

I'll probably buy one of these. I still have my Launch 3DS...

Great, I just got my XL a week ago.

Console Hardware 101: Do not rev your hardware after launch with different specs

I guess an expansion cart sort of thing like their N64 and the Sega Saturn did was not an option. That's all this reminds me of. Unless it can compete with the Vita graphically it makes no sense to have another system. This is the first time I have ever been really upset with Nintendo. It's like they don't give a sh*t about their customers.

Change. Marketing. Team. Now.

I think the announcement was handled a bit oddly, but I'm still quite excited for this. I hope it comes out sooner than they're indicating right now. If it comes out by December, I'm getting this for sure.

I bought a 3ds xl not that long ago... This is somewhat irritating especially since one of the reasons I ended up buying one is because I remember one of the press releases for the XL stated that they wern't going to add a second analouge stick to future 3ds because it would alienate those who bought the circle pad pro. The exclusive to this version only thing could be a killer too unless this will be something only supported for a few games that I won't end up playing.

I also don't get the whole Nintendo have done this will all their handhelds every one is stating. Yes, Nintendo always did slight modifications on the original design as such:

• Game Boy had the Pocket (and the Light if you lived in Japan)
• The Game Boy Color only had one iteration
• The GBA had the SP and Micro
• The original DS had the Lite, DSi and DSiXL
• The 3DS before now also had the XL and 2DS

Before now the worst deal buyers got what they had a version that was less appriopriatly sized or had a few features missing that more or less had minimal impact on the game side of things. Never before have earlier adopters been locked out of content for their console because a new version has a better cpu.

Nintendo should have either just done this as a new console or kept the same specs.

@kerikxi said:

This probably won't be as bad as the WiiU, since there isn't some peripheral that people can look at and go "Oh, this must be what the fuss was about then", it's either an old 3DS or a 'New 3DS'. Nintendo aren't selling something that people can mistake for an addon, in fact it's the opposite, they built the addon into the new thing in the case of the circle pad pro.

The whole naming thing is dumb though, it just looks like they're trying to pull an Apple and do a The New iPad with Retina and Fancy Glitter Balls type refresh rather than have a bigger leap every seven or eight years.

@jabbawocky: Wouldn't them just making it a new console make people feel even worse?

This compromise approach with a hardware update that for the most part still allows the older versions to get the same great games seems far better than making people feel like their current console is just being abandoned. If you own a 3DS, you're still going to probably be getting 9 out of 10 games, if not even more.

Developers are still going to see the large install base of the 3DS and primarily target for all of them. There may be a few that can only end up on the New 3DS, but those are likely games that would have never come to the current 3DS anyway. Why should we feel slighted that games that couldn't be made for our current console may be coming out for a different console version that can actually play it? For the most part, all versions of the 3DS will likely continue to get every game, and only those few that couldn't be released on the older versions will be exclusive to the new version. We were likely never going to be getting those games whether this new version came out or not.

There may come a time in another few years where the new 3DS gets enough of an install base to inspire more developers making exclusive titles for it, but by then, the original 3DS will have already been out for over five years. With how readily many 3DS owners have already upgraded to the 3DS XL since it came out, it's not ridiculous to imagine many looking to upgrade again, especially at a reasonable price point. This is a new console version which looks like it will improve things all around. If it does well, we may even get some games made for it that would have never come out otherwise.

As a 3DS owner, I'm glad Nintendo is not just leaving the 3DS behind. They're improving it and opening up avenues for more games. I'm with folks on wishing the 3DS could play every game ever, but it has limitations. If this new console version may mean some people will get to enjoy games that were not possible under the current limitations, to me, that's great. I hope it does well and I can eventually get the New 3DS. I look forward to Nintendo's continued support of the whole 3DS line, and I think we're going to end up seeing even more games sooner than if Nintendo had gone with a fully new console or not changed anything at all. Here's hoping.

"Hey guys, what should we call this thing?"

*blank stares*

"3DS U?"

...

"You're fired."

Why not just make a new handheld console entirely?

Horribly stupid Apple-esque move. It will probably succeed, however, then in 3 years we'll get the New-New 3DS

Not sure how much more powerful this new processor is... Xenoblade footage didn't look great.

The whole package still sounds good though, 3ds has some great games and if we can get some more power out of it then all the better. Looking forward to hearing more actual hands on feedback on this one.

Because some of us already did purchase an XL and are now pissed off that we waited to do that only for a new console essentially to be announced, meaning that we just spent hundreds of dollars on something that was supposed to be new but is now being rendered in some way obsolete and won't let us play a stable of new games. That is bullshit, however you look at it. The 3DS hardware is still new, and this decision isn't just a flashier 3DS, it's a new console that will support different games. That's why the negativity. Not all of us can just drop hundreds of dollars on a whim, and I myself waited for "the right moment" to pick up an XL, which was my first 3DS. I now feel cheated, because clearly buying the XL was a very stupid decision. Had I known this was coming, I never would have, and my impulse now is to just dump the thing, which of course I'll have to do at a major loss, which sucks for me because that loss isn't worth the time I spent enjoying it. I haven't had it for more than a couple months, and haven't been able to devote a ton of time to playing it.

cool I was waiting for this, I don't think current owners have anything to worry about, the number of new 3ds exclusives will be miniscule.

@majkiboy: R and D too expensive

Where are you getting this "stable of new games" from? There's only 1 game announced so far exclusive to it, and it's a port of a Wii game that's better played on a Wii and TV.

RPGs are always better on handhelds..

Depends on the person and the game. Guy I was replying to didn't play his 3DS that much, so whether he is much of a portable gamer who wants to grind on the go is debatable. I think the average person would get a better appreciation for this games graphics, huge draw distances and long cutscenes on a Television, over a small screen.

A big fuck you and betrayal to the fans that supported their 3DS up until now. This is mind boggling, they are splitting the market!

I almost bought a 3DS recently , this makes me instantly thankful that i took some time to think about it, I may buy this when it comes out.

Dude. Chill. They are not "splitting the market". So far, a grand total of one game has been announced that makes necessary use of the enhanced CPU power. The entire rest of the 3DS library will still work on it.

Frankly though, I'll be buying a New 3DS, because I want the Circle Pad Pro controls integrated, and it'll be nice to have the NFC reader built in without having to deal with a separate accessory dongle. The fact that Xenoblade Chronicles is coming to the handheld is a major plus, even though I already own and have played the Wii version.

Did Nintendo not learn anything from the Wii U name? Enthusiasts will understand that this is a new system, but I doubt any of their regular in store customers will. Way to confuse a brand, yet again.

Clerk: "This will only play in the New 3DS." Customer: "That's fine, I have the XL:" Clerk: "Unfortunately you will need the New 3DS XL to play this game."

That said, all the improvements are welcome, I will definitialy buy this. I really hope the screen quality is better overall. Guess we won't see higher resolution until the actual 3DS 2. This is more of a 3DSi.

@snakeitachi: I think this reaction is pretty much Nintendo's fault. If they announced it as a successor with backwards compatibility instead the reaction would be different. I'll happy take a new Nintendo handheld every 3 years, especially since they usually lack behind in specs even at launch.

@snakeitachi: First, I would appreciate if you would hold off on the personal attacks.

The 3DS is over three years old at this point. The longer people wait to buy one, the more inevitable it is that new hardware is around the corner. That is just a simple fact of the way that technology development works.

man some of you like to be dramatic, huh.