Yet another 3DS model announced - the NEW 3DS

[Exhuminator]

I was pretty sure there would be revision coming for this Christmas... well apparently not outside Japan, which is weird, but whatevas.

Nintendo wants to sell out existing stock of its 3DS XL in the West before introducing this thing. With Smash Bros. hitting this fall, they stand a chance of doing that.

Do you people realize it is actually positioned pretty damn nicely in the sense that you can control it and press at least some XYAB buttons at the same time, that is pretty unique for left analog stick.

Not sure how you would caress the analog nub with your thumb, and also simultaneously press the four buttons beneath independently with the same thumb. Also it's not a "left analog stick", the nub is on the right hand side of the device.

Add second set of shoulder buttons

Gotta be honest, the way the new shoulder buttons are lateral to the existing ones makes me worry about accidental pressings. I mean you have to reach around the R button to reach the ZR button for example. Not sure how well this will work in practice.

I do hope the PPI goes up for the New 3DS XL versus the 3DS XL... now that could make me buy the upgrade.

[Korpi]

I mean you can control the analog nub and have lower part of thumb ready to press other buttons. Don't know if I have freak thumbs, but I'm pretty sure this will work well. Not necessarily to control both at exact same time. This is long time annoyance for me with right analog positionings in controllers, you have to move thumb far away from the important controls. The stick itself isn't so important, just enough to flick it a bit to move camera once in a while.

The shoulder buttons I have no doubts for, but we will have to see I suppose. If you have long enough fingers there shouldn't be any problems. Tip of finger presses the ZR, stem of of you finger presses the R. The 3DS isn't as deep and ergonomically shaped as 2DS, you finger tend to naturally curve away from the system at the shoulder buttons. Actually accidental press of ZR should be more likely.

E: Scratch that, there's apparently small area over ZR where you probably can place most of the weight of you finger and avoid accidentally pressing the button completely!

I don't doubt Nintendo when it comes to controls now. Only things that have sucked were NES controller and OG 3DS, as far as I know. Rest are balance of functional and -fun-.

[ZenErik]

Gotta be honest, the way the new shoulder buttons are lateral to the existing ones makes me worry about accidental pressings. I mean you have to reach around the R button to reach the ZR button for example. Not sure how well this will work in practice.

This will likely only be a problem if your hands are actually infant sized. My hands are not particularly large, but I don't envision any issues with this setup and have used one of the older style Wii classic controllers with a similar setup. Not ideal but certainly functional.

[Tanooki]

Hey I posted this also at digital press where there's a same thread going. I got into doing a little digging due to the DSi and GBC being brought up. I went and re-looked into their spec changes over the prior model of the same name, and I also looked at where the 3DS was gimped on the parts since they weren't fully tapped either and found some potential.

The main processor, the ARM9 is double clocked up to 133mhz and 4X the ram (16MB). Now think back to the GBC and check that one, they X2 the CPU to 8mhz, 4x the RAM, 2x the VRAM. Notice a pattern? Both systems were not NEW consoles, but they had their main processor and main source of RAM doubled and quadrupled respectively.

I'm not saying the New3DS will do this, but, there is a micro-history of this, the only case that didn't do this was the GBA which instead jumped to having a backlit to sharper backlit screen instead along with the anomaly the micro. I can't say I'd be safe to assume anything, but given it's running Xenoblade as a starter tip off seller game I guarantee you this pattern could continue. The ARM11 (1ghz dual core) main CPU in the 3DS was not clocked to the max, it like the other 2 systems was half that, so the room is there without buying a new chip exactly. And then the GPU it has, the PICA200 they didn't max that either, they halved it and it uses 6MB of VideoRAM, so that could go up to a 400mhz chip from 200mhz and more VRAM added too. The system has just 128MB of RAM, so it wouldn't be hard to believe they could 2-4x that over without a cost that would put the system off the quoted price online in Yen currently converted back to USD where it could be priced as the 3DS/XL were when they launched.

Perhaps that's roughly what we're looking at? N3Ds being a 2ghz dual (or quad) core ARM11 backed with a fully clocked PICA200 at 400mhz, 256 to 512MB of RAM to use, and then the other knowns given out so far. That could be a hell of a nice handheld capable of doing quite a lot, while still depending on usage allow like on GBC and DSI games that are or are not specific to it with proper branding and form factor to the game card.

[dsheinem]

I don't understand why people think the Game Boy Color wasn't a new system/generation of Game Boy.

It was more powerful by quite a bit -

Wikipedia:

The processor, which is a Z80 workalike made by Sharp with a few extra (bit manipulation) instructions, has a clock speed of approximately 8 MHz, twice as fast as that of the original Game Boy. The Game Boy Color also has three times as much memory as the original (32 kilobytes system RAM, 16 kilobytes video RAM)...The Game Boy Color also featured an infrared communications port for wireless linking.

It had its own launch lineup: http://www.rfgeneration.com/news/game-b ... s-1401.php (hey, some other dude discussing launch games!). It eventually had a big list of exclusive titles.

It was sold as a NEW GAME BOY not a "revamped Game Boy" or an "upgraded Game Boy".

I guess until we know more about the specs of this new 3DS, it might be too early to know if it is as dramatic of a hardware change as the GBC was over the GB/GB Pocket. If so, and if it eventually builds its own unique library like the GBC did, then I would consider it a new line of hardware and thus a new handheld generation. And, frankly, I'd be less irritated

[Reprise]

Initially though, most (if not all?) Gameboy Color games could also be played on the original Gameboy. I think that's why a lot of people didn't see it as a totally new system.

I agree with you though. I always saw it as a new system/generation of Gameboy, just like the Advance.

[Tanooki]

I can see it going either way, but I think ultimately the hand in it belongs only to Nintendo, and in history when they've bragged about the Gameboy line, when they've said that the original GB globally sold 110M units before the GBA forced it off the market, that's including the GBC. So they don't really consider it new hardware, and they also count the DSi systems in with the DS and DS Lite, so despite it having a few unique games (gbc see through carts) and a good decent sized list of quietly (black gbc) supporting games with enhancement it's all considered just 'DS' too.

That's why I went on that whole trail of thought with it, as I was playing into how they figured their figures and information on it. I get seeing it as a stand alone, but it took awhile for a pile of the see through GBC games to pop up, and despite that throughout its life black carts still appeared keeping the original GB alive too. I agree marketing wise they sold it as a NEW Gameboy, definitely, a new one in color, but when it came down to it they figured it as just a gameboy IN color, not gameboy color which was kind of lame but a good way to keep a line going (with black carts) so they can throw a big ass number out there at the end. Few systems on the go or in home bust 100M. It will ultimately for the New3DS/3DS/XL/2DS saga take probably 3-4 years to play out to really get the answer. It could end up going in good with solid games, then halfassed to death like the circle pad pro, or it'll generate a wave of badassery on its own as third parties want to tap a much more beefier system with true console like controls (4 face, 4 top, 2 sticks.)

[Mad_Hatter]

Just read about this.

Sucks imo. Feel like it is too much updates for a handheld.

Anyway, I skipped out on the regular Nintendo 3DS. I might buy this one. Is there a release date for this? I couldn't find one.

I'm just afraid since this one is a somewhat minor improvement imo, it won't last long. Probably like 2 years max imo before they make another newer and better handheld. What do you guys think?

[flex wood]

Am I the only one that never picked up a 3ds and is kind of excited for this? I pretty much skipped the Wii so the thought of this getting other Wii games is right up my alley.

It seems like most of the people in the thread already have one I'd like to hear some opinions from people that never picked one up.

[Tanooki]

I'm not too terribly bothered because from the looks of it, it's a substantial upgrade to the hardware yet still being what it is, just like GB Color, and that didn't piss me off going from the GB Pocket(as it released) to the GBC the day it came out which was 1996 to 1998 (2 years) in case anyone didn't know. I take it in stride really. The 3DS lasted me for a time, got the XL a little over a year ago now, and then this sometime in 2015.