Just a week after Miyamoto stated that “Nintendo has no plans to iterate on the current 3DS design”, the company has revealed the 3DS XL. In this redesign, both of the system’s upper and lower screens are now 90% larger, measuring in at 4.88” and 4.18” respectively. As with the DSi XL, the resolutions of the screens have remained unchanged which is sure to be a point of contention for many gamers. Additionally, the extra real estate would have allowed Nintendo to easily give the device a second circle pad (especially since the Circle Pad Pro won’t fit the system) but as usual Nintendo has remained stubborn.
On a more positive note, the XL will pack a slightly improved battery and will no longer feature a black frame around the top screen, unless you choose to purchase the black model of course. The system will launch in North America on August 19th for $199 in both Blue as Red variants (as pictured above). In Europe, the system will launch on July 28th and will also be available in sexy Silver. Bizarrely, power adaptors will not be sold with the system outside of America in order to “keep prices down”. Speaking of pricing, Nintendo are allowing EU retailers to set their own prices for the 3DS XL and we’ll be sure to report back once they do.
