[patsu]

You mean the Vita account lock ?

Probably to prevent digital distribution from cannibalizing early B&M sales completely. Some Asia PS3/PSP/Vita games support English language. On Vita, it's very easy to buy games (like iOS !). The retailers may have spoken with Sony at-length. This is just my guess though.

Regardless, it is possible to buy and play games from any country on Vita. It takes more work, but doable.

[orangpelupa]

thanks, so thats for vita, how about for 3ds?

is it just for preventing game from cheaper region being exported to another region with higher prices?
is the benefit for gamer able to import games from everywhere like NDS is not good enough to increase game sales?

[patsu]

I don't know how the import sales numbers match up. Typically, region lock prevents channel conflict between continents and countries (e.g., parallel imports).

[Arwin]

Originally Posted by patsu

You mean the Vita account lock ?

Probably to prevent digital distribution from cannibalizing early B&M sales completely. Some Asia PS3/PSP/Vita games support English language. On Vita, it's very easy to buy games (like iOS !). The retailers may have spoken with Sony at-length. This is just my guess though.

Regardless, it is possible to buy and play games from any country on Vita. It takes more work, but doable.

And stuff that isn't region locked is actually quite easy and you won't need to reset your Vita - you just set up a foreign account on PS3 or PC and use that to buy stuff, then content manage it over to your PC, apparently. Skyghene22 on youtube has some videos on it. Personally I'm not interested in that yet, perfectly happy so far with what we're getting. I've imported games for PSP back in the day, but I've decided a long while ago that this is just annoying - there are too many hidden risks there with DLC and patches not working, online gaming regions and what not.

[ToTTenTranz]

At the bottom of the page:



I guess it's kind of a big fail that they're losing money on a console as weak as the 3DS by selling it for 170€.
Lose the infra-red, get a larger battery, second analog stick and I may think of buying the console IF the game line-up is half-decent.

[orangpelupa]

at first i misread that as "portability" instead of "profitability" and got smile on my face thinking 3DS Lite is coming

btw if there is 3DS lite with second analog stick, i hope the games not exclusively use them and still allow touchscreen-aim.

im completely clueless when aiming using analog stick.

[ToTTenTranz]

Heads up for a new 3DS being shown today.

Nikkei's initial report said that it would have large screens (4.3"), but then Nintendo issued a statement claiming that report was full of mistakes - though they didn't deniy the appearance of a new form factor for the 3DS.

I'm still crossing fingers for:
1 - Second analog stick
2 - Larger battery
3 - Smaller form factor or larger screen
4 (the long shot, not going to happen) - improved hardware that enables higher-quality graphics and better Wii U interaction. Something like the 3DSi.

[Brad Grenz]

It needs a larger screen, which will make room for a better battery and a 2nd analog. Not sure they'll show it today, though, they claim that 3DS is barely even going to be mentioned with Wii U software being the focus.

[ToTTenTranz]

3DS XL:
- it's larger (huge)
- has larger screens
- better battery life
- NO SECOND ANALOG


Wtf Nintendo? They don't seem to get a single one right, these days.

[Dr Evil]

Originally Posted by ToTTenTranz

- NO SECOND ANALOG

Wow this is pretty bad. After they brought in that monster add on I would have thought that a proper redesign would have incorporated the second analog into the unit, but seems not...
Bigger screen and better battery life is very welcome.

[V3]

I still prefer the one I made by crossing DS with Wii U controller:



Why can't Nintendo do this? Anyway I'll defenitely be getting 3DS XL when its out. Might be my only gaming system in the future.

After they brought in that monster add on I would have thought that a proper redesign

Just imagine the add on to this one

[Arwin]

Originally Posted by ToTTenTranz

3DS XL:
- it's larger (huge)
- has larger screens
- better battery life
- NO SECOND ANALOG

Wtf Nintendo? They don't seem to get a single one right, these days.

No AC adapter included in EU either apparently? Weird.

I like the screen size, almost as large as the Vita's, so good for multi-media. Will wait and see how the resolution holds up in person and if the 3D remains good. No second analog is a big shame, especially as they already had that circle-pad thing for the original 3DS. That's a big fail, imho.

Sill, always said that at the very least it would take an XL to get me interested, because after trying the 3DS in person, I am too big a guy with too long arms for such a tiny screen (same with original DS, but 3D made that even worse). So I'll definitely check it out.

[V3]

No AC Adapter ? Does this come with a bigger cradle ? I kinda like the cradle for 3DS, I thought it was nice.

It's matte finish too, but I don't like the colour choice, why can't they just do all black. This thing is uglier than 3DS. Who the hell did Nintendo put in charged in designing the look of 3DS line. The DSi and DSi XL looks great, what's going on ?

Also it's interesting that they have all white now, considering they claimed the black top half help imrove the 3D of the top screen and it does IMO, since the 3D is way better IMO, when you play in total darkness.

I still think it should be bigger still. This is really a clumsy size. Should have gone for tablet size device (ipad size when open and half the size when closed) with improve res as well as specs and backward compatible to 3DS and ability to play on TV.

It is $200 though, at least that's a reasonable launched price.

[ToTTenTranz]

When Nintendo revealed the 3DS XL, Kotaku asked the game maker about the Circle Pad Pro—you know, the add-on circle pad—as it would be too small for the larger 3DS. Nintendo said that the company had nothing to announce at that time. Fast forward to today.

In the recent issue of Japanese game magazine Famitsu, Nintendo revealed that, yes, the 3DS XL will also be getting its own Circle Pad Pro. Hope it's called Circle Pad Pro XL.

Whatever Nintendo calls it, the add-on is slated to go on sale sometime this year in Japan. No word yet about a Western release date.

[ToTTenTranz]

In an interview with Satoru Iwata, they cover pretty much everything that's been said until now, but he also comments on the lack of a second analog stick:

Originally Posted by Iwata

When we looked at the design of the 3DS XL we had to look at various factors, one was battery life, one was the overall size of the unit, and we had to make some trade-offs. The choice, if we were going to include the second analogue stick, was to reduce the size of the batters or make the unit much bigger.



What we wanted to do was have a bigger screen in comparison with the overall size of the system, so had various discussions and had to make trade-offs and this is the outcome.



Attaching a second analogue stick is possible but it would have made the system even bigger and, though it perhaps puts a burden on people that really want that second stick, it’s a call we had to make and these people will have to live with it.



No, Mr. Iwata. I don't have to live with it.
I'll simply not buy your company's handheld console.
And I bet there's a few million people out there that agree with me, along with a few dozens of developers that would make more games for the console if it had up-to-date controls.