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Nintendo Release 3DS XL and New Mario 2 In the USA Today
Croakyvoice writes "Nintendo has today released the 3DS XL in the U.S. The console comes with features such as screens which are 90% bigger in size than the original 3DS, a much needed improvement in battery life and also the 3D effect on the console has noticeably improved. The 3DS XL is Nintendo's attempt at even moreso dominating the handheld console market over the PSVita, but also bringing back the gamers lost to the likes of Android and iOS devices. The other major 3DS news of the day is the release of New Super Mario Bros 2, a continuation of the DS game released in 2006. In Japan the game has sold over 800,000 copies since game launch and Nintendo will be hopeful to replicate that success in the U.S."
Actually, it's 90% bigger only in terms of area. The 3D panel now measures 4.88" inches diagonally, vs. 3.53 inches on the original. Of course, the pixel density is significantly lower as a result.
I can't wait for my Mario branded iPhone after Apple buys Nintendo!
Extra large pant pockets? Extra large price for the games? Help me out here...
Ken's cancer has just recently begun to spread to his right lymph node but his Oncologist has assured us that this is 80 percent curative if he gets the needed surgery in time.
Unfortunately, his 1100 dollar a month SSI disability disqualifies him for Medicaid care and the local county low-income insurance he was receiving. This leaves us with about 2 weeks to either raise enough money for at least the OR for the surgery (we are hopeful of finding a surgeon to do the work pro bono) or raise enough money for the entire procedure. We've spent hours upon hours researching and contacting the links some of you have provided but they are so limited in scope that 90 percent of them are not helpful at all.
We are looking at two weeks, maybe three before the cancer spreads past the point of surgery being an option. After that, we've been told just to make him as comfortable as possible until he passes. I'm not ready to accept that.
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
I like the format/size of the DS's, and I wouldn't mind having a little hand held game machine, but I just can't get over all that hardware sitting there and no way to use other apps than just the games. These things have just about everything one would need to call it a micro-netbook or something like that, if only it had any way to do anything other than play games. The homebrew on the DS is there, barely, but they should really just support it out of the box. For example, my household would probably have 3 less ebook readers, and might have skipped 2 tablet purchases and a netbook.
The bottom screen could easily be a small keyboard (obviously not as nice as a netbook, laptop, or desktop, but it'd work as good as a smartphone onscreen keyboard). You could also do a very nice email client on that thing, using both displays while reading mail. And it has good audio/video support already, so why not a multimedia player (mp3 at least)? Toss a video chat thing on there as well... that'd be kinda handy. As it is, it does a specific set of games better than my phone, tablet, and netbook, but completely lacks every other feature they have, and it's entirely a software issue - that seems very silly IMO.
FWIW, it irks me just as much that game consoles also have a very large void of apps (and I hate saying "apps", but it fits here). Why can't my PS3 w/ BT keyboard fire up a terminal, ssh, vnc, firefox/chrome, vlc, thunderbird, skype, rythmbox/etc, etc etc etc?
Donated.
Of course it is Offtopic! It's not about Nintendo's shiny new gadget. Should it be (-1)?
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
Me too. Donated.
Thank you (even if I don't even know the guy personally) - arielCo
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
I bought a USA Today but there was no game in the newspaper...
Then maybe I'll consider picking up a copy....
I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
Is that an iOS or Android device is likely something that you _always_ have with you. I never go anywhere where my phone isn't in my pocket, and I always have a handful of games with me for a quick fix. As nice as the 3DS XL might be, it's something I would have to carry around extra, and I can promise, it would be left at home most of the time, like my POS camera.
The app vs dedicated carts is a whole other argument. $10 or so will buy you a premium iOS game, most are $1-$3. The 3DS games are $40, though I imagine a good deal better than most iOS apps. Still, a large expense after a $200 platform.
WWJD -- What Would Jimi Do?
(Smash amp, burn guitar, take home the groupies)
I opened this thread to read about the 3DS XL and New Super Mario Bro's 2 (which I've bought via the online shop and I'm downloading on to my regular 3ds). I'm kind of interested in the XL as I'm hoping the larger size will be more accommodating to my adult hands, and the battery life of the 3ds is perhaps even worse than my PS Vita.
That said, thank you for posting this here. After spending $39.99, I've now donated $50 to Ken Starks. I had never heard of the HeliOS project so I had to look it up... You might consider giving a brief summary with it (you're apparently more familiar with it than so I won't do it).
Is this a case of two wrongs making a right?
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
Nintendo ... 'nuff said.
Thanks a bunch, even though I don't know the guy personally. I only knew about them because it has been posted three times to the Firehose, unsuccessfully
There's a distro named HelioOS, which I think he contributed to. More importantly, it was the name under which he and his buddies refurbish computers and donate them to kids around Austin (it's "Reglue" now). Google 'Ken Starks TX' and you'll see.
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The funny thing is, Nintendo is probably the healthiest game/hardware maker in the business. Unlike Sony/Microsoft, Nintendo usually makes a profit on their hardware rather than selling it at a loss in hope of recouping their loss via games. The Wii has outsold the 360 and the PS3, the 3DS has outsold the PS Vita by leaps and bounds.
Nintendo is far from being the next Sega.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
I'm hoping that no one buys them. So their franchises can go to existing consoles. Mario Kart on Xbox 360 would be epic.
Nintendo doesnt release anything anymore, they only re-release stuff.
3dsxl is just a 3ds with some tweaks from the dsi which is just a tweaked ds lite which is just a tweaked ds. And "new" super mario 2 is just new super mario wii which is just new super mario ds.
Nintendo hasnt had an original idea in decades. Everything they release could be prefaced with "Another fucking" and it would fit. Another fucking zelda game, another fucking mario game, another fucking ds, another fucking pokemon game and so on.
Not to mention making 3d bigger doesnt actually improve it. There isnt a movie, comic book, game, tv show or anything where its in 3d and you actually say "Hey I enjoyed that so much more being in 3d. 3d actually improved my experince".
Besides, who the hell is going to spend 200 bucks on a system that has maybe 2 good games dedicated to it? And those games arent even made by nintendo.
Is that the bumpers on the inside are more intelligently placed so that the screens don't touch and scratch the hell out of the top one.
The first DS I bought on launch day is still working fine (despite being peed on by a cat), and I still have about twenty two games I haven't even started on it, so I can't justify buying this magical box of Nintendo magic just yet.
why not send him to cuba, or another south american country.
Nintendo is currently losing money, last quarterly result that I saw. The Wii also has not outsold the 360 for quite some time.
Nintendo would do better to give up on handheld hardware and focus on finding a good way of porting their franchises to Android/iOS instead. It's horribly impractical for most people to bring another device around with them besides their phone.
Same lousy resolution? Still no app store?
Not interested.
That's interesting. I won't vouch for Cuban famed health services (I live in Venezuela where they've sent an army of hacks as "payment" for oil), but latin american countries could work. I quoted your suggestion at his blog. If you want, spread the word; more people means better odds.
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Actually the Wii is kicking both the Xbox and PS3 when it comes to units sold.
Wii had a huge initial spike and has since leveled off and been overtaken by the more steady sales rate of the other two, but lifetime units sold it's still #1, and will probably remain that way for the rest of this generation.
Wii: 96.56 million (as of June 30, 2012)
Xbox: 67.2 million (as of April 19, 2012)
PS3: 63.9 million (as of March 31, 2012)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3
Also Nintendo did loose money for the entirety of last year, but they are hardly bleeding; it's the first negative year in over a decade.
They lose $400m, but are valued at over $85b.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo
When the Wii spiked they made a fuck ton, but since then it's slowly been whittled away year after year as the units sold also dropped. Plus there was a devaluation of the Yen, which Sony also suffered from.
Now compare that to the other two, who have both had to lay off people. Sony recently laid off over 3000 employees.
I am willing to bet that a far greater number of 360 and PS3 owners still use their consoles though. Most Wii consoles have been relegated to dust collection.
So?
What does Nintendo care, so long as they got paid.
Maybe financially they're doing well, if you're really into stock valuations. But with gamers, they're on the verge of becoming irrelevant - everybody know there's no good 3rd party games, just endless re-treads of a few (admittedly beloved) franchises. Wii sold a lot of units to people who put the Wii in the back of the closet after half a year.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
That's the odd thing about Nintendo though, they generally end up defining the generation and while 95% of the games on the system are utter crap the other 5% is the stuff that defines the generation. The Wii has had a lot of gems, Super Mario Galaxy (2), Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Skyward Sword, and Xenoblade. The games you can't get on the PS3 or 360.
While I have to say I use my Wii a lot less than I do my 360 (or 3DS for that matter) easily 4 out of the 5 best games I've played this generation have been Nintendo exclusives (Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Xenoblade, Super Mario 3D Land) the lone non-Nintendo game would have to be Tales of Vesperia.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Ken actually had an offer from an off-shore surgeon to do the work pro-bono. Sadly, Ken's passport has expired, and the amount of time to get a new passport is prohibitive. We have 2-3 weeks at most to scrounge up the money for the surgery, after which the cancer will have spread too far to be operable. :(
Thomas A. Knight
Author of The Time Weaver
It will be interesting to see what direction they go with their handheld development with the release of the WiiU. The controller for that could be considered a handheld.
Correct.
First time in 30 years if I remember correctly.
Too bad for them but an awesome history compared to others.
If they port to Android and iOS they would have to sell at Android and iOS prices. Or at least cheaper. The titles you care for though contain more content and work than "Angry birds" or "Ninja fruits" or whatever it's called.
Not everyone with a portable gaming device brings it with them all the time ..
Earlier years though I thought the somewhat nice (I thought back then ..) combination would had been Nintendo and Apple because Apple sucked for gaming and Nintendo could had gotten a bigger market or in this case business on the devices you mention. But by now Apple got more support for their iDevices at least.
I wouldn't mind if Nintendo had made an Android phone themselves though which also ran their games. Like Sony-Ericsson Xperia Play.
Guess they are doing a Nokia by almost getting there .. But then again they haven't done phones but well, maybe they have to?
Will Samsung become the electronics leader?
great, now Nintendo is copying Apple's innovations
-Lod
Plus there was a devaluation of the Yen, which Sony also suffered from.
The steady decline of the US dollar you mean?
It's called Blur.
I've only played it on the PS3, but I think it's available on the 360, too.
It's Mario Kart with real cars and realistic (sort of...) tracks but all the usual powerups and general wackiness. Bonus, its version of the "blue shell" is way better than Mario Kart's.
They lose $400m, but are valued at over $85b.
So Yamamoto did drop some change down the back of his sofa!
No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
while 95% of the games on the system are utter crap the other 5% is the stuff that defines the generation
You could almost apply that unchanged to any console/handheld platform of the last 20 years.
No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
If you are on PC, check out Gas Guzzlers
Can anyone tell me why this game can't be released for the DS? How much 3D is in this game anyway. I really don't want to go and buy a 3DS just to play NSMB2 ;-)
I'm very happy with my DS thankyou - plus it looks less like a toy
Also, just a thought - think there's any chance this game could be ported to play on a DS in the future?
The instant I flipped it open, I was taken aback by how much sturdier it felt. It's less flimsy and much sleeker.
You can get a new passport in 2-3 days if you ask for a rush job. It costs more, but it's doable. I actually had to do that once before when an overseas employer waited until the last minute to inform me that I was hired and needed to be there within the week.
That's the odd thing about Nintendo though, they generally end up defining the generation
That's not very odd. When there's less competition (less 3rd party games on your platform), it's easier for you to take first place. Don't get me wrong, Nintendo does make good games, but that doesn't excuse their rep with 3rd party games.
The thing is, they weren't always like this. Even in the NES and SNES days, there were quite a few good 3rd party games, some which took off to become big franchises today. Square comes to mind
If Nintendo kept Square and other 3rd parties (somehow, I think a big reason for the move started with the PS1, with the CD vs cartridge thing), we might have seen a lot more awesome 3rd party things on the Nintendo consoles since then.
You can get a US passport with same day service. Appear in person at the nearest passport agency, pay a rush fee, and you're done. Apply in the morning, pick it up in the evening.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
I am willing to bet that a far greater number of 360 and PS3 owners still use their consoles though. Most Wii consoles have been relegated to dust collection.
Yep but at what cost? Many of my friends haven't played their Wii in 1+ years. That didn't stop them amassing a huge collection of games. Unlike Blizzard Nintendo tend to put money in the bank and walk. None of this selling things at a loss and hoping to make it up elsewhere. If they made a dollar profit on the Wii, they made a dollar profit. They also make a profit on every game too. They don't need you to keep playing.
All they really need for you to do is realise that the Wii U is "so much better (tm)" and to part with your cash in their favour.
Would have loved to, but things like region codes annoy me. And I don't spend money on things that annoy me. Especially living overseas, where it becomes a real issue, if you want to play in a certain language...