3DS XL and my thoughts

So I have some words to say about an announcement that was made recently. And you guessed it because I already said it (aka the subject). 3DS XL! So many thoughts on this. This is not the first time I have ranted about the 3DS. If you didn't catch my first rant because it was on facebook, I rambled on about how I regretted buying a 3DS because of the price drop and lack of games in the first year of release.

 "I think Nintendo pulled the curtain over my eyes for awhile there, but now I see clearly, $250 was way too much to spend on something that I have gotten little value from."

Last week Nintendo announced a 3DS XL to release this August in the states. In my head I have given much though on what to do when it comes to the 3DS. At first I wasn't even going to get one because I didn't want any of the launch games. I ended up buying one on launch day because off all the exciting capabilities it had, and 3D was at the bottom of that list of exciting features by the way. The street passing was awesome, the augmented reality was super cool, and the graphics were comparable to the Wii.  From day one I thought I'd upgrade to the next iteration of the 3DS when it came along. I loved the original DS but was jaw to the floor excited when the DS Lite hit. DSi did nothing to wet my appetite and the XL was a monster I didn't want to hold up while playing portable games. I was hoping for a 3DS Lite eventually, something sleeker, better battery, and second circle pad (once that came along).

At first a lot of people questioned Nintendo why the 3DS wasn't bigger after having such impressive screens on the DSi XL. It seems to stand reason that the cost would have been too much, which in turn would have inflated the already over priced device. I was fine with the screen size. Maybe a size between XL and regular would be nice. Can I get a Large 3DS with a side of Zelda please? Hold the onions. The XL was just too much to carry around.

Now the change I wanted least is becoming a reality, they are coming out with a 3DS XL. This was not the redesign I was hoping for. And you know what? I really don't care. Six months ago I might have been ranting and raving about how they don't need to make it that big, and they need a second stick if it's going to compete with the Vita, but at this point I don't care. Every eight year old is going to sell their 3DS for an XL versions, it's going to make Nintendo a load of money (hopefully) and I'll be sitting easy knowing that I barely even play my 3DS now. For a majority of 2011 I played my 3DS everyday. I brought it to work and played games on my break. I tried to street pass everywhere I went. I went from Zelda to Professor Layton to Mario. I was loving it. Then all of a sudden I stopped playing it. There was nothing to play. I wasn't going to get Kid Icarus or Resident Evil. Even Mario Tennis didn't get me back into taking the machine with me everywhere.

I have come to the conclusion that I'll get the games I want, play them for a few weeks and then put my 3DS back into hiding. I'm excited for the new Layton game that they are bringing over to the states finally, but after that and until it comes out it's going to collect dust. I'm not going to check the e-shop every week, or rack up the pedometer for game credits, there are no features that are good enough to make me an avid user every day like I was last year.What has frustrated me from the past 12 months is that they have not exploited those early features features I liked so much. They have not expanded the experience from what it started as. I hope that they do come back around and end up exploring some more of those cool features again down the road.

If you love the 3DS I'm happy for you. If you don't give two shits, then I hope you enjoyed my rant at least. The 3DS just didn't make it into me everyday life. Not to say it won't again. But Nintendo just isn't giving me a reason to care about it anymore and in turn I don't need the upgrade to the XL.