solidsprite

People are flipping out over the 2DS. Yes, it's a bit of a silly product with a silly name (Nintendo loves their puns).

But I think most people are overlooking one thing: this device has to be insanely cheaper to produce than the other two variants of the Nintendo 3DS. It  has a cropped feature set while also using some surprising cost saving techniques. All this and at only $40 less than the original 3DS, the profit margin is most likely much higher too.

So, Nintendo targets those kids whom it recommends not use 3D with a cheaper version made just for their little digits and makes even more money in the process? Sounds good to me. And they do all this while hitting a lower price point and reenforcing an already successful platform. This isn't a far-future strategy, this is for this holiday and a year or two beyond.

One thing is for sure, this little oddity is destined to be a collector's item.

Game Informer's Kyle Hillard is and he's not entirely sure why people are so eager to hate Nintendo's newest console.

People have this strange hatred for the Wii that I have never fully understood. Most people feel like the Wii represents an extreme departure from the hardcore Nintendo fans, but they conveniently forget that there were two new 3D Mario games, two new 2D Mario games (depending if you want to throw Super Paper Mario in that camp), two new Metroid games, two new Kirby games, a brand new Donkey Kong Country, and two new Zelda games. None of Nintendo’s predecessor consoles can boast that many of Nintendo’s biggest franchises having as many core entries in one generation, with the exception of Donkey Kong Country on Super Nintendo. Everyone looks at the Just Dance and Wii Bowling fans and decries the system for killing what made Nintendo great, and all of this debatably undeserved hatred is spilling over to the Wii U.

Bravo, Kyle. Bravo.

CVG staffer Tamoor Hussein yearns for a Minority Report control scheme and he thinks the Leap might finally make that a reality. The Leap is an inconspicuous little box that resembles Apple's current crop of products in aluminum and black-tinted glass. It sits in front of your monitor and magically interprets your 3D hand motions on screen. The reveal video shows a number of applications being controlled with the $70 doohicky, the most obvious being Half-Life 2 in a pew-pew sort fo way. Meanwhile, Microsoft has begun hiring for the recently leaked Kinect 2.

With a similar name to the Xbox 360, the form factor of the PS Vita and the ability to play many older Nintendo games through emulators included on the device, it only pilfers everything.  It is also running Android, so there's that too. Have you no shame, Droid X360?

Now enjoy someone in China playing an assortment of games on the device – terribly.

Source: NeoGaf (via GoNintendo)

The Nintendo 3DS XL was announced last night during the latest Nintendo Direct. It sports  a less sexy look, better battery, higher-capacity SD card and 90% larger screens. In Japan and Europe it will not include a charging adapter...

Nintendo claims many users already have compatible 3DS and DSi chargers. It would appear that Nintendo were joining an ever growing number of hardware manufacturers (see mobile phones) who are not including chargers, instead using standard adapters that can be used in a multitude of devices. Well, it would seem that way if Nintendo used mini/micro USB adapters instead of a proprietary one.