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3DS XL First Impressions/Previews

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Baconsammy said:
So my first XL from Target had two screens with two different color temps. Top screen far more yellow than the bottom. I decided I could live with it. Then when playing in the dark I noticed a dead pixel right in the middle of the top screen. That was enough. I can't return it yet since I transferred my old 3DS to it, but I did go get another one at Target so that when the other can be transferred again I can just transfer it and return it to Target with no worries. The new XL also has warm screens, but they're both very similar in temp. Can't tell yet if I have any dead pixels, but I still have 5 days to mess with it. Nintendo needs to get a grip on its quality control. It's sad how much variance there is between individual units of the same hardware line. And for whatever it's worth, the old one was red, the new one is blue since they were out of Red. I hate the blue. Hate it. But if it's the one that works the best, it's the one I'm keeping.
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So you basically went ahead and bought another one so that you can do the transfer and not lose your stuff when your return it, and then you'd return the dead pixeled one later. I guess that works, but that's just so annoying to have to deal with. Stuff like this makes you wish Nintendo had some sort of cloud storage or account information stored somewhere other than your system... It's a pretty scary thought that our money is being dumped into these systems without having any of our information properly stored anyway in case of an accident for retrieval... kinda messed up. They need to fix that already.
 
OctoWara289 said:
So you basically went ahead and bought another one so that you can do the transfer and not lose your stuff when your return it, and then you'd return the dead pixeled one later. I guess that works, but that's just so annoying to have to deal with. Stuff like this makes you wish Nintendo had some sort of cloud storage or account information stored somewhere other than your system... It's a pretty scary thought that our money is being dumped into these systems without having any of our information properly stored anyway in case of an accident for retrieval... kinda messed up. They need to fix that already.
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It's apparently being fixed after Wii U launch, when the account system comes to 3DS as well. It is of course shameful that they didn't fix this at 3DS launch, no excuses there.
 
Baconsammy said:
No thank you. I always go naked.
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I do too, until I I noticed some very, very, very tiny scratches on the bottom right where the top screen meets with the bottom screen. I didn't notice at first, take a very good look under bright lighting with the screen off and move it around and see if you see anything, that's how I noticed. They're very tiny, and before it gets any worse (right now it's virtually unnoticeable), I'm being proactive about it. It sucks that we have to deal with this shit, but I guess it's what comes with being a guinea pig early adopter with new hardware.
 
ryushe said:
I can't believe how good Resident Evil: Revelations look on this thing... like, it looked great before, but now it doesn't looked as cramped as it did before.

I might get heat for saying this, but I think it's a better looking game than Uncharted Golden Abyss. If not better, right on par with it.
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Technically speaking it's a joke to even compare the 2, but artistically it's subjective
 
Kaijima said:
It's apparently being fixed after Wii U launch, when the account system comes to 3DS as well. It is of course shameful that they didn't fix this at 3DS launch, no excuses there.
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I mean, has anyone had to deal with this already though? I'm sure they have. Would Nintendo just believe you and dump the funds into your 3DS system/account to purchase all of the stuff you previously bought? I'd be extremely pissed. I mean, if anything we have our bank card statements as proof, right? Such a hassle though, for something they can easily fix, but are too lazy to implement from the get-go. How can a 100+ year old company who has bee in the gaming industry for 30-ish years or whatever, not have their shit together when it comes to this? It's sad.
 
OctoWara289 said:
So you basically went ahead and bought another one so that you can do the transfer and not lose your stuff when your return it, and then you'd return the dead pixeled one later. I guess that works, but that's just so annoying to have to deal with. Stuff like this makes you wish Nintendo had some sort of cloud storage or account information stored somewhere other than your system... It's a pretty scary thought that our money is being dumped into these systems without having any of our information properly stored anyway in case of an accident for retrieval... kinda messed up. They need to fix that already.
Click to expand...

Fortunately there's a Target on the way I take to work, so it's less of a headache, but you won't see anyone disagreeing that Nintendo's current e-shop policies are ridiculously outdated.
 
I have to say this console is truly an upgrade in every sense of the word. The 3D has MUCH less dual-ghosting than the original tiny screen - I play with the 3D slider all the way up with no issues.. It feels way better in my hand, and I actually can hold it comfortably without cramping up. Also I really like the red paint job on the XL.

One thing that I was happy about was the firm hinge on the XL. My OG 3DS screen would wobble back and forth so much, it drove me nuts. The XL's is very rigid and doesn't mess with me when I'm shifting my hands around.

The one thing that made me a little sad was the reintroduction of the original DS plastic stylus. I know they don't need the cool metal collapsable one from the OG 3DS anymore, but damn that was so much nicer. Hah.

Gamestop was slow (like derp slow: after both the manager and myself thrice explained to the register monkey how to do the 3DS XL rebuy and $100 trade-in return - since I had to do a system transfer with both systems - the guy's brain was melting out of his ears.) but the employees were eventually helpful.
 
Tried a few games with my nephew's XL and wow at the Nintendo titles! Looks way better than on the original 3DS! 3D Land, Mario kart 7, Ocarina etc it's like they up the contrast and saturation. What the hell?
 
Georgious said:
Gamestop was slow (like derp slow: after both the manager and myself thrice explained to the register monkey how to do the 3DS XL rebuy and $100 trade-in return - since I had to do a system transfer with both systems - the guy's brain was melting out of his ears.) but the employees were eventually helpful.
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So how did that work? Did they let you bring the XL home, do the transfer, and come back with your original 3DS?
 
Georgious said:
I have to say this console is truly an upgrade in every sense of the word. The 3D has MUCH less dual-ghosting than the original tiny screen - I play with the 3D slider all the way up with no issues.. It feels way better in my hand, and I actually can hold it comfortably without cramping up. Also I really like the red paint job on the XL.

One thing that I was happy about was the firm hinge on the XL. My OG 3DS screen would wobble back and forth so much, it drove me nuts. The XL's is very rigid and doesn't mess with me when I'm shifting my hands around.

The one thing that made me a little sad was the reintroduction of the original DS plastic stylus. I know they don't need the cool metal collapsable one from the OG 3DS anymore, but damn that was so much nicer. Hah.

Gamestop was slow (like derp slow: after both the manager and myself thrice explained to the register monkey how to do the 3DS XL rebuy and $100 trade-in return - since I had to do a system transfer with both systems - the guy's brain was melting out of his ears.) but the employees were eventually helpful.
Click to expand...


Ugh, I love reading these stories! More reason to not ever step foot in a Game Stop again. Btw, I hope your use of "monkey" isn't a pun ... :X I guess we'll never know! lol.
 
I picked up a blue 3DS XL for my wife on Sunday, and a red one for myself.

Yesterday, my wife was excited to build up some Play Coins so she took it with her on a walk with the dog. When she was only a few houses down the street, sirens started blaring to what we thought was a tornado alarm. She ran back home and the sirens stopped. It turns out that they were just alerting us that there was lightning in the area - as if the thunderclap didn't make it obvious enough.

She looked in her purse to find that her 3DS XL was missing. She grabbed an umbrella and went back out to search for it. It was lying on the edge of the sidewalk and the grass, luckily mostly on the grass. The bottom now has some black scratches along the hinge edge, and the shoulder buttons look a bit rough, though you can't feel any difference while holding it. The stylus was nowhere to be found.

Thankfully the screens are both fine and she didn't notice any issues while playing with it - it certainly could have been a lot worse.
 
I seem to have gotten the problem of none of my content being recognized when transferred to the 4 gig card; the data is there, but the XL won't read it after copying it from the 2 gig card using my PC.
 
MrMan2k3 said:
I picked up a blue 3DS XL for my wife on Sunday, and a red one for myself.

Yesterday, my wife was excited to build up some Play Coins so she took it with her on a walk with the dog. When she was only a few houses down the street, sirens started blaring to what we thought was a tornado alarm. She ran back home and the sirens stopped. It turns out that they were just alerting us that there was lightning in the area - as if the thunderclap didn't make it obvious enough.

She looked in her purse to find that her 3DS XL was missing. She grabbed an umbrella and went back out to search for it. It was lying on the edge of the sidewalk and the grass, luckily mostly on the grass. The bottom now has some black scratches along the hinge edge, and the shoulder buttons look a bit rough, though you can't feel any difference while holding it. The stylus was nowhere to be found.

Thankfully the screens are both fine and she didn't notice any issues while playing with it - it certainly could have been a lot worse.
Click to expand...

Wouch this is bad luck, sorry for you >_<
Morality of the story: Sell your dog and your scratched 3DS, buy a new one and a cat.
 
bumpkin said:
So how did that work? Did they let you bring the XL home, do the transfer, and come back with your original 3DS?
Click to expand...

Yes - I actually just went back to my office and did the transfer there, and just brought it back a few hours later after I wrapped work. I got lucky because the store manager did that for himself, and immediately understood the process. I just had to ask for him, because every employee (it's not the...smartest Gamestop in the country...) at the NYC Herald Square store looked at me like I was speaking Cantonese.
 
MrMan2k3 said:
I picked up a blue 3DS XL for my wife on Sunday, and a red one for myself.

Yesterday, my wife was excited to build up some Play Coins so she took it with her on a walk with the dog. When she was only a few houses down the street, sirens started blaring to what we thought was a tornado alarm. She ran back home and the sirens stopped. It turns out that they were just alerting us that there was lightning in the area - as if the thunderclap didn't make it obvious enough.

She looked in her purse to find that her 3DS XL was missing. She grabbed an umbrella and went back out to search for it. It was lying on the edge of the sidewalk and the grass, luckily mostly on the grass. The bottom now has some black scratches along the hinge edge, and the shoulder buttons look a bit rough, though you can't feel any difference while holding it. The stylus was nowhere to be found.

Thankfully the screens are both fine and she didn't notice any issues while playing with it - it certainly could have been a lot worse.
Click to expand...

This is why I don't have a wife.
 
MrMan2k3 said:
I picked up a blue 3DS XL for my wife on Sunday, and a red one for myself.

Yesterday, my wife was excited to build up some Play Coins so she took it with her on a walk with the dog. When she was only a few houses down the street, sirens started blaring to what we thought was a tornado alarm. She ran back home and the sirens stopped. It turns out that they were just alerting us that there was lightning in the area - as if the thunderclap didn't make it obvious enough.

She looked in her purse to find that her 3DS XL was missing. She grabbed an umbrella and went back out to search for it. It was lying on the edge of the sidewalk and the grass, luckily mostly on the grass. The bottom now has some black scratches along the hinge edge, and the shoulder buttons look a bit rough, though you can't feel any difference while holding it. The stylus was nowhere to be found.

Thankfully the screens are both fine and she didn't notice any issues while playing with it - it certainly could have been a lot worse.
Click to expand...

Phew!

Glad the system was overall okay ^_^

The wife, too, lol

I have yet to see the red in person, I love my blue though...

Which looks best to you, in person?
 
About the data transfer. Are the game saves in the 3DS or the SD card?. Can I keep the SD card if I trade my 3DS at gamestop? I really don't have much in the the 3DS apart from Mario VS DK. The rest is saved in my SD card.

Do I need to present a Drivers License during the trade-in? I just lost mine.
 
Dinokill said:
About the data transfer. Are the game saves in the 3DS or the SD card?. Can I keep the SD card if I trade my 3DS at gamestop? I really don't have much in the the 3DS apart from Mario VS DK. The rest is saved in my SD card.

Do I need to present a Drivers License during the trade-in? I just lost mine.
Click to expand...

They asked me for my license, yes.

The game saves are on the SD card I believe. Everything transferred to my computer and I just pasted it on the new card
 
I picked up my Red XL yesterday and I love it, very happy that I chose red.

However, I have not had a chance to enjoy it yet. I haven't even played a game!

When I was getting ready to do the system transfer and had my old 3DS and XL next to each other I noticed how my XL screen has that yellow tint and I can't "Unsee" it. I've been scouring the 'net all morning, seeing how widespread/bad it really is.

Will it go away in time? Maybe.

Is it that bad? No, not at all. I probably never would even of "Noticed" it had it not been side by side with my OG 3DS.

Part of me wants to exchange it back at GameStop, just to say I did it and if my next system has the same thing, then oh well. But I really hate dealing with GameStop more than I have to and I have a feeling I'll get shit for trying to return it for this "issue."

For those of you who have the yellow tinted screens, what did you decide to do?


On a more positive note, I have had a DSi XL since day one and still use it almost daily. But the screens of the 3DS XL still surprised me! They are big!

Since I got a 3DS, the XL and 3DS are in my bag every day. With the addition of the 3DS XL, I'll be downsizing to just one system. My DS backlog is getting smaller and I think I can do without TWO XL systems.

For fun, a comparison pic:

cW6DMj


http://flic.kr/p/cW6DMj
 
So I now have a red one after my other picked the blue one for his birthday.

I am sad that my speakers don't sound as lovely at the other one but I'm happy with everything else. Screen color is fine - no scratches or dead pixels.

I have my Chopper case and red thick stylus from Nintendo so I am ready to go! :)
 
About to go home and play OoT on this thing, never played it on the original and it's been at least 10 years since I last played the game. I am excited!
 
Picked up a blue one last night with Heroes of Ruin and NSMB2. Loving it so far, much more comfortable than the old 3DS and the screens are great! Thanks for all the impressions in this thread, helped tip me over the edge.
 
bumpkin said:
So how did that work? Did they let you bring the XL home, do the transfer, and come back with your original 3DS?
Click to expand...
They do, but you have to pay for the system at full price, transfer, do a "return", trade in your system and pay for the system again. It's a blast if you pay with a credit card.
 
Huh. I already have a scratch in the middle of the bottom screen and two little ones on the top screen on the bottom left side in the black non-play area. I played one Theatrhythm song and that's about the extent of my touch screen use. I have no clue what happened to the top screen to get those.

Its's not that big of a deal to me, but I pretty much kept my old 3DS scratchless from launch day so it is puzzling.
 
pelicansurf said:
They do, but you have to pay for the system at full price, transfer, do a "return", trade in your system and pay for the system again. It's a blast if you pay with a credit card.
Click to expand...

I paid with Debit, and after some finaggling, the Gamestop clerk gave me $105 in cash. Originally he said it was going to be store credit, which I thought was BS. Way to inform your employees GS.
 
kurrptsenate said:
Do they have a nice template for placing them on, or is it more of a crap shoot. I'm absolutely terrible at putting protectors on :/
Click to expand...

I just got mine in the mail yesterday and installed them on my wife's system and on my own. It was pretty simple, and it's easy to line it up before affixing it. The protectors have sticky tape on the left and top edges (only left for the touch screen). You pull little yellow papers off the tape then line it up where you want it. Then you push down on the protectors while pulling a plastic seal to the right. Finally, you pull off the tape from the top and another thin plastic layer comes with it.

It went nice and smoothly with my system. When I put the touchscreen protector on my wife's system, I found a few specks of dust underneath. A suggested by Hori in the instructions, I used some transparent tape to pull the protector back up slightly, then used another piece of tape to grab the dust off the screen. I had to do this several times, but it looks great now!
 
Scan the screen while it's at its darkest. Maybe a pause menu or something. But the screen brightness level should be maxed, in order to "pop" any dead pixels more efficiently.

Edit: Nevermind. browser color test it is
 
Mutant Mudds and the 3DS XL are a match made in Heaven. Those big chunky pixels look sexier than ever, and the game's difficulty demands that superior ergonomy.
 
xtrasauce said:
Mutant Mudds and the 3DS XL are a match made in Heaven. Those big chunky pixels look sexier than ever, and the game's difficulty demands that superior ergonomy.
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Yeah, between that and Mighty Switch Force 2D visuals benefit a shocking amount. Kind of makes me want a DSi XL later just for playing older games.
 
Dinokill said:
will they accept an expired ID from 2006?

Also will this fit in a regular 3DS case?
Click to expand...

They never ask me for a license when I trade in items (including the 3DS I did yesterday). I'm guessing it's because I have a Gamestop card with them and I showed them a license when I signed up for that.
 
Eusis said:
Yeah, between that and Mighty Switch Force 2D visuals benefit a shocking amount. Kind of makes me want a DSi XL later just for playing older games.
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Yeah, MSF looks absolutely gorgeous on the XL screen.

As for the DSi XL, if I see one for 99$ (CAN) I am snatching it up fo sho.
 
How does the trade in process go? I'm not buying my XL there, so I don't have to bother with that whole thing (I ordered the XL online and am just getting the $75 trade in credit). It shouldn't take long right? Is it just: I give them the system + stylus + charger + my ID, they test a 3DS game on it to see it's working, ring it up for my credit and I'm on my way?

Also, when you transfer over from 3DS to XL, I'm assuming it keeps your activity log. Is there a way to erase just that? I'd like to have my XL showing only the steps I've taken and the stuff I played on it instead of everything I've done since I got my original 3DS.
 
mxgt said:
About to go home and play OoT on this thing, never played it on the original and it's been at least 10 years since I last played the game. I am excited!
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The OoT remake is One of the best remakes ever imo, and it looks amazing on my XL. You're gonna be impressed.
 
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