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3DS XL First Impressions/Previews

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I went red for my XL because the nearest Gamestop didn't have blue. Another one up north had one and the best buy had plenty on the shelves. Am I going to regret it? :P
 
Has anyone noticed a dramatic increase in standby time? I would think that would be improved quite a bit given that the screens are off.
 
Found a copy of Aliens: Infestation at a Wal-Mart today. Looks great on the XL. DS games really shine on this system. A game like Infestation wouldn't have been nearly as immersive on a smaller screen for me. Hoping to grab a copy of Retro Game Challenge soon.
 
Bought the 3DS XL from Gamestop (because of its deal). Waiting for it to charge up, and I may play some DS games tonight. I was fortunate enough to find the last dark blue 3DS. I would have gone to another Gamestop if the one I went to only had red.
 
I'm not seeing improved battery life, because in order to replicate the brightness and sound of my regular 3DS, I have to put the 3DS on 2 brightness settings higher and the volume needs to be at max at all time just to hear it well. The time it takes to recharge the battery appears to be just about the same, which means it takes awhile compared to other devices I own (Vita, iPhone, iPad). Someone asked if the orange light ever goes out. Yes, when it's fully charged it goes out.

So blue is the one that people seem to like the most thus far?

I've seen a lot of arguments in favor of both though.

It's just a preference thing. I think blue and white look awful on the XL, but red has a great Mario vibe to it. Given the choice, I'd have an all black.
 
The red XL looks like an awful Fisher Price toy.

As a blue faithful, I gotta say someone posted an artful shot of the red XL and it looked beautiful.

edit: Here it is, courtesy of aidan:

4.jpg
 
Got a blue one yesterday and am currently addicted to NSMB2.

I really love that the d-pad is actually usable now. There was hardly any space to hold it on the original 3DS.

Haven't tried any DS games on it yet, but I'll probably try out Radiant Historia soon.
 
What have I done!?

I may go with blue. Blue's my favorite color and all, but that doesn't necessarily mean I would like it more than red. If red makes it look like a "Fisher Price" toy, then meh @ red.
 
The red XL looks like an awful Fisher Price toy.

Sorry, but you could have Picasso paint this thing himself and it would still look like a Fisher Price toy. It comes down to the kind of plastic they've chosen. I don't mind it to be honest. To suggest blue is any less toy-like than red is hilarious.

Should I suck it up and just get a red one or wait a week for the blue?

You should always buy what you want. If blue is what you want, blue is what you should buy.
 
To suggest a 3DS or any machine whose primary purpose is to play video games is anything but a toy is pretty silly.

You're playing with toys, guys! Just deal with it!
 
As a blue faithful, I gotta say someone posted an artful shot of the red XL and it looked beautiful.

edit: Here it is, courtesy of aidan:

4.jpg

Ugh, I really hate how it looks.

I never said the blue XL doesn't look like a Fisher-Price toy. I simply don't think it ranks in the awful arena like the red. The blue is simply average, and I can tolerate the design of it.
 
It is possible, but you might need to contact the seller if you go the eBay route; since:
-Not every original 3DS pre-price drop is ambassador-ready.
-If the unit was reset before been sold, it lost all access to the ambassador games.


OK, well I went a different route instead that was much quicker and completely free in the end. I went to Gamestop today and asked if they had any used Ambassador 3DS's for sale. The employee said he had just traded his in a week ago, and it was still available, and that it was an Ambassador unit.

Purchased it, brought it home and transferred all Twenty of the free games to my XL (plus Four Swords Anniversary and Excitebike 3D...not sure where those came from).

Went back later today and returned it with no hassle. I am officially an Ambassador now.
 
The color red can usually go suck my dick but the red 3DS XL is surprisingly nice in a way few photos do justice to - it's a deep "Mario" red with a satin metallic finish.

Though if the red XL looks this nice, I'd imagine the blue ones must look pretty fantastic.
 
So I'm interested in taking advantage of the gamestop $100 offer, but the ability to transfer things is holding me back a bit. I assume the process works like the transfer from DSi to 3DS did, where you need both systems present and communicating with each other?

My current 3DS is linked to my Nintendo account, does that mean anything can be automatically redownloaded if i link the 3DS to it as well? I'm mostly concerned about ambassador games and FF:Theatrhythm DLC. Save games, too, maybe; are those linked to a system? Thanks for any help.
 
In the same boat, anxiously waiting for my XL to ship. Just wondering, what type of shipping did they use and where did they ship it from?

Mine shipped today via USPS. I don't see an estimated arrival date with the tracking number yet, but I'm in FL and it shipped from NJ so I assume it should be here in a few days.
 
Does anyone know if any stores have set up 3DS XL demo units yet? I want to at least see the colors in person (and see if the 3D is better or worse for me) before I decide...
 
What have I done!?

I may go with blue. Blue's my favorite color and all, but that doesn't necessarily mean I would like it more than red. If red makes it look like a "Fisher Price" toy, then meh @ red.
IMO the toy aspect of red is what's supposed to appeal to people, if you don't like that blue is the obvious choice yea
 
Still not sure I understand the "toy" comparisons to the red color. Maybe the pictures don't do it justice, but red in person is absolutely stunning to look at.

Have not seen blue in person yet, but I think, if you're still on the fence, you should find a way to see both colors in person.
 
Well it's definitely not like a "toy" toy, more of a high class toy, or something :p Check out the Virtual Boy comparisons

I think it looks great and fits a video game system from ninty :)
 
For those who got the 3DS XL...what firmware does the hardware ship with? I got an acekard 2i I use for emulators, and I wanna make sure I have the proper firmware on my acekard.
 
My XL has a warmer temperature than my regular 3DS. But, my regular one had a blue tint. The result is blues look better on the old screen, but all the other colors look more vibrant on the XL. It wll take some getting used to.
I agree that other colors except for white look more vibrant on the warmers screens, 100% true. But that's the thing, why do some units (like mine) not have both screens on warm. The difference of having a cool screen on the bottom is annoying as hell for stuff like web browsing

Example: http://i523.photobucket.com/albums/w358/natwister2006/CIMG1773.jpg

For those who got the 3DS XL...what firmware does the hardware ship with? I got an acekard 2i I use for emulators, and I wanna make sure I have the proper firmware on my acekard.
3.1 (EU units, but I believe US is the same). My card worked out of the box until the 4.3 came
 
For those who got the 3DS XL...what firmware does the hardware ship with? I got an acekard 2i I use for emulators, and I wanna make sure I have the proper firmware on my acekard.
It's a shame that it can't take advantage of the 3DS hardware for emulators. The DS isn't well suited to such things due to the low screen resolution.

The PSP Go is actually my favorite emulation handheld at the moment. Just about perfect and even supports TV out + dual shock 3 connectivity.
 
It's a shame that it can't take advantage of the 3DS hardware for emulators. The DS isn't well suited to such things due to the low screen resolution.

The PSP Go is actually my favorite emulation handheld at the moment. Just about perfect and even supports TV out + dual shock 3 connectivity.

Yeah, the only emulator that I think runs pretty decent is the GBC one. Which is fine, it has let me catch up on some old games for the system I never knew existed at the time.
 
No, it really doesn't. It's stylistically quite comparable to the blue in every way.

I've seen both in person.

The blue one definitely looks better IMO. More metallic looking. The red one isn't as metallic looking but it's more so due to the fact the the red on the red 3DS XL is brighter than the blue on the blue 3DS XL.
 
Mmm. SJ is what I was playing before I purchased the XL and I got a bad first impression of playing it on the big screen. Specifically, the text looked horrible. Now I want to give it another shot.

They are definitely still a bit blurry upscaled, but overall, it's a much better experience than the original 3DS. 1:1 now being about the size of a DSi screen with an infinitely sharper image quality wins, though.
 
Got mine today via GameStop trade-in deal.

Short impressions: it's a pretty huge upgrade from the previous unit. Screen PPI isn't much of an issue, extra size is very welcome.
 
My favourite colour is Blue, so it was a no-brainer for me to go with that colour. But, I had started to think of going for the red after some of the pics/videos I had seen. Still, I went with the safe bet for myself.

Today, I actually saw the red unit in the wild. While it looks nice, I am really happy I went with the Blue unit. There is just something about the look of it that makes it really stand out.

Now I have a quick question:

I have looked at the image that shows what gets transferred over, but, what happens to the data on the original 3DS? I don't really want to carry around the XL and would prefer to keep the Mii Quest and puzzle pieces on the regular 3DS, but I want to put Pushmo and Mighty Switch Force and the other games on the XL.

Is there a way to do this? Help me, GAF!
 
Bought my fiance a 3DS XL. It said it shipped from Ontario, CA. So I assumed it was Canada, and since I live like an hour south of Ontario, I assumed it would be here today.

But then I check the tracking and it's in Illinois.

I then found out that there's an Ontario, California.

What the fuck. UPS Tracking trolled me.
 
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