14 DAY TRIAL // The 3DS line of devices received a new member with the introduction of the XL version this month, and Nintendo talked about the new abilities of the device and about the way his company has improved its handheld gaming offer.
Ben Taylor, who is the marketing manager at the United Kingdom division of Nintendo, told VG247 that, “We’re always looking to improve and develop our products and research showed that a bigger screen was a very important feature to include to continue the momentum of the 3DS. We have been able to answer this request via the 3DS XL – the screen is 90% bigger which means that your gaming experience is even richer and games like Kid Icarus and Super Mario 3D Land look better than ever.”
After the 3DS was launched, a number of fans of the handheld line from Nintendo asked for a second thumbstick and were disappointed to see the XL not adding one.
Taylor explained that, “We did review the possibility of the second controller, but we felt that increased battery life was really important to players, and this would have been affected if we had introduced one. It would also have made the console a lot bigger and bulkier.”
The executive says that extensive testing from his own company has shown that the most popular titles on the device, from Mario Kart 7 to Super Mario 3D Land, don’t get any clear benefit from a second thumbstick.
When pressed, Taylor refused to say whether a second thumbstick would be added to a future version of the 3DS as long as enough developers and players asked for it.
The XL version of the 3DS, with its bigger screen and larger battery, is already available in Europe and in Japan and gamers in the United States will get it on August 19.