Getting a DSI XL?

[Adam Blue]

I was thinking of getting a DSi XL...but then I was thinking why?.

I've got a few DSiWare apps, so I was wondering about transferability. Luckily, Nintendo has that solved:

Deleting a Nintendo DSi Shop account
Removing the Nintendo DSi Shop account will delete all currently registered Nintendo DSi Points and downloaded DSiWare applications. Applications cannot be re-downloaded unless additional Nintendo DSi Points are used. This option should only be selected if you are planning on transferring ownership of your Nintendo DSi or Nintendo DSi XL system.

On the Nintendo DSi Menu, use the stylus to select the Nintendo DSi Shop icon
Select the "Start Shopping" button.
Select the "Settings" button.
Tap the "Settings and Features" button.
Select the "Remove Nintendo DSi Shop Account" button.
Tap the white box, then enter the system's serial number to remove the shop account.

So all you have to do is re-buy your apps. Apparently this option should only be selected when transferring ownership.

[Xerxes]

I would have went with a hell no and for the 3DS

[Adam Blue]

I would have went with a hell no and for the 3DS

Nintendo handhelds are like video cards.

[Urizen]

I know the XL would be more comfortable for me than the DSi, but with the 3DS on the horizon, I have to wait.

[hunterx280]

I was considering one as I'm a sucker for a bigger better screen (or two in this case). Now that the 3DS is announced I'm not even going to bother. My DS Lite works just fine and will keep me happy for at least another year. I will also be looking at the rumored new PSP and deciding which one I like better or maybe even waiting for a few months to pass to see which one has the best games or has the best support.

[Kelegacy]

I really really want one...but not for $190. That's a 360 or Wii.

If a sale happens, I might pick one up.

[rein]

I need a new DS and my watering eyes tell me a bigger screen would be great but I'm waiting for more info on the 3DS.

[Chris_D]

My DSi works well and that screen, already slightly larger than the lite, is more than adequate. Especially considering the DS resolution isn't so high anyway.

[Talanvor]

Well considering that Nintendo is already announcing its replacement before even launching this one, somehow I don't think they really care about shifting content to this handheld.

Maybe the sales will be abysmal and retailers will be clearancing them out quickly.

[Suave Peanut]

I'm not getting one myself, but I have a good friend who can't wait.

I make fun of her.

[TheKeck]

Never owned a handheld.

[[Jez]]

I'm still happy with my DS Dark

[Joshkdmw]

I was GONNA get one, but I've spent easily 40 bucks on apps. Not paying that money again. I'll wait for the patch that lets you transfer them.

[Wilkz07]

I have a DSi, wife has a DS. we're good for now. may consider a 3DS later on but definately not an XL... I can see all thats on my screen now just fine.

[Purple Santa]

I thought about trading in my DSi then buying the rest with GS credit. I doubt i'll pull the trigger. I think i'll save the trade in when the 3DS comes along.

[Hawkzombie]

I was under the impression it was being marketed to old people and people with bad eyes :p

Sort of like another flavor of DSi, not just a new system. Both being sold hand in hand like the PSP and the PSPGo (lol). And when the 3DS comes, it replaces both.

But I've got the DS Lite and am happy with it. If the DSiXL came in hunter green, however...

[Kelegacy]

I am still not intrigued by the 3DS. I don't know enough about it, and I'm skeptical about 3D...especially in a handheld. And with the prices of each DS getting higher and higher, at this rate the 3DS will be priced higher than a Wii or 360 and closer to a PS3 :)

I think the XL is marketed more towards people like me; I'm not a portable gamer as I really have no reason to game on the go. But the extra screen real estate would be great in the living room or elsewhere in the house. That it's heavier or not pocket-friendly is fine by me.

The price...not so much. I hope I see a sale soon, or a trade-in program that is sweet. I have no handhelds to trade towards it, but I do have tons of current gen games...but I'd have to trade in a ton to get one of those at nearly $200.

[RandoM51]

Never owned a handheld.

What the keck?!?! Do you have hands?

http://i41.tinypic.com/sy87cj.jpg

[Joshkdmw]

Never owned a handheld.

*Sigh*

Keck, go get a DS and join the handheld sensation before we all murder you.

[Darkmatter]

I assume the 3DS will come only in small DS size so they can release a 3DSXL a year later? :)

[Tayaya]

One of my co-workers picked up one of these today. I have to say that on first impressions the screens are absolutely massive. In photos and such and even side by side comparisons they don't look all that much bigger than the ones on the regular DS (lite.... no one has a regular DS anymore!), but once that thing is in your hands, sweet jesus are they gigantic. They look like they are even more than double the size of the ones we know and love, even though they're about 90% larger according to the specs. The thing feels noticeably heavier in the paws than a DS lite. Not so much as to say "I'm double the size of my little brother." I like it - makes it feel more durable - the increased size of the hinges I appreaciate, after getting the mother of all hinge cracks in my DS lite last week. THAT SAID - just after going through the system menus and setting my co-worker's date, time, and Internet settings, my left hand was already cramping under the added weight and the fact that most of it was spread out so far off to the right of my fingertips. It will take a player some time to adjust to this for long sessions.

After power-up, I did notice a slight screen-door effect when looking at the displays on the default brightness setting. I only farted around in the system menus so I don't know if this is something that will affect gameplay or not. Honestly I don't think it will, but I'm sure for some games it may bother some players. The speakers sound absolutely fantastic. They have a much warmer, richer sound than the ones on the regular DS lite. They still sound like handheld speakers, but they are by far the best handheld speakers I have ever listened to. Stereo separation is superb as well. They could go a lot louder, I think but I'm happy with the way they sound. I don't like the lack of analog volume control, instead only having a very limited number of "steps" to choose from. I think the DSi regular was like this too, but I never owned one so I'm not sure.

All in all it's a pretty cool piece of hardware. It feels rock solid, it's got massive, gorgeous screens, great speakers, and well... the rest of it you're already familiar with if you've used a DS or DSi, which you undoubtedly have. If money weren't so tight right now, I'd consider picking one up, especially with my recent hinge woes.

[Narradisall]

I have to seriously ask, how many of you have 3 or more DS's? I swear having read the forums over the year that some people must have bought every iteration of the DS, possibly more given the many splenderous colours they knock out.

I'm not ragging on the DS, I owned one, and enjoyed it, but eventually got rid as I do not mobile game much and I just wasn't making use of it.

It just baffles me that Nintendo can get people to buy practically the same gaming system over and over. It's like Satoru Iwata has a voodoo doll of the world, and he is constantly just stabbing DS'es at it, again and again.

[Suave Peanut]

I bought the original DS on its launch day. I gave that system to a friend when I purchased a Lite.

Now, I have owned multiple iterations of Game Boy concurrently, but only one DS at a time.

[Kelegacy]

I've owned 2 DSs, one phat and one lite and sold both of them.

I've also owned a PSP and sold it.

Yet I WANT THIS NOW.

[Adam Blue]

I have to seriously ask, how many of you have 3 or more DS's? I swear having read the forums over the year that some people must have bought every iteration of the DS, possibly more given the many splenderous colours they knock out.

I'm not ragging on the DS, I owned one, and enjoyed it, but eventually got rid as I do not mobile game much and I just wasn't making use of it.

It just baffles me that Nintendo can get people to buy practically the same gaming system over and over. It's like Satoru Iwata has a voodoo doll of the world, and he is constantly just stabbing DS'es at it, again and again.

I have the Lite and DSi. I sold the phat when getting the Lite. Though I prefer keeping all of my gaming gear. I'm a collector.

[RandoM51]

It just baffles me that Nintendo can get people to buy practically the same gaming system [I]over and over.

I use mine so much by the time a new one worth buying comes out I've worn out the one I had previously.

The upgrade to the lite was well worth the money. Gave my original to a buddy, infecting another with the DiSease.

The first DS Lite spent a couple hours in my messenger bag with a carton of yogurt that somehow opened itself. Whenever I turn it on it immediately shuts back down. Eventually tossed it.

The second DS Lite I still have. It has a broken hinge, though, and the screen flopping back and forth was enough of an annoyance that I bought another.

The third DS Lite is still going strong. If I had the money, AND if my evo worked in an LL/XL, I'd buy one ASAP. Since I use my DS primarily for reading the larger screen would be very useful.

When it comes to adding new features while retaining backwards compatibility the Nintendo DS line is something special.

[Tayaya]

With DSes, I only own my lite. I am tempted by the XL, simply because of my broken hinge, but I'm going to try and transplant the innards from my lite into a new shell before going out and dropping money I don't have on another DS.

I like the additional features of the DSi, mainly DSiWare and the ability to hot-swap carts by going back to the DS menu. The camera is trivial (though PhotoDojo looks cool, if not cheeeeeezy), and the music feature will largely go unused (my iPhone does both of these things. The extra CPU power is nice and certain applications and actions do feel snappier on the DSi, but it is hardly worth upgrading to if you have a fully functional DS lite.

Over the years, though, I have owned the original silver DS, the Hot Rod Red mario kart edition, a Navy Blue Japanese DS lite, and my crimson/black DS lite (now with broken hinge!).

Now if you wanna talk about GAME BOYS.... I have 4 GBA-era systems (pokemon center celibi green old-school, pokemon center Leaf Green SP (venusaur), Famicom color SP, and a currently AWOL Game Boy Micro). Prior to those 4, I've owned the original green-screen GB, a crystal Play it Loud series green-screen GB, a Game Boy Pocket (still one of Nintendo's best handhelds in my opinion), a Game Boy Color, and for a while I had a Game Boy Light in my collection, but sold it for fun and profit at a local import shop.

And people say Apple's bad and slinging the same hardware out over and over again!

[Satertek]

I still think the normal one is too big. I want a DS Liter.

[Joshkdmw]

I had a DS Phat the month it came out. Then I bought the lite when IT came out, selling my phat to a friend. Then I got te DSi on launch (the 1000 points was too tempting to pass up, and I had no GBA games I played) and traded in my Lite.

Now, the XL looks pretty cool, but the prospect of losing all my downloads is too much. If they release a patch where I can move them over to a new DS or even just re-download them, I'll buy an XL that day. It's HUGE.

And I like that.

Except as far as women go. But that's neither here nor there.

[Goronmon]

Saw the XL at PAX. Holy shit those things are huge. It looks closer to a netbook than a portable gaming system.

[Savok]

I have to seriously ask, how many of you have 3 or more DS's? I swear having read the forums over the year that some people must have bought every iteration of the DS, possibly more given the many splenderous colours they knock out.

I'm not ragging on the DS, I owned one, and enjoyed it, but eventually got rid as I do not mobile game much and I just wasn't making use of it.

It just baffles me that Nintendo can get people to buy practically the same gaming system over and over. It's like Satoru Iwata has a voodoo doll of the world, and he is constantly just stabbing DS'es at it, again and again.
How many MP3 players do you own? How many phones?

It's the same concept, hardly unique to Nintendo.

For the record I've got the original and a Lite (as such can trade Pokemon to myself), I was eyeing off the XL but with the 3DS coming, I may as well wait.

[Darkmatter]

Question for those who have seen the XL in person.

Do the graphics just look blockier cause of the increased size? Is the screen dpi big enough that you can see the individual pixels? Its basicly like 2x digital zoom right?

Ok that was more then 1 question, sue me. ;)

[Tayaya]

Question for those who have seen the XL in person.

Do the graphics just look blockier cause of the increased size? Is the screen dpi big enough that you can see the individual pixels? Its basicly like 2x digital zoom right?

Ok that was more then 1 question, sue me. ;)

You can see a little bit of a screen door effect when you're looking at the DS menu - that all-white background just makes it stand out a bit. I had a chance to play some Infinite Space before my co-worker's shift was up though, and I didn't notice anything at all. In fact, the colors popped a lot more and I actually thought the game was better played in the big screen. That game's not really a graphical masterpiece to begin with, but the screens definitely looked a lot more rich and colorful than the DS Lite's. The same could be said for Scribblenauts, which looked as scribblenauty as always, but with more vibrant colors.

I'll try to score some more time with his today if he brought it to work, but from the limited time I had everything looked wonderful. The resolution's the same, so things aren't going to get any more blocky or less blocky than they already are. If you never noticed the jaggies and bad textures of 3D DS games before, you'd probably notice them on the XL. Most of us that game on HDTVs or play other consoles with better 3D already noticed the issues with the DS' 3D handling anyway, so to me I didn't notice any negative effect caused by the larger screen.

[Savok]

3D on the DS is fucking terrible, I don't know why they keep pushing it on us. It's the same soulless shit we got in the 90s.

[TheKeck]

What the keck?!?! Do you have hands?

http://i41.tinypic.com/sy87cj.jpg
Heh, yeah. I mostly use them to play PC games. ;)
*Sigh*

Keck, go get a DS and join the handheld sensation before we all murder you.
Not likely. :p

[Panthera]

3D on the DS is fucking terrible, I don't know why they keep pushing it on us. It's the same soulless shit we got in the 90s.

I don't agree. There are many games that use the DS's 3d well to produce simple, colorful and readable graphics. The remakes of FFIV and DQV are perfect examples.

There are also lots of games that use it badly and the results are truly horrific.

[Kelegacy]

I wanted to bite the bullet today, but there was no display of them, just tons in the case at Target. I had a coupon for 10% off, which would be about $20, but to make matters worse I didn't see any games I wanted in the store, other than Sonic The Dark Brotherhood for $20. So I just said feck it.

I'll wait to trade some shit in at Gamestop maybe.

[Savok]

I don't agree. There are many games that use the DS's 3d well to produce simple, colorful and readable graphics. The remakes of FFIV and DQV are perfect examples.

There are also lots of games that use it badly and the results are truly horrific.
That looks like someone loaded 3D paintballs into a shotgun and fired (http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/image/939425.html?gs=73). It's ugly, jagged bland looking crap. FF3 was even worse (http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/image/924897.html?gs=57).

[Mike Kelehan]

3D on the DS is fucking terrible, I don't know why they keep pushing it on us. It's the same soulless shit we got in the 90s.

Because this isn't another model of the existing DS, it's the next generation Nintendo portable. Developers are saying it supposedly has about as much power as a Gamecube, which when you think about it is pretty believable. The GC is all the power you'd ever need for a small screen.

[Savok]

I'm not talking about the 3DS dude, that may actually turn out nicely, but we'll just have to see

[Mike Kelehan]

I'm not talking about the 3DS dude, that may actually turn out nicely, but we'll just have to see

Fair enough.

[Panthera]

That looks like someone loaded 3D paintballs into a shotgun and fired (http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/image/939425.html?gs=73). It's ugly, jagged bland looking crap. FF3 was even worse (http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/image/924897.html?gs=57).

FFIII is a bit too jagged, but that screenshot of FFIV looks perfectly fine to me. I enjoyed the graphics when I played it.

[Scull]

Originally I came here to say, I have 3 DS's (Fat Mario Hot Rod Red, White Lite, Pink Lite) already, and the 3DS is just around the corner so there is no reason at all that I would need or want a DSiXL.

Then my son told his grandmother that he wanted one, so he's getting it for Easter. So my vote is now Yes.

[AliasRomanian]

Originally I came here to say, I have 3 DS's (Fat Mario Hot Rod Red, White Lite, Pink Lite) already, and the 3DS is just around the corner so there is no reason at all that I would need or want a DSiXL.

Then my son told his grandmother that he wanted one, so he's getting it for Easter. So my vote is now Yes.

LOL that traitor!

[Xerxes]

As soon as I get a iTouch XL. :p

[zarathstra]

I have a DS Lite, and that's all I've ever owned. I have a bunch of GBA games, so I'm not interested in the DSi, and I'm certainly not buying a barely portable system for bigger screens. I have enough trouble finding pocket real estate for my Lite as it is. Stupid need to carry both cell phone and keys.

[MalReynolds]

i just bought my friends DSi because he wasnts a DSiXL and got a sweet deal :P

[Tayaya]

As soon as I get a iTouch XL. :p

What's an iTouch?

[Joshkdmw]

What's an iTouch?

Man, you don't know? It's this awesome new that that's all like "GO TO GOOGLE MOTHERFUCKER".

[Urizen]

Man, you don't know? It's this awesome new that that's all like "GO TO GOOGLE MOTHERFUCKER".

Surely you realize he's being facetious. The device is called an iPod Touch. Not an iTouch.

Regardless, it's great to see you posting again.

[Joshkdmw]

Surely you realize he's being facetious. The device is called an iPod Touch. Not an iTouch.

Regardless, it's great to see you posting again.

Yeah, I figured there was some smarm going around. But I liked my joke too much to pass on it.

Good to be back! But it seems the amount of posting going on has trended sharply downwards.

Dig the new username, BTW. Very William Blake.

[Urizen]

Dig the new username, BTW. Very William Blake.

Someone finally understands me...

[Joshkdmw]

Someone finally understands me...

The benefits of a University education! It doesn't come in handy every day, but I can spot a reference to the father of Gnosticism a mile off.

[Tayaya]

It saddens me that if you Google "iTouch" you still get directed to the right product.

[Joshkdmw]

It saddens me that if you Google "iTouch" you still get directed to the right product.

Yeah, I had to double-check to make sure I wasn't making a TOTAL ass of myself.

[Mike Kelehan]

Just got my DSi XL. It fits in my pocket just fine; it's really not a lot bigger than the original PSP. The screens are big and beautiful. The only thing that bugs me is the added weight, which is an issue for games that require the use of buttons and the stylus at the same time, like Picross 3D.

Since there are really very few community aspects of portable games that I play, I don't see myself getting a 3DS for some time, so I'm happy having this. It does require pretty much an entire pocket dedicated to it, but I won't be taking it anywhere unless I plan on waiting somewhere for a long time. For short, unexpected downtime, I've got a phone with internets.