Several French gaming sites have published the first hands-on impressions. Thanks to Google Translate and friendly NeoGAF Posters, it would appear that the French demonstrators are quite impressed with the new, bigger handheld.
From a hands-on posted to the site Puissance Nintendo come the following impressions, along with the above video and image below (Google Translated via GAF):
- Huge screen
- Better viewing angle
- 3D effect looks better/more effective/more natural
- 2D mode looks better than regular 3DS
- Image looks better/softer (they assume there might be some filter but not sure)
- The grip (round corners) fit nicely
- Unit fits better in hands (they wonder if it should've been the main design in first place)
- Unit is lighter than they expected
- There's a coat in the unit (not fully matte) that gives it a "deluxe plastic imitating metal" look
- Not sure at the sound as the room was quite noisy
A second preview at Bamar En Live has a similar takeaway, with the translation saying that, vitally, the games don't look degraded on the 3DS XL's bigger screen. "While the image looked worse on a DSiXL than on a DSi, it's not the case here. 3DSXL pixels look as defined as on 3DS."
Sounds good to me. I really just may have to upgrade my 3DS. And by "upgrade" I mean "replace entirely." Oh, well…
J'ai testé la future Nintendo 3DS XL [Bamar En Live via NeoGAF]
EXCLU - On a testé la 3DS XL! [Puissance Nintendo via NeoGAF]