Nintendo 3DS XL due next month

Are you one of the folks who weren’t tempted by the 3DS the first time round. Even after Nintendo dropped the price down to not a lot more than £100?

If so, then Nintendo is making a move it hopes will encourage more punters still to pick up a handheld which boasts glasses-free 3D.

The company has pushed out a super-sized 3DS XL model, and this will have twin displays which are considerably larger than the current 3DS’ screens.

Currently, the main screen is 3.5 inches, and the touchscreen below 3 inches – that will be upped to 4.9 inches for the main display, and 4.2 inches for the touchscreen, a considerably increase in screen real estate.

The 3DS XL will sell for $199 in the US, according to the BBC, although no price has been announced for the UK. We’d imagine it’ll probably be around the £170 mark, given that currently the basic 3DS has settled at around £125.

The other major benefit of a bigger device is the fact that Nintendo can fit a larger battery. That means instead of 3 to 4 hours of battery life when 3D gaming, we should be looking at 6 hours worth (settings dependent), again a considerable improvement.

The new device will also come with a 4GB SD card, doubling up on the original’s capacity, although it won’t feature a second circle pad controller. Naturally, the XL is also going to weigh a bit more, and be just a little less portable.

Nintendo’s 3DS XL will be out on July 28th in Europe and Japan, and will follow on August 19th in the US.