I forgot to say that I like most of Nintendo novelties, including the wii-remote. I don't consider myself a conservative gamer, am always willing to try something new...so I love the no-3D-glasses idea, but I also make my research before buying. At launch, too many ppl complained about the 3D effect losing it's strength at very minor shake. If I buy a 3DS I would play mostly with 3D on....so there you go, I want a portable clam-shell no-3D-glasses handheld that play amazing games and who also has a decent processing/loading speeds. The New 3DS XL doesn't do the portable with me, also I heard comments from "perfectionists" that the pixels are more noticeable on the XL, which makes sense.
I've played every game that I could in 3D. Obviously, older DS titles and VC games can't but if it is a 3DS game, I play it in 3D even when the effect is negligible like NSMB 2. You say you've researched the device but have you actually played one for awhile? It took a little bit for me to adjust and learn how to look at the screen for the 3D effect. The slider helps because light can affect your vision and the distance you look at it. I've played it on planes and trains and it doesn't lose its strength from a minor shake. People complain about everything. These forums can be proof of that sometimes.
The other day, I was thinking of buying a Dyson vacuum cleaner so I looked up what the reviews were on them to find the best model. It doesn't matter which one I choose. There were people who swore up and down it was the best vacuum ever and gave it 5 stars and others who gave detailed problems of all the things wrong with it and why it was the worst thing they bought in 1 star reviews. This happened with every single model. In the end, I was no better off then before I looked up reviews. However, some friends of mine had bought one so I asked to borrow and test it out at my place. The thing worked great. I took a lint roller to the carpet afterwards and it was picking up nothing compared to when I checked the carpet before vacuuming. It worked great on tile as well. So I picked up that model for myself. I don't know what the story is with the 1-star review people. I get that some people might end up with a defect or bad experience but it just seems like some people were trying to find things to complain about or perhaps just too dumb to even know how to use.
For me, I want the NEW 3DS XL as I'd like to have the bigger screens having never gotten a DS XL or 3DS XL and the faster load times will be nice also. That said, I'm still not in a hurry to buy one. I stopped at a couple stores on the weekend as I was willing to perhaps pick one up if they had them in stock but they were out. However, there was a display model of one set-up so I took the chance to play with it a little and see what it was like. I was curious about what the picture would be like since the reviewer on this site also mentioned pixels being noticeable. It beats me what that's supposed to mean as the video quality didn't appear blocky or stand out as "pixely" to me. I had a hard time telling if the 3D effect was on at first from the opening cinematic I watched but adjusting it a little and waiting for an area to move and play it let me see it the 3D effect. It took some getting used to I think because I was used to a smaller screen so it was weird scanning a bigger area at first. I was going to test the 3D movement effect but forgot about it since I was more focused on the video quality and just making sure the 3D effect was working. I guess maybe I was hoping for more but walking away from the demo unit, I wasn't that wowed by it since the 3D effect still feels the same to me as my normal 3DS unit. But again, I've only had a taste of the NEW 3DS so maybe that will change when I get it. Rather than just read comments about it, I really think you should see if you can't borrow or try out the two devices, a regular 3DS and a NEW 3DS, and see what you think of them in action. You might come to see that the negatives are being blown out of proportion about it.
Did I say 10 games?, I just counted my WiiU games. I have 15 full-priced hard-copies!!, 5 digital retail, 15 VC, 6 indies....sorry Nintendo, it seems you don't want my money!....maybe one of my travels will take me to Japan....maybe region lock will be gone before the small New 3DS comes, who knows....only then I will consider to buy.....oh and I also find cool the plates!
Yeah and I've got 12 retail Wii U games and 1 VC game. I've also got 26 retail 3DS games, 3 3DS eShop games and 20 3DS Virtual Console games. So, if I tell Nintendo not to bother to release a small NEW 3DS, does that mean my opinion means more since I've given more sales? The amount of software one buys or owns generally doesn't impress anyone but young kids who don't have the income to spend on games. There's plenty of people who own more software than me. That's fine. I'm not in a competition. I'm just buying games I want to play and enjoying those titles.
That's why I say that if there are 10 games you want to buy and play or are interested in, you're just hurting yourself because those are 10 titles you are keeping yourself from playing when they will work well on any of the 3DS hardware. I still enjoy SNES titles despite the fact they are 16-bit and the SNES tech is outdated. There are GameCube games I still like to play despite the fact they were in Standard Definition. I've liked a lot of 3DS games even if the video quality isn't the same as a Vita or iPhone 6. I can enjoy what I've got and not be grumpy over what something is not. If a reviewer wants to complain that the system is lacking this or that or doesn't compare well because of this or that, that's their opinion and their right but you may just find that their personal opinion doesn't match yours.