So a high powered portable with detachable controllers and a TV dock that upscales the image?
I haven't followed rumors very much, but is that about the situation we're looking at?
Mixed feelings on this.
* I'm worried that third party devs will port a few games over and then disappear, much like Wii U. Until proven otherwise, I've lost faith in Nintendo's ability to keep third parties involved.
* Battery life is a concern, and so is build quality. (3DS didn't live up to my expectations for a Nintendo handheld, although Wii U controller has been more solid than I expected.)
* Pricing is a question. Will it all come in one box? I have to assume so... although the TV dock certainly seems optional. Can you replace parts of the hardware (notably: break-off controllers) separately?
* Backwards compatibility looks like a complete write-off, so I can't sell existing hardware to subsidize the purchase unless I dump all my games too.
Canadian currency is very weak right now. When the New 3DS XL console is still sitting at roughly $260 CAD after taxes, I can't see this being less than $500 CAD. That's going to be a very tough sell for many people.
Comments about this being "Wii U 2.0" aren't really fair - this accomplishes some of the same goals by gamers to continue playing without access to their primary TV, but does so in a very different way than Wii U off-screen play.
Negativity aside, it looks like a pretty slick implementation overall. The concept of making games a universal experience is good, and I think that having Nintendo merge their portable/console development teams to focus on a single platform is a great idea overall - no reason to split development assets, especially when games are getting bigger and more expensive to make. (Of course I say that as they start mobile development... so there will still be some splittage.)