Nintendo President Explains Why You Need a DSi XL

With the DSi XL hitting this weekend, smack dab between last year’s DSi and next year’s 3DS, is there a reason you should bother picking up this over-sized portable? Plenty of them, the head of Nintendo of America tells Kotaku.

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While Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime is an obvious supporter of his company’s products, he has no misconceptions about what the DSi XL is and isn’t.

“The DSi XL is a form factor addition to our line up,” he told Kotaku earlier this month. “We are not representing it as a revolution. Having said that, once you use the DSi XL you won’t go back. I haven’t gone back. For me to give up those big beautiful screens is not going to happen.”

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And those more than 90 percent larger screens aren’t even the biggest selling point for the DSi XL, Fils-Aime says.

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“In our mind, the big advance with the DSi XL, besides the obvious – the larger screens, is actually the wider view angle,” he said. “We think making portable gaming more social is a big opportunity and I say this from experience. When you are working on a Zelda puzzle and your spouse, your significant other, son, daughter, want to see what’s going, that’s awfully tough, versus now with this wider viewing angle sitting literally side-by-side on a couch, it is a great experience.”

I’ve heard, we’ve all heard this before, but, I point out to Fils-Aime, we have yet to see a game that really taps into that concept of communal gaming on a single portable. Don’t worry, he tells me, that’s coming soon.

“The game that will tap into that will be Photo Dojo,” Fils-Aime said.

In Photo Dojo gamers use the DSi’s built-in camera and microphone to create their own fighters, sound effects and moves and then battle one another on the device.

And, Fils-Aime says, playing any DS game on the DSi XL provides a better experience. Though, Photo Dojo, America’s Test Kitchen and 100 Classic Books are three titles that will be more fun when experienced on the DSi XL.

And Fils-Aime says, he thinks the adoption rate for the big portable will be solid.

“Absolutely consumers are going to upgrade,” he said. “I think predominantly if there are still consumers with the DS fat that will upgrade to this, consumers with the DS Lite will upgrade into this. Brand new consumers will opt for this whether they are new youth consumers, whether they are older consumers.

“We see the potential consumer as being a very wide very diverse audience opting into the DSi XL.”

Will you be one of those DSi XL adopters come this weekend?

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