DSi XL

It’s not yet another new console on the way. The DS Lite XL was a planned console with a working prototype ready for mass production but never released.

This is the news that Nintendo have recently publicised. It is unusual for Nintendo to talk about cancelled projects so it’s good of them to share interesting info with their fans for a change. Publicising this information gave Nintendo a little extra press coverage during the Japanese release of the XL console which is possibly why Nintendo saw the virtue in sharing this story.

The un-released DS XL

The DS Lite XL wouldn’t have pushed the console’s “largness” as far. It would have featured a 3.8 inch screen rather than the 4.2 inch screen of the DSi XL. To cut costs it would also lack the wider viewing angle which is found in the soon-to-be released model.

Apparently the DS Lite would have been released before the DSi, and it can be assumed that the DSi XL would still have followed. Nintendo claim the DS Lite XL never saw a release because demand never seems to slow down for the DS Lite and so they started working on the DSi. I think they may have decided that this was one too many consoles to be released in the time frame and could upset fans (plenty of fans are upset about the current rate of handheld consoles as it is).

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata also says that the original plan for the DSi was to release standard and XL editions simultaneously but the hardware development staff said this would be impossible. My theory though is that he thought to himself, “Why have one major product release date, when you can have two?” this would give fans yet another chance to be amongst the first to own one of the new consoles, thus more sales.

Along with the news of the unreleased console, Nintendo have also told us some of the names they considered as alternatives to DSi XL. They include; the DSi Living, Deka (Japanese for large), Comfort, Executive and Premium. I’m surprised they didn’t go for “Premium” as that would encourage people to get this version, seeing it as simply the best version you can get.