Thx.
So now we know why they changed the 3DS's (left) slide pad from matching the color of the system to being a light grey color. It would be weird if the two slide pads were different colors, and there's no way they'd make a control cradle to match every 3DS color.
That — and the not-originally-announced addition of an IR port to the system, which the accessory uses — is what makes me sure that this accessory, weird as it may look, has been in development for some time. People on NeoGAF are acting like this is something Nintendo threw together in the last few months, in response to lower-then-expected sales. But they made changes to the 3DS to allow for it before the 3DS even came out. And games are coming out for it this year. Those weren't developed overnight.
This was always in the cards. (Or at least, since Nintendo made the deal with Capcom for
Monster Hunter. Which wasn't this year.)
People are still acting like a quick redesign to incorporate the stick is inevitable, but it's not happening. A second stick, sure, the 3DS might have room for that. But the ZR and ZL buttons? How would that even work? But everybody forgets about those. And Nintendo's not going to create a
third "tier" of control complexity for developers to support (standard, standard+second stick, standard+second stick+ZR+ZL). The 3DS XL will have one stick, and NeoGAF will once again declare that Nintendo has gone totally insane, &c.
What actually happened: Before the 3DS release, Nintendo approaches Capcom with a big bag of money for a
Monster Hunter exclusive. Capcom offers to develop
Tri G, but wants people who are used to the Classic Controller controls to be able to play it with the controls they know, and more comfortably, too (adding "grips" is a running theme with
Monster Hunter—inspired hardware). Nintendo sets off to design an add-on, making small changes to the 3DS design accordingly, and then starts shopping it to other publishers.
That's it. No "Nintendo learned at E3 that the Vita would totally pwn them so they dashed this add-on off in two months." People suddenly think Nintendo cares about feature parity?
Iwata: (laughs)
That's not how Nintendo has ever played the game. Why do people think that Nintendo has suddenly decided that the 3DS is
incomplete without two analog sticks? The primary thorn in their side has been a resurgent PSP in Japan, and that's been doing gangbusters with only one analog stick. And the 3DS adds motion control and a touchscreen.
Anyway, enough stick talk.
Brad: Have you
seen the screens of
Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition? OMG. I love the retro looks.
And it's free. Way cool.