So it doesn't use a battery hatch like every other piece of electronics ever? How strange.

@The_Fox It does, you just have to screw it in place I guess.

@James - Wait, wait, wait double or tripe A James, you've said both above. As for the time, impressive.

Edit: triple then, I like the sounds of that, I'm not interested in in the attachment yet but I have rechargeable triple A's, so this sounds good.

Not bad, still that doesn't solve the short battery of the 3DS though.

Damn. This is going to get expensive once I get Monster Hunter.

Love the santa pixelman.

Looking at this thing again after a while from its announcement, it doesn't look all that big and bulky anymore. Still not gonna get it before a game I like don't work without it.

Not gonna say "I told ya so", but... I did.

It's literally just a few buttons and an infra-red light. It uses power at the same rate as a TV remote control — in other words, it was destined to last a very, very long time.

Good to know. Won't have to worry much about it's battery life if I ever pick it up.

I'll get it if Smash Bros 3DS supports it.

Neat! There is just so many games that will support it, with 480 hours ill be able to finish all of them with one battery xD

Meh dual-analoging is okay, but everyone knows dual D-pads are the way to go. I was hoping the add-on could double as an expansion for the 3DS' battery.

Side note: The article mentions both AAA and AA batteries. Which type is it?

I wish some of that power could be diverted to the console

@shinespirte it's definitely AAA. 1xAAA.

What a let-down. This is really going to complicate my 500-hour-long Resident Evil sessions.

Waiting for 3DS XL with this pad included =)

That battery might corrode before it dies in some cases. Although the games that this peripheral work on are the kind of games that you will easily spend 100+ hours on.

Seems great. Might actually get it.

But is the battery included? That is both a sarcastic and serious question. I beleive all the Wiis came with cheap AAs in the Wiimotes so for 480 hours if they stuck one in there you wouln't have to care for awhile.

Of course Nyko and PowerA are probably already working on one w/ with a built in battery pack for the 3DS so no extra battery neccessary.

i'll get it if theres a good game that needs it (hopefully black ops 2 if for 3DS)

I'm gonna get this for Revelations and Monster Hunter. (Also good for RE: The Mercenaries as well)

It's not as bad as I thought, it just should of been on the system in the first place.

REALLY!?! 480 HRS!?! Sure its not a typo?! seems like you'll almost never run out of juice.

Dayum.

I'll only get it if it's compatible with Kid Icarus: Uprising...maybe. Otherwise, if I don't need it, I won't buy it.

WOW... I thought an AAA battery won't even go up to like 10 hours..

dosent look promising :/

Doesn't seem too surprising. A wireless mouse can last for a long time on an AAA battery.

I don't think that a second circlepad suits the 3DS, and it doesn't look that comfortable either. Will probably get it when I stumble upon a game that really need it.

"According to one eager Japanese early adopter, the device's instructions claim it can last for up to 480 hours on a single AAA battery"

That's good news!

"Good job too, as the battery itself is kept in a compartment held shut by a screw"

That's pretty lame, as is the whole idea of the peripheral!

This thing isn't a fail for gamers, but it's a fail for Nintendo.
Anyone remembering Wii Motion Plus never really has taken off cause it just were/is an peripherical device the 3rd partys resist to support. Addons changing a console's standard will always result in splitting the audience in two groups: the one having it and the one not having it. Naturally, the customers not owning the new device will always outnumber the other group, so most companies decide not to use the new device or only will support it to a non-relevant amount, causing the device lose more and more significance. In short: I don't "hate" this thing as a gamer (I will buy it), but I already perfectly know it won't be of any importance in the long run.
Strange decisions like batteries, locked in a screwed compartment don't help either.

why is everyone treating the screwd-in-battery thing as if they've never seen it before? like it wasn't on every electronic device you had as a kid? if something isn't done the most convenient way possible people freak out like its a big deal "oh no I have to pick up a screw driver once every 20 days, its horrible"

Every 20 days? Yes, thats even already too much. And if you r using rechargeables they won't last even that long. It's pointless hiding AAA battery behind a compartment you have to screw every time.