Following its launch in Western territories on 12th October 2013 — alongside Pokémon X & Y — the 2DS has sold (as of 31st March 2014) 2.2 million units. That's not too bad for a hardware iteration targeted at a rather specific demographic and not given the most high profile of launch campaigns. As a budget tablet-like alternative without the 3D effect, it appears to have enjoyed a solid start at market.
It looks like Nintendo is planning a tweak to the manufactured unit, too. An FCC filing (Federal Communications Commission) in the US (spotted by myce.com) was submitted in late April — with some documents just made available to the public — and is currently in progress, which seeks approval for model FTR-001_-01; this is a variation of the standard 2DS model that is attributed as FTR-001. As you can see in the letter below, the change is to the CPU to adjust a security function.
This sort of occurrence is likely fairly common in terms of model updates and tweaks to hardware, but it's interesting to see a 2DS submission this early that appears to have the goal of tightening security on the system.
Hit up the second link below to see all of the documentation related to this filing.
[source myce.com, via apps.fcc.gov]
Comments 21
Huh! CPU update, weird. Maybe to be able to handle the awesomeness that is Pokémon Omega Ruby & Pokémon Alpha Sapphire!! Ok, not really, but a security update is just so boring!
Oh I see, someone has hacked there CPU, and this is a fix. A sort of 'reseting the combination' I guess.
maybe they should take this chance to add a second control stick/nub I know not every game uses it but it would be nice to have the option
Mmm... official documents. You can't beat 'em.
Why does anyone want a second control stick, when it would fragment the user base?
Boo, the faster 3DS is hacked, the better. I want region-locking removed.
@AVahne If this is hack related there are only 40 million susceptible systems out there.
But it being CPU related suggests it is far out of reach of all but the most dedicated. I wonder if it is a precaution or something was actually figured out.
@TheWhiteFalcon I find it funny how people want a 3DS model with a second stick. Surly buying a circle pad pro is cheaper. It won't change the fact so little software supports it. Outside of Capcom (who probably pushed for the thing to be made because Monster Hunter) I can only think of 2 games with support it, Kid Icarus (to offer a slightly better left handed mode) and Galaxy Force 2. I'm sure there are a few more but generally these are less fragment user base and more not used.
@Starwolf: Well, there is Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil Revelations and the upcoming Shooter Moon Chronicles.
Trying to prevent mass hacking before it occurs. Good! While homebrew might have started as a good way to maximize the Wii/DS potential, it quickly became perverted into a pirating software.
@Starwolf_UK Nano Assault Ex supports it (But the retail US version didn't) it is a help for some levels but a hindrance for others. Kingdom Hearts 3D supports it.
If it is supported it is much more comfortable just having it attached due to being able to use the shoulder buttons on it.
@Dark-Link73 If it is a problem with all the existing hardware it is already too late for that.
I hope there is some method for me to get my legitimately purchased stuff from one broken system to another when Nintendo has decided they don't want me to any more. (Or they want loads more than a replacement system would cost to do so).
Ha, I just won one of these from a Winner's Cube machine. Only after the fifth try. I already own a 3DS and 2 3DS XL's (one of them is Zelda gold). Nice to add a 2DS to my collection for only 5 bucks.
So the downgraded 3DS that doesnt do 3D (or stereo) has sold 2.2mil the past 5 1/2 months?
How did the Wii U do over that same time period? Maybe Mahe is right after all
Now I want to buy an extra before the new iteration...
@unrandomsam True, it is too late for the 2/3 million 2DS handheld out in the market now, but when you have the potential of selling tens of millions of 2DS handheld over its lifetime, it's not "too late".
As for your broken DS issue, do they charge you for transferring your games from one 3DS to another?
I wish Nintendo would implement a small upgrade to the 3DS's CPU and RAM, Because Netfilx, Youtube, and the Web browser run poorly, a slight hardware upgrade would be nice.
I believe Nintendo has done small upgrades to their hardware before, I just don’t remember which handheld it was.
Because everyone wants to hack the 2DS...
@Obito_Tennyson - Actually yes.
If you were being sarcastic, you should probably know that Nintendo handheld hacking is a HUGE thing with pirates and coders. It's a cottage industry in places like China.
@Dark-Link73 Think about these situations. Got a 3DS but you want to do a transfer but you cannot because the power cuts out before it can complete. Or the screen you need to see what you are doing on the transfer is smashed (But there is a homebrew that does the absolute minimum that has two versions one for each screen that would work in either case - redownload the content). Or it becomes to possible to do a full region change. (After transferring to a 3DS XL lite I have a spare 3DS XL - Might as well use it to buy from the Japanese eshop). There is also the time when Nintendo is no longer interested (Like with the SNES/NES now and Wii online). I have not needed anything to do anything with my Wii's like this but I am glad the stuff does exist. (Especially as one of them is NTSCU the PAL one I could probably get fixed).
@Meaty-cheeky Do you think is maybe a network issue? The internet browser is slow, but I don't have any problems with Netflix and YouTube. They work great in all our 3DS's.
@Dark-Link73 The Netflix and Youtube app work for me and my family fine but they run so slow compared to my iPad and other devices, the YouTube app on the 3DS also crashes every now and then.
The 3DS web browser is terrible, almost every website I visit fails to load the whole website.
@Meaty-cheeky Is kind of unfair comparing the 3DS to an iPad, it'd be like comparing the gaming capabilities of an iPad vs an Alienware or any high end gaming PC.
It'd be interesting if you could test the 3DS Netflix/YouTube performance on a different wifi. Perhaps a relative's house to see if is your internet or the device.
The internet browser does suck. But I think it was built to rely on mobile sites vs full sites. Go to a website that has mobile versions and you'll see a difference. It isn't much still, but it's better than nothing I suppose.
Tap here to load 21 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...