It supports both cross-play and cross-buy. ;)

But... it's gaming Christmas!

So tell me then, why not just go the whole way and stream the game (like OnLive)? It's not something that requires great speed of input, so it would be the perfect candidate.

But to be fair, the one does tend to follow upon the other.

"Zombie U"

Perhaps you mean NintendU 64?

The XL model would be a niche alternative for people with bad eyes or big hands, just like with the DSi. I don't see why anyone would read this news as a direct upgrade.

[quotes Miyamoto]

(Laughs at people who want their portable devices to be oversized)

It's not an upgrade... it's an alternative. Personally I prefer the slim form factor of my current 3DS and would never have purchased a large model, even if the option had been there at launch.

For menus and inventory I'm sure it will work well. I just don't see it being fast enough to become the primary controller for the game, which means switching out with the gamepad.

True, and the hand-scrawled notes that wouldn't be possible on Twitter (well, you could do some sort of pseudo-embed with Twitpic or whatever, but that's awkward.)

It's pretty much just a Twitter feed. Which makes me wonder why they don't push the updates out to Twitter for real and voila, any device will have access. Though I get that the nifty Mii faces and other integration features require a more customized app and all.

I agree that it could be kind of cool as an add on. Not a game changer, but nifty for viewing maps and whatnot. For inventory management I'm all in favor of a touchscreen. I can't stand toggling through menus with a gamepad.

It's kind of cool. But your mobile device will be connected via Wi-Fi / internet, so I would expect a significant delay. I think it's worth noting that the only gameplay example was picking your plays in Madden, where an input delay wouldn't be much of a problem.

With the Tingle Tuner (totally a better name than Smart Glass, am I right?) I didn't get much use out of it because, yes, I had to switch to the damn thing to check its maps and info, then switch back to my controller.

Iwata says it's not a tablet it's a "gamepad" !!!

(On a minor note, I just want to add that Iwata is legitimate on these matters. He's not just a project manager who doesn't understand the other end of the process; this guy worked his way up from being a game coder at HAL Laboratories.)

But is that a "buy a copy on each system" cross-play or a true "Vita as extra controller" cross-play?

(@everyone pointing out the other side of the argument)