The 
3DS is getting supersized.
Nintendo announced plans in an online video early Friday to roll out a new version of its 3D handheld system — called the 3DS XL — which will effectively double the system’s screen size. The handheld will go on sale in the U.S. on Aug. 19 for $200.
Nintendo is turning 
to Hollywood to help bolster the 3D content for its 3DS handheld gaming system.
The game maker has announced partnerships with DreamWorks Animation for a pair of timed-exclusive digital shorts as well as with 3net, the joint venture between Discovery, Sony and Imax. Content from both studios became available this morning.
The Asphalt series 
rarely brings something new to driving games, but it’s never patently bad. This installment is a fun, but flawed, arcade racing game that leans a bit more to the action side of the scale with ridiculously high speeds and overdramatized wrecks. If you’re looking for a Burnout-style game for the 3DS, this isn’t a bad choice. There’s a good variety of tracks, and gearheads will enjoy the collection of licensed real world cars. Just don’t expect any sort of realism when you fire the game up.
The Raving Rabbids 
series is one of the more reliable funny franchises in gaming, but that’s largely due to the off-the-wall mini-games developers come up with. In Rabbids Travel in Time 3D, the bug-eyed bunnies abandon that for a straight platform game and it isn’t a great fit. The game’s certainly not difficult and as a platform game itself, it’s not bad (though hardly spectacular). But by so severely restricting the Rabbids and their environment, it takes a lot of fun out of the franchise. 3D effects are used well in the game, and thankfully sparingly, but it’s not enough to make a fair game into a good or great one.
The Nintendo 3DS’ 
biggest selling point may be its biggest weakness.
A study unveiled earlier this week at the Variety-sponsored 3D Gaming Summit earlier this week finds that 28 percent of the system’s owners feel the use of 3D actually hurts gameplay.
What a difference 
a price cut makes.
Sales of Nintendo’s beleaguered 3DS handheld were up a whopping 260 percent in August (compared to July) after the system’s $70 price cut went into effect. Even more impressive, that price cut was only in effect for part of the month.
Between the Nintendo 3DS, Nvidia’s 
efforts to push 3D on the PC and Sony’s recently announced PlayStation 3-branded 3D display, stereoscopic 3D video- games are finally stepping into the spotlight.
But even as more and more games utilize the technology, there’s a debate among game- makers on how much of a draw it will be for consumers.
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime 
touted the 3DS as more than just a 3D gaming device, adding that it’s “mass market ready, right off the bat,” Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris reported from New York.
The morning started a bit awkwardly for Reggie Fils-Aime, but by the end of his presentation, announcing the launch details of the Nintendo 3DS at a Gamasutra-attended press conference in New York, he was firmly in charge.
Walking out to a dead teleprompter, the normally unflappable president and chief operating officer jokingly accused Wedbush game analyst Michael Pachter of having unplugged the monitors.
Chris Morris: Journalist 