Are you going to upgrade your DS/DSi to the DSi XL?

[Eusis]

You'll pry my GBA slot from my cold dead hands.

And if it was just swiped with a GB Micro?

[Lard]

I like having both in the same place.

Why would I want to carry around two machines?

[Dincrest]

My DS is a "fat" DS I bought used.  If I can afford an XL I'd want it because of the larger screen.  I can't stare at small handheld screens for long periods of time and often prefer my PSP to my DS because of the screen. 

[Hidoshi]

The screen IS larger... but no, I don't agree with Mark but I don't think you necessarily have much to fear. Unless it's notably thicker than the Hori pen-stylus I can't imagine it seriously being uncomfortable, and like said you still get a regular stylus like the prior DS systems had. Failing all else... well, it's not like you CAN'T use the original DS stylus on it, but I think you and most anyone else would prefer the lite-style of stylus after trying it.

Having used an LL, I can confidently say that there is nothing to fear whatsoever. The larger screen accommodates for the pen grip perfectly.

[Prime Mover]

You'll pry my GBA slot from my cold dead hands.

'Nuff said. No fucking way I'm ditching my lite for an XL. With the larger footprint, Nintendo had the opportunity to reintroduce the GBA slot, but they seems to concerned about killing off their past generations, they didn't do it. Fuck 'em I say. I'll get a DS2 or whatever the next thing that comes out, but until then, the Lite is both my DS and GBA, and I'm not giving that up.

[Eusis]

They changed the hardware, it'd likely require another full blown revision to put the support back in. Plus the DS was about 4 and a half years old when they introduced the DSi, and the DSi XL will add another year to that; I think it's safe to drop the BC now.

[Ryos]

Plus the DS was about 4 and a half years old when they introduced the DSi, and the DSi XL will add another year to that; I think it's safe to drop the BC now.

Some folks really like their backwards compatibility (at least when it's accurate).  DSi functionality really hasn't done anything to make up for the GBA BC.  It might, but nothing on the immediate horizon suggests otherwise.

[Eusis]

Oh, I do appreciate when systems have it, but there's a point where it's just not feasible or particularly relevant. The PS3 is more of a serious offender there due to how lively the PS2 still was (and to some extent is) and the price point of both systems, and even that may have been justified due to the amount of heat generated and the launch units YLODing. The DS though? Used GBA SPs are $40 with Micros at $30 if you can find them, and while there is some merit to not carrying around multiple systems... well, how often are you going to keep switching between the two anyway?

[Parn]

There's no real incentive to do backwards compatibility anymore, not when sales of remakes and ports have shown that consumers stuck on nostalgia are ready to put down money on games they've already played all over again.  The God of War collection did really well, and my owning a copy of the Sega Genesis collection on my 360 reveals that I am guilty as charged.

[Prime Mover]

There's no real incentive to do backwards compatibility anymore

I thought this was the opposite. BC didn't even come abount until the GBA and PS2 hit the market. The 360, Wii and orignal DS/DSLite added to that list. Suddenly, now, we're going backwords with dropping BC.

On one hand it's worse to drop BC with a full console because since size and form factor isn't so much of an issue, you'd think it would be insanely easy to just tack on a few mass-produced chips that include full versions of older systems. Also, since all media on consoles is optical now, you don't have to have additional hardware to read the material. So yes, the PS3 is absolutely disgraceful in this regard.

But on the other hand, it's so much more relivant to the handheld market, because then it means you're forced to actually carry multipul systems with you. I would say that about 30% of the games I play on the DS are still GBA games, so that's pretty relivant to me. And I'm not even a huge handheld player, so I'm guessing that's even more relivant to other people.

[Ryos]

There's no real incentive to do backwards compatibility anymore, not when sales of remakes and ports have shown that consumers stuck on nostalgia are ready to put down money on games they've already played all over again.

Unfortunately, that's as much of a reason as any why backwards compatibility is going to become a thing of the past.  Though not having to shell 6 AA batteries into my Nomad every few hours made the PSP compilation worth my while for some of those games.

[Aeolus]

I'm going to hold off on an XL (barring some catastrophe) as I had just gotten an DSi to replace my broken DSlite.

[Parn]

BC didn't even come abount until the GBA and PS2 hit the market.

lolnosegasayshi

ataritoo

[Lord Scottish]

Also Yamauchi wanted the SNES to be backwards compatible with the NES (God, that would have been awesome) but it wasn't technologically feasible.

[ShadowLaguna]

I'm happy with my 2005-bought original.