Kicking off the latest live-streamed Nintendo Direct conference, the Japanese tech giant has confirmed the rumours and revealed the latest addition to their portable console line, the expected plus-sized 3DS XL.

The main points of note are a 90% increase in screen size over the original 3DS (but over an inch wider in overall device size) and improved battery life, with a bit more weight (336g).

We don't have any Australian specific release details yet and it's a little tough to predict as other international territories are all over the place. Europe and Japan will see the device on July 28th, but it won't ship with an AC Adapter (puzzlingly, you'll have to purchase one separately, or use one from an existing DS/3DS). Whereas North America won't be seeing it under a few weeks later on August 19th (the launch day of New Super Mario Bros. 2) but US customers will at least get an AC adapter in the box.

The launch colours for each territory are also inconsistent, with black, red and blue for North Americans and blue, red or silver for Euros.

For the complete low-down, check out the North American Nintendo Direct presentation in it's 21 minute entirety here on AusGamers.

That would make the original 3DS completely redundant, with the owners raging a second time round. Which would've been balls out!

Meh I'm selling my 3DS to my mate, I don't know why I keep falling for these handheld consoles I never play them

tspec you can buy USB cables to charge them for like $1 off ebay. I did.

tspec you can buy USB cables to charge them for like $1 off ebay. I did.

Yeah, I have got one, I should really get a couple more.

Would be great if they bothered to make everything backwards compatible or have classic games on their stores.

That's one thing I loved about the original DS, being able to play all my GBA games.

I have been considering buying an old DS Lite as I assume the screen is a bit brighter (in terms of backlighting) than the original but not sure by how much. There's a massive difference in brightness between the original and the DSi though.

I was a little bummed about the lack of a second analogue stick, but meh, I still want one. I'll wait until I've tried a demo unit first, but the DSi XL is just so much nicer than the DSi/DS Lite, I suspect this one will be just as much of an improvement.

I bet we'll be reamed on the price though.