[Initial reporting done by Eli English]
Just scraping the bottom limit for most dedicated portable gamers, the Nintendo 3DS will be hitting store shelves soon, but will only offer a battery life between 3-8 hours depending on the activity/amount of 3D. Dedicated peripheral manufacturer Nyko has a cure to your problems, however, their Power Pak+, a small add-on device that increases your gameplay from 3-8 hours to 16 hours for around $20.
The Power Pak+ is expected to launch on the same day as the device itself in the States. Nyko’s 3DS base charger, a small wall plugin to charge up your 3DS, is expected to launch a week after Nintendo’s new portable, with no pricing details yet announced. The two peripherals can either be bought separately or in a $30 bundle.
I will be picking up a 3DS eventually, but not until the summer at the earliest when I get a job. That being said though, it is really stupid for Nintendo to not have a bigger battery. I know they want to keep manufacturing prices down, but a handheld with a 3 hour charge just isn’t cutting it (especially if it takes 3 hours to fully charge the system).
The big thing that would stop me from getting the bigger battery is if removing the stock battery somehow voids your warranty. I will mostly be playing games in 2D on a low brightness level with the power-saver feature on, so I most likely will bet 5 hours out of 3DS games and 8 hours out of DS games.