Nintendo Co. has upgraded its 3DS handheld to sport a screen nearly twice as big as the previous model amid competition against smartphones and tablets that thtreatening dedicated gaming machines.

The Japanese company said Friday the Nintendo 3DS LL, called 3DS XL in overseas markets, goes on sale in Japan and Europe July 28, and in the U.S. from Aug. 19.

It will sell in Japan for 18,900 yen ($236) and $199.99 in the U.S. It did not give a price for Europe.



The currently available 3DS, which has a touch panel and delivers 3-D imagery without special glasses, has two screens - one is 3.53 inches and the other is 3.02 inches. The LL or XL version's screens are 4.88 inches and 4.18 inches, according to the company.

The new version also weighs a bit more and is slightly bigger than the previous model. But its battery life was extended to up to six and a half hours for 3D games from the previous five hours, and up to 10 hours from eight hours for regular games.

	Nintendo 3DS LL/ XL	Nintendo 3DS
Upper Screen	4.88 inches (diagonal)	3.53 inches (diagonal)
Lower Screen	4.18 inches (diagonal)	3.02 inches (diagonal)
Size	93mm high, 156mm long, 22mm deep (when closed)	74mm high, 134mm long, 21mm deep (when closed)
Weight	Approximately 336 grams	Approximately 235 grams
Battery Duration	Approximately 3.5 to 6.5 hours when using Nintendo 3DS software Approximately 6 to 10 hours when using Nintendo DS software	Approximately 3 to 5 hours when using Nintendo 3DS software Approximately 5 to 8 hours when using Nintendo DS software

In related news, there's a new Super Smash Bros. game in the works made in partnership with Namco Bandai.

Previous Smash Bros. games were produced under the direction of Masahiro Sakurai, the designer credited with the creation of both Kirby and the Smash Bros. series.

As Sakurai wrote on the Nintendo website, "not only are we developing two titles simultaneously," referring to the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game, "but we announced the project before we even started actual development, so I'm afraid we will likely have to keep you waiting for quite a while."

There's no release date for the title.