The 3DS and 3DSXL was more expensive in Japan than in America. I'm not seeing them raising the price, especially with the 3DSXL being only $199.00 in America. And yes, it's still expensive. I never said it wasn't. But if you have an old system, you're probably going to trade in that one for the new one. Especially considering that digital games are only tied to one account. That drops the price even further.
But they're still paying. You don't seem to understand that early adopters aren't going to smile and like the fact that they still have to pay a sum of over ~$50-100 to play newer games that devs made N3DS exclusive, just because N3DS exists in the first place. And what in the case of people like me, who got a <url=http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/32974/4/1.jpg>limited edition and wouldn't like to see it out of their collection? I bought my Fire Emblem Limited Edition 3DS thinking that's all I'll need for this generation of Nintendo handhelds, functionality-wise (larger screen of the 3DSXL? Who cares, I can live without it, and it has no effect on gameplay at all), and here comes Nintendo to flip off not just people that got limited editions, but everyone that was an early adopter of every model of the 3DS released thus far. Everyone.
Let's look at it a year from now, we're gonna hear of some P4G/Peace Walker-esque magnum-opus for N3DS sooner or later (maybe even 1st party, this is Nintendo we're talking about here), and every single person that would ever want to play it is going to have to go through the N3DS paywall. People complain about half-finished games that are only completed when you purchase DLC? How about a paywall of $50-$200, depending on whether you sell a 3DS/XL system in order to play at all? It's an insult to preexisting, loyal consumers so huge people don't even realize that they're getting slapped in the face in the first place.
Besides, if this really was a new system, it would have a bigger announcement. They wouldn't just leave it for a Japanese only direct that covered only half the video.