Yes, it is a good thing in a way. But really, this entire argument is pointless. Nintendo gets their money, the fans rage until they find something else to rage over, the parents keep their wallet, and the children get something that they will have a tough time rendering useless(and is partially useless, and on a later note this is going to get broken easily), and the gamers get more street passes and people to play with.
2: Like Oni-Link stated, it's like the system taxes you in pain for buying a cheap system.
3: The 3DS plays DS games. And the DS lite does NOT have special games, the DS lite is a smaller DS and often referred as the true DS. Same goes with the DSi.
4: It looks like a door wedge. Kids everywhere are going to stick this under doors.
5: The screen is going to be more fragile with no ability to fold and cover the two screens. It's going to have scratches all over the screen.
6: I have never had a broken hinge, except for the time my DS lite flew out of a taxi car's window during a wind storm and smashed onto the pavement and got run over by a propane truck.
7: You don't want broken 3DS's? Don't smash them.
8: So what if it's more affordable? I'd rather wait for a 3DS then get a cheap game boy that happens to have two screens and can play 3DS and DS games.
9: "You haven't played it" So why did you conveniently forget about this during the Xbox One outrage?
So, you now know what happens if a whiners request gets fulfilled. A low-quality Fisher Price door wedge with two screens and no 3D to turn off, because disabling 3D in the settings takes too long for lazy parents.