The Nintendo 3DS!

At E3, Nintendo will be introducing new hardware, the Nintendo 3DS.

In an official release, Nintendo describes the portable as allowing games to be "enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses". It is not yet known how the 3D effects will work, but it is possible that it could work like this Japan-only DSiWare game.

According to Nintendo, the product will go on sale between April 2010 and March 2011.

The Nintendo 3DS will succeeded the Nintendo DS series and will have backward compatibility for Nintendo DS and DSi games. It is important to stress that the Nintendo 3DS is a new hardware series.

In early January, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata gave an interview with Japan's second largest newspaper The Asahi Shimbun in which he apparently said the Nintendo DS successor will have "highly detailed graphics, and it will be necessary to have a sensor with the ability to read the movements of people playing".

Nintendo of America later told Kotaku that the Asahi Shimbun had "misinterpreted" Iwata's remarks. "Mr. Iwata did not make any comments regarding the functions of Nintendo's future hardware systems," Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America's senior director of corporate communications told Kotaku. "The answer to the reporter's question was misinterpreted."

The Asahi Shimbun stands by its reporting and issued a statement to Kotaku Japan that read: "The article quoted Nintendo President Satoru Iwata's comment accurately." The actual quote in the article is a fragment of a longer sentence.

At a Nintendo quarterly Q&A, the exec addressed the issue with the Asahi Shimbun, asserting that the reporter stated, "The graphics for the next DS will be highly detailed and it will contain a motion sensor, right?" Iwata claims he then replied, "Those things are naturally being required. But do you think it would sell with just that?" Iwata emphasized that this last part was left completely out.

It appears that the extra element Nintendo believed was necessary to really sell the DS successor is 3D.

Regarding 3D, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has previously stated that Nintendo would need to look into the "possible health effects" of playing video games in 3D for prolonged periods of time.

Here is a handy summary of what we know about the Nintendo 3DS (and what we think we know).

– The Nintendo 3DS, will be released sometime during Nintendo’s next financial year (Apr 2010 – March 2011).

– It will be capable of producing 3D graphics, without the need for 3D glasses.

– The 3DS will be backwards compatible with the entire line of Nintendo DS products.

– It will be properly revealed during the E3 trade show in Los Angles, which will take place in June.

– Nintendo 3DS

CONOR wrote:This has to be a joke. the FIFTH DS?

And there have already been two DS's made within a year. Who are they planning on selling these to?

RawkHawk wrote:

CONOR wrote:This has to be a joke. the FIFTH DS?

And there have already been two DS's made within a year. Who are they planning on selling these to?

I don't think you bothered to read, but this is the 'DS sequel'. You might say it's still the DS, but it's more like the DS2.

/nerd

But I'm loving this.

RawkHawk wrote:

CONOR wrote:This has to be a joke. the FIFTH DS?

And there have already been two DS's made within a year. Who are they planning on selling these to?

I don't think you bothered to read, but this is the 'DS sequel'. You might say it's still the DS, but it's more like the DS2.

/nerd

But I'm loving this.

Stewart.64 wrote:I do however think they're going a bit nuts with all the different versions of DS's releasing here and there. Hopefully this will be a big upgrade and not just an XL with a fancy screen.

PlatinumSamusUK wrote:Blunder number 1 from Nintendo for their most recent piece of hardware. They've announced it far too early. Gives Sony a world of time to copy every last detail.

Pwiimus wrote:Would you class the Wii Remote a gimmick?

It's not needed by all games and can be used as little or as much as needed by game developers.

I think the core games will all be 3D enabled, plus if you've got the option of developing a game on the console, why not do it in 3D.

The only reason I could see for not using it, is if the console is powerful enough to play Gamecube quality games and Ninty ports a good proportion of them over