[Dragon Brigade]

Quote

A press release on Nintendo's Japanese website appears to confirm the company's next handheld console, temporarily named the "Nintendo 3DS," and said to include hardware and software that will enable "3D effects" without the need for special glasses. The console is stated to be backwards compatible with DS and DSi games and is expected to go on sale (in Japan, presumably) "during the fiscal year ending March 2011" -- so within the next year. The press release has no pictures or other information, and save for the fact that it appears as a file on Nintendo's website, there's no other official word about the new hardware.

There are a few dots to connect, however: 3D gaming is on the rise, and a few other companies have also experimented with head tracking as a way to implement 3D effects. Nintendo's own Satoru Iwata hasn't been impressed with 3D gaming in the past, but his issue is with the glasses, not the technology. "I have doubts whether people will be wearing glasses to play games at home," he said recently. We've also heard that the next handheld would have a "movement sensor" of some kind, so if Nintendo really has designed a head-tracking 3D solution, then maybe the console is ready to go. The press release, which you can read after the break in full, says we'll see more at E3, so stay tuned.

Joystiq

[Stoic]

I'm pretty excited about that. The fact that you don't require glasses for it is what does it for me, because if it needed glasses, I'd never play it on the bus.

Here's a gameplay video, which looks pretty damn cool: CLICK

[Athrun]

Yeah, when I read that it had 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses, I couldn't imagine what it would be like. So when I watched the clip was blown away. Looks like a really awesome idea.

[Theferrell]

Dude. That's pretty sweet. Even better that it was said by a spain-ish dude. I seriously love their accent Beautiful spanish.

but I digress.

This is pretty sweet. Looks like a LOAD better than their last foray into 3D land...



haha

[Dragon Brigade]

Small update:

Quote

Afraid that the jump-off-the-screen 3D effects promised by Nintendo's next handheld (code-named the 3DS) will become tiresome and overly gimmicky? Addressing concerns that there may be possible health consequences with 3D gaming, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata assured Forbes that the 3D function can be turned off easily, allowing players to enjoy games in a more traditional 2D manner.

While little else is known about the device, it seems like a smart move to ensure Nintendo's next system is attractive to as wide of an audience as possible. Of course, we may change our minds after its E3 debut -- perhaps the 3D effect will be so captivating that we'll be unable to think of gaming in any other way.

Joystiq