Tue, Mar 23, 2010 | 15:50 GMT
Nintendo to release 3DS by March 2011, to provide 3D gaming without glasses [Update]
Update: Nintendo just sent through the official English translation of the announcement press release. Get it after the break.
Update 2: Apparently it’s got analog sticks and a Sharp screen.
Original: Nintendo’s just announced Nintendo 3DS for a release in March next year.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata made the announcement in a just-released investor report. Press release is here.
It says it’ll allow you to play 3D games with the “naked eye,” as well as it being backwards compatible.
More information has been promised from E3 on June 15.
A new DS the new DS model that has been rumoured and speculated on since the start of the year.
Only in January, Iwata said in an interview with a Japanese newspaper that the next iteration of DS will have “highly detailed graphics”.
Here’s the full announcement in English:
Nintendo Co., Ltd.(Minami-ward of Kyoto-city, President Satoru Iwata) will launch “Nintendo 3DS”(temp) during the fiscal year ending March 2011, on which games can be enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses.
“Nintendo 3DS”(temp) is going to be the new portable game machine to succeed “Nintendo DS series”, whose cumulative consolidated sales from Nintendo amounted to 125million units as of the end of December 2009, and will include backward compatibility so that the software for Nintendo DS series, including the ones for Nintendo DSi, can also be enjoyed.
We are planning to announce additional details at E3 show, which is scheduled to be held from June 15, 2010 at Los Angeles in the U.S.
25 comments
#1
Razor
23/03/10, 7:36 am
Intriguing.
#2
Yoshi
23/03/10, 7:37 am
Wow plenty of info there XD
#3
Joe Anderson (wotta)
23/03/10, 7:39 am
Its not 1st April yet is it?
#4
Pysk
23/03/10, 7:41 am
Virtual Boy…just sayin’.
#5
Robo_1
23/03/10, 7:57 am
What the who, where, what now… a new DS with glasses free 3D! I thought this was Sony’s move… and why the hell announce anything now?
#6
Erthazus
23/03/10, 8:30 am
I think it will be a cheap 3D. Don’t expect REAL 3D from company that is not so great with the technology.
#7
Blerk
23/03/10, 8:48 am
What? What?
…
What?
#8
Blerk
23/03/10, 8:49 am
Holy shit! That’s….. rubbish!
#9
Patrick Garratt
23/03/10, 8:53 am
They’ve just sent through the English press release. I’ve added it in full.
#10
Blerk
23/03/10, 9:04 am
Is it just a DS with extra 3Diness, then? Or is it actually a whole new machine?
I’ll retract my initial knee-jerk ‘rubbish’ claim until I know the answer to that question. If it’s just yet another DS then uber-meh!
#11
JonFE
23/03/10, 9:09 am
Could it be something like this (shamelessly stolen from EuroGamer comments) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5QSclrIdlE
Quite impressive, if it is.
EDIT: Actually this is a game currently available for the DSi – sorry folks. Still impressive though…
#12
Blerk
23/03/10, 9:10 am
Wow, that’s actually kind of scary.
#13
rainer
23/03/10, 9:25 am
Cool, 3D screens without glasses are possible but there are limits on the angle at which it works – move out of the 3D cone and you lose the effect so its not ideal for regular displays where people might be watching from various angle’s.
The DS being small and handled neatly sidesteps the problem if they are using the same tech that was shown at the last CES.
#14
Hero of Canton
23/03/10, 9:34 am
Note it says it’s going to ‘succeed the DS series’. So it’s the DS to the DS’s GBA, if you see what I mean.
#15
Blerk
23/03/10, 9:39 am
I hope so, because some of the leaked stuff from the previous weeks actually sounded quite interesting. It’d be a bit rubbish if it all turned out to be made up.
#16
Gekidami
23/03/10, 9:40 am
It’ll be interesting to see if it still has 2 screens (3DS could mean ’3 Dimensional Screen’, no dual). And if it’ll still feature a touch screen seeing as having something over the screen like a stylus or your fingers would ruin the 3D effect.
#17
Blerk
23/03/10, 9:42 am
If it’s backwards compatible with the DS then surely two-screens and at least one touch-screen are automatically confirmed? Given that they say DSi rather than DS that means it’ll have the cameras too.
#18
Gekidami
23/03/10, 9:48 am
Yes indeed, forgot that part. So i’m guessing it’ll be:
Bottom screen= Touch screen.
Top screen: 3D screen.
#19
Blerk
23/03/10, 9:58 am
I’m kind of thinking they’ll go for dual touch-screens this time around. Especially if the whole ‘no gap’ thing turns out to be true so it’s more practical to hold it horizontally.
#20
JPickford
23/03/10, 10:05 am
Hard to see how the no-gap thing will work as it’s DSi compatible which means a camera in the gap.
#21
Patrick Garratt
23/03/10, 10:19 am
It’s got to be dual touch, innit. Dual touch and rumble feedback. I hope.
#22
SplatteredHouse
23/03/10, 11:22 am
“Nintendo just sent through…”
OK, now I’ll believe this weirdness. I’d have labeled what I saw before as evidence the most hokey press release yet seen (initially on some guy’s twitter), but you say it’s legit, so fair enough.
I’m definitely intrigued to see what will come of this, particularly after seeing the example clip of the game on DSI. Wouldn’t mind seeing a new sidescroller Metroid with 3D tech behind it, or a top-down traditional Zelda! Since I don’t yet have a DS, but wouldn’t mind owning one, perhaps this will present my time to go portable.
#23
Michael O’Connor
23/03/10, 4:40 pm
I still don’t get something.
Is this an incremental update, or an entirely new handheld?
#24
Gekidami
23/03/10, 4:42 pm
They say it’s going to “succeed” the DS so i’d say its a brand new device. I doubt games for it will be playable on older DS’.
#25
Blerk
23/03/10, 4:43 pm
That’s still not clear to me either. Most sites seem to be claiming that it’s a true successor, but as far as I can tell there’s no proof of that yet. I hope it is a whole new machine finally – N64-generation graphics are not going to be improved by 3Diness.