New Nintendo Handheld Announced, Dubbed 3DS

A press release regarding the launch of a 'new portable game machine' has appeared on the Japanese Nintendo website. The press release, available in a PDF (I can't find the link through the Nintendo site cause it's in Japanese), dubs the new handheld the Nintendo 3DS, a device that is capable of generating 3D images without the user having to wear special glasses and is the successor to the current run of DS handhelds. Rumors of a new handheld had been floating around the web for a few weeks and this press release seems to confirm the existence, unless someone is screwing with us.

Details are light in the release. Apart from the above mentioned 3D capabilities, that sound insane, all that is confirmed is backwards compatibility with both DS and DSi games, hinting at the inclusion of a camera. The release tells us that we can expect to see more at E3 in June and that the device will be out before the financial year ending March 2011. It seems kind of weird that Nintendo would put forward such a light press release for such a big thing without much fanfare. The release doesn't contain any pictures, not even concept art, but hasn't been denied, therefore appearing to be legitimate (it was on their site and originally in Japanese). 

So with only those details, and with a lack of photos or specs for the 3DS, speculation is all people have to go on until E3. Nintendo has tried to deny comments Saturo Iwata made that stated that  it would "be necessary to have a sensor with the ability to read the movements of people playing" in the next Nintendo handheld, but early speculation about the 3DS is going back to those statements and betting that the device will in fact use smart-phone style motion/tilt technology. There was also speculation on Game Informer before the announcement that the new DS would have development kits with the capabilities of the GameCube and two larger screens that would be more closely integrated than the current two screen set-up to effectively present one big screen. 

So what do you think of Nintendo announcing it through a press release? What do you think of goggle-less 3D? Release below.  

"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."