Nintendo Announces New, 3D Member of DS Family

It seems that Nintendo have just announced a successor to the DSi XL, which hasn’t even been launched yet in North America.

Engadget reports that the device is tentatively titled the 3DS, and will provide a 3D portable gaming experience without the need for glasses. It will be backward compatible with DS and DSi games, and it’s set to launch in FY 2010 — which ends next March.

So while millions are getting ready for the launch of the DSi XL next week, Nintendo has seen fit to let us all know that there will be something better (and genuinely new) out within the next twelve months. I don’t quite understand it, but then again I’m not a billionaire Nintendo executive decision-maker.

The official Japanese press release can be found here, but it doesn’t give any additional information outside mentioning that there will be more details at E3.

Having played some 3D games at CES earlier this year, I can confirm that they are indeed awesome. The ones I played were on big HD screens though, with fancy bluetooth glasses. I’m very interested to see what kind of design elements Nintendo will incorporate into both the hardware and software involved with this device. The fact that it doesn’t require glasses has me a bit skeptical — the only no-glasses 3D I saw at CES was using a lenticular film over a plain screen, and that didn’t look especially great.

If Nintendo follows the trail blazed by the incredibly-popular Wii, though, it won’t need to look amazing. If they can use 3D in a portable system the way they’ve incorporated motion control into a home console, they could very well have something on their hands.