Nintendo confirms 3D handheld console coming

Nintendo is working on a version of its DS handheld console with the ability to display 3D content, the videogames pioneer has said.

And it won't need special glasses, the company promised.

Nintendo didn't say much more, beyond indicating a launch date before April 2011, the end of Nintendo's next financial year. A release that missed Christmas 2010 would be bonkers, we'd say, so expect it in time for that.

It will also play existing DS titles, Nintendo noted.

The company is calling the device the "Nintendo 3DS", but it stressed that this is a "temporary" moniker.

More details will be announced during June's videogame industry shindig, E3.

It's five years since Nintendo first launched the DS, during which time it has been revamped as the DS Lite, evolved into the DSi and been joined by a larger, e-book oriented model, the DS XL. By the end of December 2009, Nintendo had shipped more than 125 million of these models worldwide.

Still, it has its work cut out. A recent survey of games developers working on mobile platforms showed the majority were more keen on the iPhone than the likes of the DS and Sony PSP. ®