The little handheld that could

Mar 24, 2010 07:31 GMT  ·  By

Nintendo has just announced, via its Japanese website, which is rather unusual, that it is set to launch a new handheld device in fiscal year 2011, which means before the end of March 2011.

The fresh platform will be called Nintendo 3DS, which is a temporary name, and will apparently allow players to experience 30 FPS 3D gaming without the use of any kind of other device, such as a pair of glasses. The Japanese company is set to put out more details as part of its yearly E3 trade show presentation.

The only other significant detail Nintendo is offering at the moment is that the new 3DS will be able to play all the videogames launched for the current DS lineup, including those put out for the DSi version.

Nintendo is not offering any real details on how the 3D would be created. The Nvidia Tegra chip will likely power the fresh device and the built-in camera in addition to a motion sensor will likely be used to change what a particular videogame shows the player. It's not clear whether existing games will benefit from this 3D move or whether developers will need to put out completely new experiences based on it.

Andrew Oliver, the Chief Technical Officer at Blitz Games, talked about the announcement with GamesIndustry.biz revealing that “I'm fairly sure it would be based on the parallax barrier method, which is better than lenticular screens and has seen some great advancements recently. It can also be turned off to give a perfect 2D screen as well. This screen already exists in the Fuji 3D camera and I have a 3D laptop from Sharp with this technology and it works very well for one viewer within a reasonable viewing area for a handheld.”