Says analyst

Mar 31, 2010 09:14 GMT  ·  By

Everyone was surprised by Nintendo's announcement, made rather low profile via a press release posted on its Japanese website, that it is working on a new handheld device, provisionally called the 3DS. The big videogaming-oriented company has made a habit of keeping secrets, especially those linked with hardware, and unveiling developments at the big trade shows, with the main one, E3, coming in about two months. And it seems that the Nintendo 3DS announcement was rushed mainly because of how much snooping around the Japanese press has done.

Billy Pigeon, who is a senior analyst working for M2 Research, has talked to business-oriented channel CNBC about the recent move from Nintendo. He said that “Apparently, the Japanese press was all over it and talked with suppliers there and Nintendo just wanted to get out ahead by breaking the news to prevent a leak.” This will cause problems when it comes to the launch of the DSi XL version, which is only now arriving to the United States and Europe.

The 3DS is set to offer, for the first time in a handheld, full tridimensional gaming without the use of special glasses. The device should arrive at some point between April 1 and March 30, 2011, most likely first in Japan with the United States and Europe following.

The big problem is that the announcement of the new device might lead some buyers away from the DSi XL, the idea being that it's better to wait about one year and get a whole new device with revolutionary capabilities than pick up a handheld, which only offers a few upgrades and will be likely obsolete this time next year.

It will be interesting to watch how the Nintendo DSi XL performs in North America after the announcement of the 3DS and Nintendo is bound to offer more information and possibly even a live demo at the E3 presentation it will hold.