Nintendo Details Third-Party Support and Online Functionality for the 3DS

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's president, gave some details about third-party support and online functionality on the 3DS during an E3 analyst Q&A session. Unlike other Nintendo products, the Nintendo 3DS will have quite a stellar third-party offering, with titles like Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D and Dead or Alive 3D already announced.

Iwata said the third-party developers started being interested in the 3DS mainly because of the extended graphical capabilities of the handheld. He declared to the investors and analysts present at the meeting that, “When we took the new Nintendo 3DS hardware and showed it to publishers and developers, their feeling was that much of their content was something they could realize on the Nintendo 3DS system and that's why we were able to announce the lineup that we did yesterday.”

Nintendo also plans to change its approach with handheld online connectivity. It seems that the Nintendo 3DS will constantly be connected to Nintendo while the wireless connection is turned on to actively give information about the owner's activity. This is meant to help producers and publishers meet the consumers’ demands more easily and with no effort needed from them.

He explained this business model by saying that, “With Nintendo 3DS, we're looking at a model that would be more focused around the 'push type,' where we're able to push information or content out to the device. And with a model like that, what it means is that because the consumer doesn't have to actively seek out the information themselves, it gives us a venue for creative new ideas of our company or of our developers to reach consumers much more easily.” This may also be intended to quell the piracy that is rampant on Nintendo handhelds, but more details about this will be known as the launch of the 3DS nears.