Nintendo DS Successor '3DS' Announced

The oft-rumored Nintendo DS successor enables "3D effects without the need for any special glasses" and is due before the end of March 2011, Nintendo revealed today.

Currently dubbed "Nintendo 3DS," the hardware will be backwards compatible with both Nintendo DS and DSi software. In other words, expect two screens--with at least one of them touch-sensitive--along with cameras and support for downloadable games.

"'Nintendo 3DS'(temp) is going to be the new portable game machine to succeed 'Nintendo DS series', whose cumulative consolidated sales from Nintendo amounted to 125million units as of the end of December 2009," the company said today.

More details on the new hardware are slated to be unveiled at E3 2010, which kicks off June 15, 2010. Rumors that surfaced earlier this year claimed development kits for a so-called DS2 were already in the hands of various studios, including The Pokemon Company, packing a tilt-sensor and hardware "similar in power to the GameCube."