Nintendo have stolen a march, yet again, on their rivals by announcing their next handheld console in the series.  The Nintendo 3Ds, due for release before March 2011 is the next generation handheld console which will be able to play 3D games without the need for special glasses.  The Nintendo 3Ds will succeed the current Nintendo DS and DSi series of handheld consoles but Nintendo have confirmed that this is not merely a continuation of that brand with this being a brnad new hardware platform.  The 3Ds will be Nintendo's next foray into the handheld console market.

Scheduled for release sometime before March 2011 Nintendo have confirmed that the 3Ds console will be fully compatable with current DS and DSi games whilst taking the handheld console genre to the next level with immersive 3D effects without the need for special glasses.

What Nintendo have announced :

• Nintendo 3Ds is a brand new handheld console based on a new hardware platform.
• It will be fully backwards compatable with current DS and DSi games
• Release will be sometime before March 2011
• No additional hardware(Glasses) will be required to handle the 3D effects

The Nintendo 3Ds fits well with Nintendo's traditional handheld console cycle with updates occuring over short periods with overhauls occuring on a semi regular basis.

The Gameboy was launched in 1989 to some acclaim and nearly saw out the whole of the 90's before the Gameboy advance and the Gameboy colour reached our shores in 2000.  In 2001 the Gameboy advance came along which was quickly followed by the Gameboy SP and Gameboy micro.  All of which were incarnations of the original Gameboy, albeit the colour aspect improved the visualisation of the Gameboy brands appeal.

In 2004 we saw the current handeheld crop launch, The Nintendo DS took the handheld gaming world by storm and was a complete transformation from the gameboy.  A slimmed down version, the Nintendo DS Lite arrived two years later.  This version remained for three years before in 2009 the launch of the DSi which incorporated a number fo new features gamers had been looking for.  A camera so that you could take a picture of yourself and your mates and immerse them within the game.  On the 5th March 2010 we saw the release of the DSi XL in the UK which updated the Nintendo handheld gaming console to where we are today. 

Nintendo's 3Ds could break the mould of todays handheld gaming console market with the promise of immersive 3D graphics gameplay.  Nintendo are still keeping a lot of the details which surround this console a closely gaurded secret but June's E3 should reveal a lot more about the way the console looks and works.  Nintendo's innovative grip on the UK console market has lead the console out of the bedroom and into the living room and the Nintendo 3Ds could well lead the handheld gaming console even further.