Nintendo is planning to launch a new version of its handheld DS gaming device on which users can get the illusion of 3D without using special glasses, it said Tuesday.
The device, provisionally called the 3DS, will be launched in Japan before the end of March 2011, the company said. No further details were provided, but Nintendo said it would disclose more information at the upcoming E3 gaming event. E3 is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles from June 15 to 17.
The new DS will launch as sales of the handheld are declining. In the last nine months of 2009 the company sold 23.4 million DS devices, a drop of 9 percent on the same period in 2008. Software sales during the same period were down by a quarter to 121.4 million units, according to Nintendo figures.