It was announced on March 10, 2010 that the newest portable peripheral to be made by Nintendo will go 3D and has been given the tentative name of the Nintendo 3DS. It was also announced that more information will be given about the new handheld at the 2010 E3.

This announcement was probably made to counter any leaks about the product by Japanese presses towards the Western market but also to help keep attention away from this product while Western markets are being pushed with the recently released Nintendo DSi XL which is the biggest handheld I have ever seen by Nintendo with screens that are uncanny.

According to the Japanese industry news website Nikkei.com, Nintendo wants to include “a 3-D joystick and a force feedback system in the Nintendo 3DS, for which the company acquired the related patents at the end of 2009. The website states that Nintendo is also considering incorporating an accelerometer for features such as tilt control, and that the Nintendo 3DS will feature “significant improvements” in both wireless communication and battery life while providing compatibility with Nintendo DS series software.

Nikkei.com reports that the screens for the Nintendo 3DS “will likely be no larger than 4 inches”. The 3D effects for the Nintendo 3DS are currently speculated to be based on auto-stereoscopic imagery generated by LCDs with parallax barrier technology. According to Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, the Nintendo 3DS will likely consist of autostereoscopic 3D LCD panels made by Sharp. An announcement by Sharp of a new 3.4-inch autostereoscopic touchscreen on April (shortly after the announcement of the Nintendo 3DS) has led to speculation that it will be the same screen used in the Nintendo 3DS.

It had also been speculated that Nintendo 3DS would use displays by Hitachi which would make sense since company furnishes LCD screens for the Nintendo DSi, and already produces a mobile phone (the Wooo H001) in Japan featuring a 3.1-inch autostereoscopic display. However, there are reports that both companies will be making screens for the Nintendo 3DS.

The big thing about this product is that it will provide 3D without the need or use of 3D glasses thus the special screens provided as in the screens themselves will be the 3D glasses part. This is still very new technology or a new direction of technology that is not perfected or done correctly yet but still it is an attempt especially since the 3D movement is in full swing and affect with other companies such as Sony jumping on that attempt.

More news and information about the Nintendo 3DS will be announced and shown at the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3. As of now, very little is known but it is still getting notice since this will be the first handheld to get the 3D makeover.