3DS is Nintendo’s ‘biggest launch’ since ’04

Nintendo has squashed any doubts that its 3DS handheld is just an extension of the current DS platform.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Nintendo America’s president has described the new handheld – expected to hit the market by March 2011 – as the firm’s biggest launch since the original DS in 2004.

We have ideas of what we want to bring to the consumer that we can’t do with the current [DS model].", Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.

The Nintendo 3DS for us is our next handheld platform.”

Fils-Aime said that it will be the games for the device which help define the platform, adding that Nintendo will not rely on the handheld’s technology to keep players interested.

When announced last month, the firm said the device would let players experience 3D displays, but without the need for cumbersome glasses.

Fundamentally, this business is about software, not hardware. Software is what drives engagement by the consumer,” Fils-Aime said.

For us technology is not the end, it’s the means to an end, which is around a great consumer experience.”