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Nintendo announced launch details Wednesday for its 3DS, the first portable game device with a 3D screen. The 3DS is the biggest upgrade the DS handheld has seen since it first debuted in 2004. It's been gaining buzz because it doesn't require the user to wear 3D glasses.

Transcript

Nintendo Details the 3DS Launch Date, Price IDG Martin Williams: Nintendo announced launch details Wednesday for its 3DS, the first portable game device with a 3D Screen. Satoru Iwata (President, Nintendo): It will launch on February 26 next year. It will cost ¥25,000 {US$298}. It will launch in America, Europe, and Australia in March next year. Details will be announced by local Nintendo subsidiaries at a later date. Martin: And that will be available in two colors Aqua blue and cosmos black. The 3DS is the biggest upgrade to the DS handheld since it first debut in 2004. It has been getting – because it doesn’t require the user to wear 3D glasses. Instead a filter over the display splits the on screen image and sends a slightly different picture towards the user’s right and left eyes providing the elusion of depth. The launch details came during a Japan news conference that also included news of some of the first 3DS games. Headline titles include CAPCOM’s Resident Evil Revelations, Konami’s Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater and Nintendo’s Ninten Dogs & Cats. In total, Nintendo listed 71 titles underdevelopment for 3DS. Support for Nintendo’s Mii avatar is included with the Mii Studio software just snap a picture and the handheld will do the rest. Nintendo showed a prototype program that also make use of the 3DS cameras to merge people’s faces. Satoru: Combination Camera is still under development, but a lot of people are talking about it within Nintendo. You use the inner and outer camera simultaneously. Have a look at this. This is myself {Iwata} and Myamoto. If you line up the faces and press the shutter button you get “Iwamoto.” Martin: Nintendo is looking to the 3DS to revive interests in its handheld as the news conference was taking place the company slashed its financial forecasts. The company cut its net profit outlook by more than half and lowered its net sales forecast by 21% in part due to the strong Japanese yen and impart because demand for the Wii console and DS is sinking. Nintendo said it helps to sell for million 3DS units and 50 million software titles in the roughly 1 month between its launch and in the end of March next year. In Chiba, Japan this is Martin Williams IDG News Service.