Nintendo Says Next Console Won't Be 3D

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We know that Nintendo has been experimenting with 3D technology for a long time, and now they’ve finally had success with the Nintendo 3DS. Does that mean that the next Nintendo home console will be 3D? No so fast. Nintendo of America president, Reggie Fils-Aime, talking to CNN’s Mark Milian, said that Nintendo’s next home console probably won’t be 3D, considering the importance that Nintendo puts on glasses-free 3D.

Reggie is quoted as saying:

Glasses-free is a big deal. We’ve not said publicly what the next thing for us will be in the home console space, but based on what we’ve learned on 3-D, likely, that won’t be it.

Of course, glasses-free 3D is still far off. Sharp, in Japan, has been a big innovator on this front, and Sharp is actually the manufacturer behind the 3DS’ screen. In Japan, Sharp has released several 3D glasses-free smartphones and other devices, but even there, it has yet to catch on.

Does this mean that we’ll see a Wii HD or something coming sooner, rather than later? Maybe I’m reading too much into Reggie’s comment, but he seemed to imply that they aren’t going to be waiting for glasses-free 3D to become the norm. I believe that means that we’ll see a new and improved version of the Wii – or some other home console – earlier than glasses-free 3D becomes the standard. However, it’s worth noting here that Nintendo originally publicly promised that the Nintendo DS wouldn’t replace the Game Boy line of handheld devices – and we know what happened there.

So far, it seems like Nintendo’s 3DS is a hit for the company. It’s being reported that it’s setting day one records for sales of a handheld in the United States.