Recently we heard rumours stating an October release date for Nintendo’s autostereoscopic 3DS handheld in the UK. Today, according to latest reports, Nintendo 3DS might turn out more powerful than a Wii…well is it possible?
According to Engadget, Nintendo’s next portable will be as strong as a current-gen home console, as hints the latest rumours out of IGN and Eurogamer, but it won’t have a Tegra chip unfortunately. Multiple sovereign sources now say that NVIDIA’s SoC is out of the autostereoscopic picture as the 3D handheld nears completion, and further confirm that the project codename is “CTR”, which strikes a chord of a certain Nintendo motherboard. However, lets figure out the reality when it comes out as a official note.
Well Nintendo has been always well-known for their capacity to keep completely silent about their approaching hardware, so can’t comment when the actual 3DS will will be launching. But talking about the October leak, that’s well within the original “before March 2011″ timeframe, and apparently a surprise for game publishers currently planning software for Holiday 2010. Besides, since Europe typically gets Nintendo systems after the US and Japan, some lucky ones might get the system even earlier, well that might come out clear at the E3.
Talking about Tegra, there’s already been a lot of creative conjecture concerning whose hardware will be packed into Nintendo’s next-generation handheld. After Nvidia, now reports claim that even its not Tegra. Interestingly, IGN’s sources also claim that Nintendo is planning to seriously increase the processing power of the 3DS, not only over previous DS consoles, but also over the Wii.
This wouldn’t be particularly hard, given that the Wii is barely any more powerful than a couple of GameCubes strapped together. However, IGN reports that the 3DS will actually be closer to the Xbox 360 in terms of power, suggesting that there’s possibly a half-decent graphics chip inside the device.
As always, none of this is official yet, but Nintendo is expected to reveal the 3DS at E3 next week. The company has invited the public to tune in for an announcement on the Web on 15 June, which could well be the first unveiling of the 3DS.
Tags: e3, eurogamer, gamecubes, Motherboard, nintendo systems, Nvidia, Xbox 360