Nintendo 3DS due in Japan on February 26

Nintendo held a press conference in Japan earlier today and announced (PDF) that the Nintendo 3DS handheld game console will be released on February 26, 2011 in the country. Several gaming enthusiasts and technology industry folks were aiming for its release during holiday season - Christmas time. Nintendo's next-generation handheld game console 3DS will be first start shipping in Japan for 25,000 YEN (Rs. 13,400 approx.).  The handheld console would be available in U.S. and Europe region from March 2011 or later.

The most novel part about the handheld Nintendo 3DS console is that one can enjoy 3D content on it without using any special 3D glasses. A week back, we reported that this handheld console will have two 266MHz ARM11 architecture based processors and one GPU along with 64MB RAM and 1.5GB of flash storage. Certainly, it will serve to be a good competition to Sony's PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Portable Go handhelds.

Nintendo 3DS game console has 3.53-inch upper screen (800x240) capable of showing 3D images with an adjustable 3D Depth Slider. The Stereo Camera that has two lenses is capable of taking 3D images. This would be the first handheld console that will sport Motion Sensor and Gyro sensors. In Sleep mode, Nintendo 3DS would be able to detect wireless access points with SpotPass feature and able to exchange data with other 3DS units with StreetPass feature.

The 3.02-inch touchscreen is capable of showing 320x240 pixel resolution imagery. Nintendo has added 2.4GHz band for Wi-Fi connectivity. In the bundle, Nintendo will add a 2GB memory card and stylus with the console.

At the conference, Nintendo stated that region specific pricing and shipping dates will be announced later separately.