Iwata talks about post-DS handheld

By Tom Bramwell Published 6 January, 2010

Plus: New Zelda out this year, Vitality too.

Satoru Iwata has told a Japanese newspaper that the next generation of Nintendo handhelds will have to be able to read the movements of players.

Although the Nintendo president declined to comment on when the company's first post-DS handheld might be released, he said, in comments translated by Kotaku, that it would need "highly detailed graphics, and it will be necessary to have a sensor with the ability to read the movements of people playing".

Nintendo is known to be exploring specific options for the hardware on its next, non-DS handheld, which would fit the graphics bill. Eurogamer's Digital Foundry reported on insider information and analysis late last year.

Today's Japanese newspaper piece also stated that the next Legend of Zelda game, briefly trailed at E3 last year and as-yet unnamed, will be released this year, although it did not specify whether it was referring to Japan or the whole world.

We should also expect the Vitality Sensor too, apparently, for which there will be a press conference this July followed by a release as soon as possible.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • JohnnyWashnGo #1 2 years ago

    Why is detecting the movements of a gamer suddenly necessary to gaming?

    Unless he is talking about bowel movements when I playing Zelda on the loo ;)

  • wizlon #2 2 years ago

    No one cares about the vitality sensor, please stop talking about it. Zelda on the other hand... please go on.

  • originaljohn #3 2 years ago

    He's probably talking about a high res camera.

    And I care about the vitality sensor, maybe because it might have the potential to widen the gaming market.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #4 2 years ago

    I wonder what they come up with Zelda this time. As much as I loved Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess maybe tried a bit too hard to be similar to it. Not that it was a bad game but it didn't turn out as epic as I hoped.

  • Eraser #5 2 years ago

    With the emergence of augmented reality games, I'm sure this is a market Nintendo wishes to explore. GPS, a compass, Wii Remote Plus like motion detection and a high resolution camera on a handheld gaming device are definitely cool tools to toy around with.
    Edited by 1 at 06/01/10 @ 09:39

  • Toothball #6 2 years ago

    Oh, not more moving to play games. I'm starting to like my PSP Go a lot more. That has buttons on it, and you can play it on the bus. What a novel idea!

  • viper_h #7 2 years ago

    I'm sick of Nintendo and all their gimmick controls.

    After getting Spirit Tracks for christmas and desperately trying to blow into the microphone while killing a boss, I'm not sure if I can take more crappy gimmicks that don't get picked up by the console properly.

    Give me buttons and a stick any day.

  • Toothball #8 2 years ago

    @viper_h

    I've taken to just rubbing my thumb over the mic whenever a game asks me to blow at it these days. It was amusing enough a few years ago, but it's a bit tired these days.

  • Cid #9 2 years ago

    I'm not big on the microphone use in Spirit Tracks either, but the stylus controls are fine. The touch screen in general has been a success if you ask me.

  • JahB #10 2 years ago

    Let it be the Game Boy. Single display, quality d-pad, SNES style button layout, and a portable zelda game on the quality level of windwaker...

    /daydream

  • Bander #11 2 years ago

    The next Nintendo handheld's gimmick is going to be a pedometer then?

  • electrolite #12 2 years ago

    So, like the Ipod Touch then?

    I've been hoping for a while now that Nintendo would release two handhelds, a toy-like follow-up to the DS with some new control scheme, and a more expensive version based on the GC and traditional controls. Just a dream though, given the presence (and failure relative to expectations) of the PSP and the encroaching of the Ipod Touch

  • SlipstreamDrifter #13 2 years ago

    i wish all you short sighted people would stop bashing the like of wii, ds etc. the first thing to note is that they arent aimed at you so dont worry too much about them. no B is that they're currently helping to expand elecTRONic "gaming" to new groups, and eventually to a wider true mainstream audience and hopefully lower prices blah blah blah. bla ah abla BOOBS etc.

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