Nintendo to release 3DS by March 2011, to provide 3D gaming without glasses [Update]

Update: Nintendo just sent through the official English translation of the announcement press release. Get it after the break.

Update 2: Apparently it's got analog sticks and a Sharp screen.

Original: Nintendo's just announced Nintendo 3DS for a release in March next year.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata made the announcement in a just-released investor report. Press release is here.

It says it'll allow you to play 3D games with the "naked eye," as well as it being backwards compatible.

More information has been promised from E3 on June 15.

A new DS the new DS model that has been rumoured and speculated on since the start of the year.

Only in January, Iwata said in an interview with a Japanese newspaper that the next iteration of DS will have "highly detailed graphics".

Here's the full announcement in English:

Nintendo Co., Ltd.(Minami-ward of Kyoto-city, President Satoru Iwata) will launch “Nintendo 3DS”(temp) during the fiscal year ending March 2011, on which games can be enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses.

“Nintendo 3DS”(temp) is going to be the new portable game machine to succeed “Nintendo DS series”, whose cumulative consolidated sales from Nintendo amounted to 125million units as of the end of December 2009, and will include backward compatibility so that the software for Nintendo DS series, including the ones for Nintendo DSi, can also be enjoyed.

We are planning to announce additional details at E3 show, which is scheduled to be held from June 15, 2010 at Los Angeles in the U.S.