Nintendo plans e-reader functions for 3DS

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has revealed some of the company's further plans for the upcoming 3DS handheld.

Speaking to the Nikkei, he mentioned that e-reader features may be included. "As you carry it with you while out and about, it will seek out and automatically connect with wireless LAN spots, and download information," he said.

"We're thinking about functionality where it will automatically acquire newspaper and magazine articles." This would seem to be an extension of the current DS range's burgeoning use as a wireless internet and marketing platform in Japan.

Despite these possible design decisions, Iwata is adamant that Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad had not been inspirations. "I personally am a user of iPhones and iPods," he told Venture Beat. "I think of what these mean to me as a competitor. But I never thought of them when we were designing the 3DS.

"If some people think that this might be the answer to the iPhone, then that should simply be the result. That is, it was not our goal to do that, but if people think that, it is the result. We never try to think in terms of any competitive product or company.

"If you do that, you just focus on a certain narrow area. Rather, we should think much more broadly... If you say it is a solution against what Apple offers today, it is also a solution against all of the other competition."

While Sony's PSP range is currently the only other competitor in the handheld market, rumours abound that a new model might be in the works. Last week, Capcom boss and former Sony man Derek Reeves told GamesIndustry.biz that the PlayStation manufacturer must release a new handheld soon if it wants to compete with the 3DS.