2ds closeup

Early this morning, Nintendo of America announced that it will be bringing a new model of its Nintendo DS portable games console to the market. Meet the 2DS! 

The console will play all 3DS games and comes complete with the exact same features, except of course the top 3-D screen. Nintendo also revealed that its premium Wii U console will be getting a price cut.

Full details after the jump.

In a move that surprised pretty much everyone, the Japanese gaming giant has announced that the newest addition to the DS family would have its glitzy 3-D features removed. The current models – the 3DS and 3DSLL (or XL in the West), namely – both feature a 3-D screen whose “volume” can be controlled via a slider on the side of the unit. Since its launch, however, Nintendo has stressed that the 3-D effect should be switched off when gamers younger than seven use the console, and remarked this morning that this would give all kids the chance to enjoy the 3DS’s rich software library.

While this may well be the case, many would also suggest that this new hardware shows Nintendo’s admission that jumping head-first into 3-D technology was perhaps not the best business move the company has ever made, and that as well as few games making effective use of the 3-D effect, the screen itself adds to the overall cost of the console, something that is reflected in the 2DS’s cheaper price point of US$129.99 compared to the 3DS which averages at around $174.99.

The console itself is, as Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime describes it, “a standard 3DS laid all the way flat, and with the depth slider all the way down. Everything else is there in the system.” Unlike all previous DS consoles, the 2DS does not feature a clamshell design and is instead always “open”, giving it quite the footprint. You certainly won’t be slipping this thing into your pocket any time soon! The thumb slider, d-pad and A,B, X & Y face buttons have also been shifted up on the front of the console so that the user’s thumbs now rest adjacent to the top screen rather than the bottom as before.

▼ Here’s the 2DS in all its quirky glory.

2ds red

▼ Red not floating your boat? How about blue?2ds blue

The new portable is due to go on sale from October 12 (in the US at least–we’ll be sure to bring you worldwide release dates as they come in).

In other news that will no doubt interest the thousands of gamers who have been eyeing the console but unsure about making the jump, Nintendo also announced that it will be cutting the price of its premium Wii U console to just $299.99 as of September 20, which also happens to be the date that the HD remake of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and the previously leaked Zelda-themed Wii U console will go on sale.

It’s a good day to be a Nintendo fan, rocketeers!

Source: IGN via The Escapist 
Images via Nintendo