Nintendo 3DS internal photos, courtesy of FCC

[MattP]

http://kotaku.com/5540446/nintendo-3ds-going-widescreen

Despite what Kotaku says, this looks like a development board (rather than a test bed - compare to the GBA development board http://shiggsy.gbadev.org/unit.php?unit=10), so I would say that the top 16:9 and bottom 4:3 screens are here to stay.

Here's a list of specs that I am guessing at:

Same button count as DS (and all digital) except for an analogue nub (similar to PSP) and possibly additional analogue sholder buttons
Stereo speakers
Top touch screen as well this time (I believe I can see a control cable leading to a touch overlay)
Support for DS cartridges
Wi-Fi but no bluetooth
Initially available in at least white (educated guess here based on the analogue nub)

Again, all guesses! It will be interesting to see how Nintendo squishes all those buttons in with an analogue nub and prevents overcrowding. I'm guessing the reason for the analogue nub is because this will (again) be a system that fold in half (surprise, surprise!) and anything else would get in the way.

[JskieXL]

So how "final" do you think this is, i.e. what's likely to change between this development board and the finished system, if anything? My first impression was that this was probably very early and experimental, but if it's being sent to developers to test their games on (as with the GBA dev board in the article you linked), it can't be likely to change that much, right?

[MattP]

If this is the development board, it should be pretty much final. Nintendo wouldn't change the board in any noticeable way this close to the public unveiling. There would just be some minor component swaps, perhaps. But all of the major components here can be assumed to be what will show up in the retail device.

For comparison, the GBA dev board I linked to was exactly like the retail hardware (just laid out differently).

The reason Nintendo lays out the dev boards like this is to avoid someone leaking the final hardware design. So they don't even give developers bare circuitry in the correct shape. (with the exception of perhaps a couple of close partner studios)

[MattP]

OK, let's play the press conference predictions game! NOTE: These are my guesses, press conference hasn't started yet!

- $249 price point
- Available in Japan and North America by Christmas this year, in PAL regions early next year
- Reggie, Satoru Iwata, and Shigeru Miyamoto will make an appearance
- New Mario and Zelda games at or near launch
- Greater focus on the DSiWare service (maybe even a portable Virtual Console? OH PLEASE OH PLEASE! - even just the ability to download old Game Boy games would be great to see)
- Clamshell design (I would like to see a slider of some sort, but knowing Nintendo, they'll stick with the more durable and familiar form factor)
- Ports of GameCube games

[MattP]

I'm trying to not be too optimistic about the reports about it being way more powerful than the current handhelds, but then I remind myself that the current DS platform is six year old technology! The PSP is just as old. It's crazy how long we've been waiting for a real update from Nintendo.

[MattP]

Well, Nintendo officially just won me back! Awesome to see they are finally recognising the core gamers they have been neglecting. Goldeneye, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Kid Icarus, all in one conference!

Also, the 3D movies feature of the 3DS was completely unexpected by me!

[glitch]

Here's a video!

I'm interested to see first hand how it works, but I'm not impressed by 3D films at the cinema, so I'm not really expecting it to wow me.

[JskieXL]

Well, I think we can safely conclude that Nintendo have outdone Microsoft this year.

[MattP]

There are tons of screenshots at Nintendo's E3 site: http://e3.nintendo.com/3ds/

Looking at those Metal Gear Solid screenshots, I'd say we're not in fixed function pipeline land anymore, Toto!

[MattP]

Better material is available at  http://press.nintendo.com/E32010/

Username is 'guest', password is same as always.