No 3D Wii 2, Nintendo Says

Nintendo's newest handheld may have shattered sales records, but don't count on the company bringing its 3D technology to home consoles anytime soon.

In an interview with CNN, Nintendo developer Hideki Konno said that Nintendo is unlikely to repeat its portable 3D venture in its home consoles. The reason, he said, lies in the glasses I think at Nintendo, we realize that any sort of goggle-type 3-D technology was not going to work, Konno said. In order to make 3-D technology viable with video games, we thought we needed to have glasses-free 3-D.

Unlike the 3D technology featured in movie theaters and televisions, the screen in the 3DS functions without the need for 3D glasses. Expensive and sometimes cumbersome, 3D glasses present their own slew of problems. Adding the technology to home consoles would involve many more considerations, costs and risk -- problems that Nintendo has avoided so far with its self-enclosed portable.

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime doesn't see much hope for the chances of a 3D Wii successor. Glasses-free is a big deal. We've not said publicly what the next thing for us will be in the home console space, but based on what we've learned on 3-D, likely, that won't be it, he said.