Nintendo to continue DS support past 3DS launch

Yes, the incredible-looking 3DS will be out by March next year, but that doesn't mean your current DS is bin food just yet.

Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has pledged to deliver hit titles well into the next year with the aim of continuing to leverage the handheld's astronomical user base.

"Already in next year, we will launch Nintendo 3DS, but for the existing Nintendo DS family of devices, while we'll intensify the legal and technical countermeasures against the likes of [piracy devices] MagiCom, we'd like to change the situation by creating hit titles [and] leveraging upon the already existing huge installed base of the hardware," Iwata told investors recently.

This isn't the first time Iwata has declared Nintendo's aim to deliver more big games for the platform. He previously said that it was the lack of such titles - and not entirely the rise of rampant piracy - that was to blame for the drastic decline in DS software sales.