Wii U in 3D is possible, says Nintendo

Wii U will be capable of displaying in 3D, according to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

Iwata referenced the possibility of 3D support for the Wii U in a recent interview with Mercury News.

"If you are going to connect Wii U with a home TV capable of displaying 3D images, technologically, yes, it is going to be possible, but that's not the area we are focusing on," Iwata said.

"When it comes to the home console, it depends upon the availability of 3D TV sets at home, which, unfortunately, is not expanding enough. And rather than pouring a lot of energy into that kind of area, with the Wii U we'd like to focus more on each Wii U owner being able to have an equal opportunity to enjoy it."

Nintendo made similar comments regarding the Wii and HD TV support in 2006. The lack of HD began to hurt the system later in its life cycle as developers couldn't port HD games to the system as easily.

Having 3D functionality built into the Wii U would enable Nintendo to future-proof the system as 3D TV sales increase and the first line of glasses-free TVs begin to release over the next few years.

The Wii U is said to be 50% more powerful than current systems like the PS3 and Xbox 360, though Wii U will not support DVD or Blu-Ray movie playback.

The Wii U will be available worldwide in 2012.

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