Nintendo bullish on Wii U, 3DS

digital distribution announcement during the Q&A portion of an investors' briefing, in Tokyo, Wired reports.

“[We] have not designed [Nintendo 3DS and Wii U] to be mere improved versions of their predecessors,” Iwata said. “We have designed them so that they can realise what has been impossible.”

Despite the 3DS' middling success worldwide and a seemingly collective sense of apathy, confusion, or possibly both, about the prospects of the Wii U, Iwata seemed optimistic about their prospects, The Escapist reports.

The proof would be in the software, he said, just as "not so many people were able to comprehend the potential" of the Wii and DS when Nintendo had merely been talking about the apps instead of demonstrating them, the same would hold true for the Wii U and 3DS.

However, Nintendo wasn't ready to play its cards just yet. "[As] people in the industry have observed what we have done in the past, if we prematurely disclose our development information, it is possible that products with similar concepts could be launched before Nintendo itself can finalise and launch the products."

Games for the Wii U, Nintendo's late-2012 home console, will be released simultaneously at retail stores and as digital downloads when the console launches later this year, Times Live notes.

Customers will be able to buy games on disc from brick-and-mortar stores or directly from Nintendo's online eShop.