So Nintendo announced a new handheld today. The world recoiled with shock!

Not really. Nintendo is always releasing a new handheld. Honestly though, they’re really good at making handhelds, so it’s okay.

If you’ve been paying attention to any of the gaming news blogs today, you know that Nintendo announced via their Japanese web site that there’s a new handheld on the way, tentatively titled the Nintendo 3DS. The console is going to use its two screens to create a 3D effect without the use of glasses. It’s going to be an all new line of handhelds, similar to how the Game Boy Advance was the successor to the original Game Boy.

If you remember a while back, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was quoted in Asahi Shinbum that their next handheld would feature rumble and motion sensing technology, which Nintendo vehemently denied afterwards. Both of those features are to be included on the 3DS.

Now, when Nintendo first announced the DS way back when, I thought it was a horrible idea. I thought the two screens would be a gimmick at best, but once the system launched I quickly ate my words. I’ve bought the Phat, the Lite, and last week, the DSi. It’s a fantastic system, and between cargo pockets or a messenger bag, it goes everywhere with me.

That’s why I’m looking at the 3DS with a lot of optimism. Nintendo is not the kind of company to half-ass a new piece of hardware. If they’re going to replace the DS, they’re replacing it because they’ve got something amazing.

Kotaku posted a short video today of Japanese DSiWare titled 3D Hidden Picture, a game that uses the Dsi’s cameras to track movement and shift the perspective of the image accordingly. It’s very impressive, and the thought of an entire system built around something like that is very impressive. Imagine the environment not being a box like in the video and playing something like Zelda, where you can rotate your system to take in the scenery. Or even something like a stealth game, where you need to rotate the system to peek around corners. Holy crap, imagine linking the system to a stealth game on Wii, and using the 3DS as some kind of gadget to let you look around corners and hack into security cameras. THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS.

People are already yelling “GIMMICK GIMMICK” and saying it’s going to fail, but let me remind you that people are stupid and I’m always right. Nintendo has come out with some ideas that have been pretty bonkers and outside the box these past few years, and they’ve all worked. Ignore the people who say things like “My Wii has an inch of dust on it” because those people are apparently too cool for school and forgot how to have fun. They’re too worried about what Johnny Internet is going to think if they’re not hardcore.

We don’t know much about the 3DS now, and we won’t until E3. Until then, I’m pleased with what I know so far, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it’s all implemented. I’d suggest everyone put down their torches and pitchforks until then.