Nintendo 3DS to Have Its Own App Store? You Bet.

CEOs of EA and Capcom respectively, John Riccitiello and Haruhiro Tsujimoto recently whispered some sweet nothings about Nintendo’s upcoming 3DS in interviews, giving us clues to the future of handheld gaming.

“I will tell you, I’ve seen it; it’s cool,” teased Riccitiello, probably knowing full well he’ll be black-bagged and never seen again if he says anything useful before Nintendo’s E3 presentation. Yeah, we know it’s gonna be cool, John, what else? Tsujimoto, however, has been a bit more bold.

“Of course, it allows us to do things that couldn’t be done until now, so the development staff is showing great interest, but what’s important is how much the users themselves want 3D content. What we’re more looking forward to is the offering of a new business model. Nintendo has been in the hardware business for a long time, and I believe they must be looking closely at Apple’s recent success. We third parties are paying attention to Nintendo’s E3 3DS announcement because of this point as well.”

A Nintendo app store? Well, I mean, it’s not like this is much of a surprise, considering ‘Apple’s recent success’ and even Nintendo’s own Wii- and DSiWare services, but it looks like the 3DS could do away with Nintendo’s time-honoured cartridge system for good. I sure will miss blowing into slots. Considering the DS’ abysmal history of piracy, though, I guess I don’t blame them for the choice – assuming they’re making the choice. Tsujimoto might just be having a laugh. Guess we’ll have to wait until E3.

[Via Slashgear]