Nintendo 3DS warning: Just being honest, Nintendo exec says

Late last month, Nintendo posted a notice to its Website, warning that the forthcoming 3DS handset could cause children "under the age of six" to experience "a potential impact on the growth" on their eyes. Clearly this was not the most effective way to tout the 3D-capable successor to the Nintendo DS, which has traditionally been very popular among younger users.

But in an interview published today by the Wall Street Journal, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said Nintendo was only being honest.

"We are being proactive about informing our customer, even though it may not necessarily be positive for our sales," Iwata said.

He called the early Nintendo 3DS warning a "precautionary measure," and "did not deny the view that concerns over possible litigation was one of the factors behind the warning," the Journal reported.

The Nintendo 3DS will go on sale in Japan in late February for the equivalent of $300; a US launch is set for March. According to the tech site Ars Technica, the 3DS is set to ship with all manner of accoutrements, including "a charging stand, a stylus, a 2GB SD card for storage, and cards that, when viewed through the front-facing camera, become augmented reality images."

So – three hundred bucks for a 3D, glasses-free experience on a handheld device. Will anyone pay? Nintendo certainly thinks so. According to several reports, Nintendo plans to sell 4 million 3DS units by the end of March, a major-league roll out, no matter which way you slice it.

IN PICTURES: Controversial video games