Nintendo's David Yarnton

I would be looking to put a pre-order down. Very much so.

I know a lot of people talk about companies pushing pre-orders. We're looking at it very much for us to be able to help us in production and understand demand and make sure we can satisfy everyone.

Actually, if you have the 3D, Wi-Fi and other functions off it's longer than five hours. You're looking at a totally new piece of equipment that's doing lots of different things compared to previous products. It's a different ball-game. But if you don't have the 3D on it will be longer than five hours.

That's right. But with any product in this form we encourage people not to spend hours and hours and hours playing. They need to have a break in-between. At that stage they can recharge it.

What you've got to do is give the opportunity not just for our customers to have all sorts of different experiences but also for the developers and publishers, who will push things. Some people will use all the features and functions as they develop something and that will appeal to certain people. It may not push someone else's buttons.

Then there will be another game or product that doesn't use everything because it's aimed at a particular segment. But we've got to make sure we've got something there that can be pushed to the limit and can give the opportunity. I remember going back years when we launched SNES, and right near the end Donkey Kong Country came out. Suddenly near the end developers started to get to grips with it and some fantastic product came out.

We're only early days with this. We haven't even launched. 25th March is still to come. There are a few people out there who may not even be developing at the moment that are going, wow, what can we do with this? We will probably find things we didn't even expect.

That's the great thing about the 3DS. You don't just get the piece of hardware. You get seven augmented reality cards that give you the opportunity to try it. To me it's really interesting, taking the game, or the concept, into the environment you're in. I can see the potential in areas away from gameplay.

It could be museums and art galleries, where people take their 3DS along and there's an augmented reality card there that brings what they're looking at into much more life in a 3D way.

I can see people doing that. Sometimes you look at static museum displays, but with this you could bring it to life. They'll be doing their Spot Pass or Street Pass at the same time.

A simple analogy to use is, with the Street Pass, you're out and about. It's out on the street. It's everywhere. A spot is specific. A spot is somewhere. A spot pass is a point. It could be a Wi-Fi hotspot. It could be at home where you've got a Wi-Fi at home. That's where you'll get a Spot Pass and you'll download content. Street Pass is more mobile where you're going past someone and data swaps between 3DS units.