Nintendo to "expand our digital-distribution business"

Evidence is growing that the upcoming Nintendo 3DS may see Nintendo fully embrace digital distribution.

While the console-maker has dabbled in downloadable games with WiiWare and DSIWare, these had seemed very much secondary to traditional physical game sales.

According to website Siliconera, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata admitted to investors that the company had not fully leveraged the potential of its online stores.

"We are thinking the release of new hardware should be good timing for a dramatic improvement of this situation," he said, and boasted of the new handheld's "enhanced wireless communication function."

While he did not detail the nature of the downloadable content, he did describe its method: "Nintendo 3DS will receive various pieces of information automatically if there is a chance of communication while a user carries it even when he or she does not try to start communication pro-actively by unfolding Nintendo 3DS."

By combining Nintendo 3DS with such function, we are now planning to expand our digital-distribution type of business."

However, this may not mean solely game downloads - Iwata has previously claimed that the 3DS will be capable of automatically downloading "newspaper and magazine articles."