You could make the argument that Nintendo have already done that with the Wii. You could say the console isn't just a video game system with software such as Wii Fit and Wii Vitality making it more than just about video games but interactivity as a whole.
Basically I see Nintendo expanding on the thought of 'human interactivity, not just video games' and the first clue that they are headed in that direction is the rumored features of the 3DS. Nintendo seem to be deigning it around a heightened sense of interactivity, making the experience more visceral, more natural, more real.
I say this because of the following;
- 3D Autostereoscopic 3D screen/s
- Rumble support
On paper these two features seem to be off the shelf parts that anyone could chuck into a product and have a good feature list to sell there device. However it's never that simple with Nintendo. The DS has two screens, a primitive touch screen and a microphone. The combination of which gave us games like Brain Age and Nintendogs. The Wii has very primitive internal hardware compared to it's competitors, it has two accelerometers, two IR light strips, an IR light sensing camera and a speaker. Put all that together and you get titles like Wii Sports and Wii Play that have sold huge amounts and feel completely new and fresh to the player.
3D with rumble is important, with a 3D image on a 2D screen, touching something close to you would have more force feedback than something further away and would greatly add to the experience that Nintendo seem to be trying to create with the system. They want to break down that wall, the screen. They want the game to interact with the player more naturally. They want the player to feel more connected to the game. That's the genius with the Wii, it feels natural and so more people feel comfortable with it.
Nintendo seem to want to continue that and expand upon it. It seems that people right now truly have no idea how the 3DS could possibly be a true next generation system just because it has 3D and are again looking to tech specs. Many are even saying there'll be something more like when Nintendo didn't say anything about the DS touch screen at first. I'm here to say that it's the interactivity of the components we know/are rumored that will be the big draw and that Nintendo will have a hard time conveying that in videos (just like the Wii really, remember playing = believing?).
So in conclusion, Nintendo will continue to break down the wall between us and the game, just as they did with the DS, just as they are doing with Wii (WM+, Vitality Sensor) and just as they are about to do with the 3DS.
