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No big surprise there - DS and Wii could connect, after all, though the only things I remember being able to actually do with that was download demos off the Nintendo Channel and acquire your Mii for use in Personal Trainer: Walking.

I just hope it's put to good use

If you can't connect two U controllers, why would you want to connect the 3DS?

There's a few games that use it. From the ones I have, Band Hero let's you select your playlist as you play along on the DS, control stage lights/etc on another mode and an extra gameplay element as a roadie battle (bought it to test these things), and in My Word Coach you could write letters in the DS. But there are others.

this is exactly why not having a second stick on the 3DS was dumb.... it could have been an easy second controler (still lacking 2 shoulder buttons though).

My enthusiasm for the 3DS had faded after I played Pilotwings and SSF4 in demo form in a few different stores. When I broke down and bought one, I become more and more impressed with it with each passing day. My eyes seem to have evolved so I can play all day with the 3D turned to max, too--and a game like Legend of Zelda actually looks like I'm staring at a world through a window instead of looking at a game on a screen. I fucking love this console!

With the announcement that the 3DS and the Wii U (name doesn't seem that weird anymore, either.....) working together, my enthusiasm has grown just that much more. I think people that buy the 3DS are going to be tempted to buy a Wii U to see the functionality and people who eventually buy the Wii U are going to be tempted to go back and buy a 3DS, as well.

Nintendo tried this back in the day with the Gameboy Advance. I actually had a Gameboy Advance but I never felt compelled to go out and buy the mandatory cables to connect it to the Gamecube. I'm surprised Nintendo didn't try it (and if they did, I'm unaware) with the Wi-Fi enabled DS. I guess, with the arrival of the 3DS and the imminent arrival of the Wii U, they feel the time is right and they have the right amount of power.

I was expecting more connectivity for the Wii/DS; it was one of the reasons I bought a DS. I don't expect them to do any kind of special interaction between the 3DS and Wii U that can't be done with the U controller itself. I remember reading a few weeks ago that Nintendo didn't pursue the connectivity between handheld/console due to to small overlaping ownership, and that this would change with the Wii U since everyone would have the handheld.

If anything, the announcement of the Wii U has decreased my buying intentions of the 3DS, since Wii U offers a strong portable like gaming in the household. 3DS needs to start offering something new to get my interest again.

You make a good point.  That Wii U controller can do some impressive stuff.  I guess it's a good thing that the 3DS has so much of a head start.  It will (hopefully) take advantage of the time and convince gamers to shell out money based on its own merits and then have some compelling reasons for the 3DS user to upgrade.  It might not work the other way around.  Time will tell, huh?

Time will tell. They've got a whole year to impress me either way round, I can wait.

I was just thinking what advantage does the 3DS have over the controller: 3D, dual-screen, processing power and storage?

• If they start making 3D Wii U games, they could sell the 3DS as a cheap way to enjoy glassless 3D, or they could just release a controller with a 3D screen.
• For dual screen, you'd have three screens to attend...
• Then there's processing power. With this it might be able to overcome the problems of multiplayer on Wii U, sharing the processing load between the console and additional handhelds. I have no clue if this is possible at all.
• The 3DS has flash/SD storage (+processor), you could be able to take small Wii U games with you making them truly portable!