Nintendo 3DS has been expected to feature advanced hardware inside and has been confirmed to be a completely new generation portable video game system from Nintendo. Although few know the actual facts about its performance and capabilities, according to unofficial information the 3DS may be more powerful than the company’s console for the living room, Nintendo Wii, and its performance may be compared to PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

According to anonymous game developers, who have experienced 3DS in its current form, the console “has processing capabilities that far exceed the Nintendo Wii” and bring the device with abilities that are close to HD consoles such as Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 or Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3, reports IGN web-site. With computing power higher compared to Wii, it is more than likely that the 3DS will be able to support games not currently available in the PlayStation Portable, something that will slowdown sales of the latter even more considerably.

Unfortunately, it is unknown what hardware will power Nintendo 3DS, apart from the fact that it will likely use stereo-3D screen from Sharp. There were reports that it could be Nvidia Corp.’s Tegra system-on-chip, but the latest information points to a proprietary graphics core designed by a Japanese company, according to a report by Eurogamer. One thing that can be expected safely is that 3DS will still use ARM-architecture based chips in order to sustain compatibility with games developed for the DS console.

In fact, advanced processing power of the 3DS can point to the fact that Nintendo Wii will be replaced with a console that will also be more powerful than the PS3 or Xbox 360. Essentially, this means that the next-gen non-portable console from Nintendo will actually support high-definition gaming.

Nintendo did not comment on the news-story.

Tags: Nintendo, 3DS, Wii, Playstation, Xbox