UPDATE: Nintendo has contacted Gameplanet saying that further information about the local release of the 3DS will be revealed at a press event on the 8th of February.

ORIGINAL: Nintendo has priced and dated its handheld 3D device, the Nintendo 3DS. The system will be on shelves on the 25th of March in Europe and the 27th of March in the US. We’ve contacted Nintendo to finalise the 3DS’ street date in New Zealand and Australia, but as we will be using European 3DS hardware, it’s likely to fall between those dates.

The 3DS will cost USD $249.99, approximately NZD $325. That said, the current generation DSi retails at around NZD $329, so it’s likely to be substantially more.

In addition to playing glasses-free 3D games, the 3DS is capable of taking 3D photos and displaying 3D movies.

Between the launch date and the E3 Expo in early June, more than 30 games will be available for the 3DS. First party Nintendo titles include Pilotwings Resort, nintendogs + cats and Steel Driver. Other Nintendo games still in development include The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, Kid Icarus Uprising, and new instalments in the Mario Kart, Animal Crossing and Paper Mario series.

Third party titles include Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked from Atlus; Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition and Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D from Capcom; Madden NFL Football from EA SPORTS; The Sims 3 from Electronic Arts; Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D from Konami; LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars from LucasArts; Ridge Racer 3D and Dual Pen Sports from Namco Bandai; Super Monkey Ball 3D, Thor: God of Thunder and Crush 3D from SEGA; Bust-A-Move Universe from Square Enix; Samurai Warriors Chronicles and Dead or Alive Dimensions from Tecmo Koei; and Asphalt 3D, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Shadow Wars, Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D, Rayman 3D and Rabbids Travel in Time from Ubisoft.

We’ll update this article when we hear back from Nintendo’s local team as to final dates and pricing here.