Reports out of Japanese newspapers Saturday indicate that Nintendo is preparing to announce a new version of the Nintendo DS hardware in the coming days, one that adds non-gaming functions to the popular portable machine.

Nikkei Net, the online arm of Japan's foremost economic newspaper, reports that the new model will launch this year in Japan and include a camera and music playback. Nikkei's take on the new machine is that Nintendo is moving outside the boundaries of the "game industry" and attempting to create a device that will compete with more general electronics like cell phones.

The machine's wireless communication functionality will also be strengthened by allowing it to connect to "information terminals," possibly allowing a user to find nearby train stations or restaurants using his DS.

Nikkei does point out that the camera function of DS could be integrated with gameplay, by allowing games to use the photos taken with the hardware.

The online version of the story omits a line that is present in a photograph of the print story, which says that the new model will cost less than 20,000 yen (about $188). The DS Lite costs 16,800 yen ($158) in Japan.

Nikkei says the new model will go on sale in Japan first, this year, and that a U.S. release is "being considered."

And there might be more to this new model – another version of the Nikkei report, since removed, apparently ran on a site called Monex and said that the hardware would have larger screens and be able to transfer data from the Wii or an SD card.

Note that we may not be getting the full picture of the device's capabilities from these reports; note also that the current version of the story does not confirm the two data points in the above paragraph.

Nintendo will hold media briefings in Tokyo and San Francisco on Thursday. Simultaneous media events generally mean some big piece of news is to be announced, so this would seem like a likely topic of discussion.

[via NeoGAF]

Image: Wired.com