Confirmed: Touchscreen, Portability Of Next Nintendo Controller

It's about as official as official gets: Nintendo's next console will have a six-inch touchscreen and be a portable console by itself.

In addition to those details, Nikkei (subscription required) also reports that the controller will have a camera that players can use to import images to create characters in-game with. The publication speculates that the console could come out in mid-2012 at the earliest.

Nintendo's E3 press conference will be streaming live here at gameinformer.com as soon as it gets rolling on Tuesday morning. Expect the official word then.

[Nikkei via Gamespot]