Next DS to feature motion sensors, Zelda Wii due in October

The Nintendo DS just enjoyed a record-setting year of sales in the US, but Nintendo already has plenty of ideas for a successor. In the aftermath to the company's holiday sales update yesterday, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata dropped a handful of details on the company's next handheld, as well as its upcoming Zelda and Vitality Sensor Wii games, to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

According to the report, as translated by GameSpot, Iwata told the paper that the DS successor could be expected to feature a "high level of visual quality," as well as sensors to read a player's movements. However, gamers shouldn't expect the system to arrive anytime soon. Iwata mentioned the current DS lineup's record sales in 2009, "so we are not currently talking about [the next handheld's release]."

Moving onto the company's Wii software lineup, the paper also reported that the next Wii iteration of Zelda is planned for release at the end of October. Nintendo has previously said the game was "targeted" for 2010, with producer Eiji Aonuma teasing a new approach to the series that might be shown off as early as the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo (taking place June 15-17).

Finally, the paper reported that Nintendo is working to launch the Wii Vitality Sensor peripheral as soon as possible, with pulse-reading games expected for July.