Nintendo's next dedicated gaming system is well under-development and is code-named 'NX', Satoru Iwata confirmed today.

The titbit came during this morning's conference which outlined Nintendo's plan to enter the smart device market with its IP. Rather than distracting from Nintendo's focus on dedicated gaming systems, Iwata reassured that the company's foray into the smartphone market has only strengthened its passion for making games consoles:

"On the contrary, now that we have decided how we will make use of smart devices, we have come to hold an even stronger passion and vision for the dedicated video game system business than ever before. Nintendo has made this decision because we have concluded that the approach of making use of smart devices is a rational way for us to encourage even more people around the world to recognize the great value of the wonderful game software available on our dedicated game systems."

No specific details were divulged about NX, other than it being a "brand-new concept". Nintendo refused even to confirm whether it was a handheld or home console, although that might not be terribly surprising given Iwata's previous statements about wishing to bridge the gap between handheld and console, at least in terms of OS and architecture.

What was confirmed, though, was that the over-arching Nintendo membership system that it is developing with new partner DeNA - which will soon cover Wii U, 3DS, PCs and smart devices - will be very much at the core of NX.

Iwata-san stated that we should hope to hear more about NX sometime next year.