Reports suggest that prolific graphics developer nVidia has won a contract to work on an evolutionary iteration of Nintendo's DS brand...

First of all, we'd like to intimate that this is pure rumour for the moment and is no way confirmed on any level. Nevertheless, publication Bright Side Of News seems to have it on good authority that nVidia are working on hardware for a successor to Nintendo's hugely popular DS system.

The following snippet from the report best explains the nitty-gritty of the deal.

"As the time passed by, Nintendo started to work on the successor of its handheld console with a debut planned for late 2010 [Tokyo Game Show?]. According to our confidential sources, Nintendo is going to use Tegra System-on-Chip processor for the successor of DS/DSi handheld console. Unlike the current design, nVidia offered a single-chip proposal to Nintendo, a company famous for keeping the hardware platform absolutely simple.

"Given the fact that Nintendo DS hardware is based upon 16-bit and 32-bit ARM cores, it looks like Next-Gen DS could be backwards compatible with the DS application library. According to our sources, all of the apps that came for old DS could run on a single ARM11 core, yet alone the next-gen CorTex-A9-based Tegra, leaving graphics subsystem to do "something smarter"."

Basically, it seems the rumour is suggesting that a 'next-gen' DS will untilse a single chip solution as opposed to the dual ARM cores seen in the current DS. Nintendo are of course notable for using efficient, 'smart' graphics technology in consoles such as Gamecube and Wii. One version of the Tegra chip developed by nVidia is currently used in Microsoft's Zune HD, allowing 720p output.

The report suggests a new DS won't make a press debut until late next year, so we don't expect Nintendo to confirm anything before then.