Pictures claiming to feature the new and upcoming Nintendo 3DS have been circulating on the Internet today.

The images, which first could be seen on a gaming forum, show a 3DS having an entirely black shell. That version of the upcoming device was displayed off by Nintendo in the last year. The company has also revealed a version of the 3DS sporting a black bezel around the top display and a blue bezel at the bottom of the screen.

Unlike earlier versions of the device, the 3DS in the leaked images seemed to indicate that Nintendo has made the device's start, home, and select buttons flush with the plastic below the handheld's display. Apart from that the device looked unchanged from earlier models which were shown to the press.

Video game site 3DS Buzz was first site to give the report on the leak, which supposedly came from a worker in one of the plants of Nintendo. A video of the device was posted in You Tube earlier today and was promptly downloaded from the site. Other links to the video were working at the time of this writing, however.

Nintendo had not affirmed that the device in the images that got leaked was of its 3D-capable portable gaming device, and had not immediately given any response to the request for comment. But based on its design, and what is known of the handheld so far, it certainly looked as the 3D-capable portable gaming device.

The 3DS is set to be launched for sale in Japan on February 26. Nintendo will sell the product, which gives gamers the option to play 3D titles without glasses, for a price of three hundred dollars in Japan. It's expected that the device will be available in America and Europe in the month of March, though no release date or price have been announced.