Going by a Tuesday report in the Nikkei business daily, Nintendo intends releasing a new, bigger screen version of its DSi handheld videogame player in Japan by the end of this year.

Priced at ¥18,900, the new handheld gaming device - with a 4-inch screen vis-à-vis the current player's 3.25-inch screen - would cost nearly the same as the current device. The bigger screen would put the DSi at par with the Sony PlayStation portable gaming device; and expectedly provide a much-needed boost to the somewhat slackening sales of the Nintendo's last-year- released device in the country.

In addition to the bigger-screen DSi, the Nikkei report also said that, before the end of the current business year in March 2010, Nintendo is also planning to launch Chinese and South Korean markets-specific DSi version, which would feature improved anti-piracy features.

However, noting that Nintendo is reeling under the iPhone and iTouch pressure, and commenting on the larger screen DSi, KBC Securities' analyst Hiroshi Kamide said: "A bigger screen alone does not count for much."

Kamide added that, in order to become more competitive, Nintendo requires to work at bettering the graphics' quality, as well as equipping the device with a more powerful chip - currently the device runs an ARM chip - to run multimedia-type games.