Well, this is interesting. RPAD.TV spent the entirety of GDC digging up rumors of the “DS2″, and they got some juicy tidbits.

The rumor is that this new handheld would basically have Gamecube technology, scaled down. This would be because it is apparently much easier to develop for.

It would still have dual screens, but the gap between them would be almost not noticeable, making developers able to make games with either two screens, or one long one.

Also of note is this:

The next Nintendo handheld has an accelerometer. I blame the iPhone for this. Everything has to have an accelerometer now. Yesterday I bought a sandwich at the Moscone Center and it had an accelerometer in it.

Thank you Nintendo. As we didn’t look stupid enough on the bus already, shouting “OBJECTION!” or blowing in to our handhelds.

A couple of things strike me with this rumor. RPAD say the developers should have their games finished by the end of this year. Isn’t that a little too soon after the DS XL? Of course, this would be a completely new system instead of just an aesthetic update, but it still strikes me as quite fast. Oh well, I suppose both the PS2 slim and the GBA SP came out  late in the cycle.

If this is accurate, what will they call it? Nintendo is not one for slapping a “2″ on their hardware, but this is still a dual screen handheld device, so I’d say they would need to keep “DS” somewhere in the name. DS Advanced? Super DS?

Expect more updates on this through the year. Especially around E3, if Nintendo have something like this to reveal, you can bet a lot of money they are going to unveil it there.