Starting in March the Louvre, one of the largest, most visited art museums in the world, plans to replace their audio guides with 5,000 Nintendo 3DS programmed by the game maker to give full tours in seven languages, the AFP reports.
The switch will gradually replace the traditional guides used by about four percent of the museum's 8.5 million visitors.
The 3DS guides will help visitors to locate themselves within the Louvre Palace, a 12th century fortress converted and expanded to become the famous museum. The device will also include pre-loaded visiting itineraries designed to guide children and others through special tours and audio of hundreds of recorded commentaries in seven languages.
Agnes Alfandari, museum's head of multimedia, told the AFP that while the content was all created by Nintendo, the museum had final editorial control.
The decision to switch to portable game consoles as guides is driven by museum officials who believe the device will appeal to a wider audience, one more comfortable with touch screens.
The museum is also updating their smartphone and iPad applications.