The business wire believes that Nintendo will be unveiling the apparently rumored new Nintendo DS as well as new accessories to avoid a price drop.

The news comes in a year when Nintendo shared have dropped 39 percent amid fears that credit-related losses in the U.S. will affect demand for consumer electronics. Despite the stock drop, Daiwa Institute of Research believes that Nintendo will sell 26.5 million Wii consoles in the year ending March 31, compared with 7 million Xbox 360s. Sony believes it will sell 10 million PS3. Last year, Nintendo's Wii outsold the PS3 and Xbox 360 by two to one, according to Daiwa.

I've been saying since before E3 that Nintendo is relying more on accessories than platform prices and games to sell their Wii, and now it looks like analysts are starting to think that too. But what accessories could Bloomberg be referring to?

Please don't tell me they're talking about that pedometer. Whatever they turn out to be I'm sure plastic injection molding companies everywhere will rejoice.

Stay tuned this evening, about 10:30 p.m. Mountain Time for details from Nintendo's press conference in Japan.

Nintendo May Introduce New DS Player, Wii Accessories (Update1) [Bloomberg]

Then early this morning Nintendo of Japan responded with a glorified no comment, saying in part that they are "always developing new products."

Now, responding to a request for comment from Kotaku, Nintendo of America weighs in with a slightly chunkier no comment, pointing out that Nikkei did not talk to Nintendo for their story. Interesting:

"The Nikkei newspaper wrote a recent story about a DS solely based upon their own research and speculation, without interviewing Nintendo. While Nintendo is always working on new hardware, we have not made any announcement about a DS and we cannot comment on the Nikkei story."

What's strange is that the original story (I had Ash check) never quotes any sources or in anyway indicates that the story is essentially rumor. The newspaper essentially reports it as fact. So I'm not sure what to make of this.

What we still don't know is if this is a Japan-only device or one headed for world release, something I suspect we'll find out with the upcoming Nintendo press conferences. Either way it seems that Nintendo is dipping it's toe into the waters currently inhabited by the Playstation Portable and iPhone. For years Sony and Nintendo have both argued, on some level, that the PSP and DS don't really compete because the machines approach gaming in such different ways. Now it seems that if this new media DS gets off the ground, that won't be as true.

But with the PSP gaining ground in Japan (Reuters reports that PSP's unit sales exceeded the DS's in five consecutive months through July) can the DS directly compete with it when it comes to those expanded features? And what about the iPhone and Touch and its growing gaming support? Does Nintendo stand a chance in the realm of gaming and media devices?