Nintendo to Build New R&D Center in Japan

According to Japanese financial news service Nikkei Net, and translated by Gamespot, Nintendo has plans to build a ¥12.8 billion ($141.9 million) Research and Development facility on a 40,000 square meter location near its Kyoto, Japan headquarters.

The facility will consolidate the current R&D departments, which have been operating in separate locations, to create better collaboration and communication between the software and hardware R&D teams.  While there is no timeline for the project currently, Gamespot reports that "Nintendo representatives informed Nikkei that the new facility will be devoted to creating new game consoles as well as software for the Wii and DS."

Gamasutra also notes that Nintendo says they are always working on new R&D projects, when asked about plans for new hardware.  While the new facility surely will not be up and running anytime soon, perhaps this is an indicator that Nintendo is gearing up and laying the foundation (get it?) for the next console generation.