3G coming to next gen hand-helds?

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article up about Nintendo and Sony investigating the use of 3G internet on their next generation hand-helds.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said at an analyst briefing last year that he found it interesting how Amazon built the 3G wireless capability into the Kindle and then bundled the wireless connection cost into the price of the content instead of requiring consumers to sign up for a monthly fee from a carrier.

Meanwhile, Sony is developing a portable device that shares characteristics of hand-held game machines, e-book readers and netbook computers, according to people familiar with the matter. Some Sony e-book readers already come with 3G connections but it isn't clear if a new wireless gadget will use carrier networks.

You can read more here.  Personally, I'm all for Nintendo going this route.  Could you imagine not needing to be near WiFi to play a game against your friends using the Nintendo 3DS?