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Nintendo unveils the Wii U

Summary: Nintendo has unveiled its newest games console and the successor to the Wii - The Wii U.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

Nintendo has unveiled its newest games console and the successor to the Wii - The Wii U.

Nintendo unveiled the machine at a press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo taking place in Los Angeles.

So, what do we have here? Well, there's a console and a handheld controller featuring a 6.2-inch touchscreen. The handheld controller feature all the buttons, joysticks and sensors that you'd expect on a standard Wii controller, along with a microphone, speaker and camera. Games can leverage both the TV and the screen on the controller simultaneously and can be used to offer a different view of the game. It also seems that the controller can be used as a portable gaming system when away from the TV and main games console.

Interesting, but it'll be interesting to see how Nintendo keeps the cost of the controller down to something reasonable. It's hard to see how extra consoles for multiplayer gaming are going to be 'reasonably' priced.

That's one controller I don't want to throw at my HDTV!

Here's what we know:

  • The console will run at full HD
  • Internal storage plus the ability to use SD cards and USB flash memory
  • Backward compatible with Wii games and accessories (like the Wii Remote and Wii Fit board)
  • Launching between 1 April and 31 December 2012

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9 comments
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  • LOL

    yeah I wouldn't waant to throw that piece of kit at my TV either. I wonder if anybody in the exibition at e3 will???
    harlawkid
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Nintendo unveils the Wii U

    After the simple, elegant, casual-gamer-friendly Wii remote, they want to do this?

    Surely this is a joke.

    If they're serious about something like this, it basically means they've thrown everything away that made the Wii popular.
    CobraA1
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Nintendo unveils the Wii U

      @CobraA1: Not really this is just a new controller for the WII. The only issue is the current Wii console lacks the smarts to deal with it. So you have a new console. While they are at they add full HD ability and few other feature. Now you have that the Wii was with all the new console can do. You can still play all the games and use all you accessories you had with the Wii on the WiiU. This just adds to what the you can do.
      voska1
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Nintendo unveils the Wii U

    I believe it is just an add-on controller not something that is required for but a handful of games and maybe some DS games on the go?
    hjenkins1
    Reply Vote

  • Ugh...

    Do you guys report without actually <b>reading</b> anything? Or perhaps even watching the E3 press conference? You know, the one where Iwata states repeatedly that this is <b>not a portable game system and requires the console to be used.</b> I mean honestly, how can you get the details so f'in wrong? Also, it supports USB Hard drives, flash drives and SD cards. So you can have plenty of storage.<br><br>And it doesn't throw out everything Nintendo did with the Wii, it builds on it. This is a device that will eventually replace the Wii but they will coexist for a few years before that happens. Much the way the DS/3DS are coexisting. It's a good strategy. The possibilities for this are nearly endless.<br><br>The only real question is, since it uses Bluetooth to stream everything to the controller, is will it be able to support more than one of the new controllers at once. They said 4 Wiimotes, but didn't mention multiple Wii U controllers.
    LiquidLearner
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Nintendo unveils the Wii U

    This looks like a massive misstep to me. The Wii was new and exciting. This is a step backwards to the old controller+TV paradigm, except now it's controller+TV+TV.

    Nintendo should have copied Kinect at a minimum, because Kinect is going to steal/is already stealing the casual gamer crowd that Nintendo originally hooked with the Wii. This will complete the migration.

    Grandma, who found Wii Sports an accessible bridge to the video gaming younger generation, is not going to find a second screen to have to manage as appealing.
    bran.e.murray
    Reply Vote

    • Multi-monitor on a console?

      @bran.e.murray I rather like the idea of being able to multi-monitor on a game console. <br>In fact, I wish that PC games would be made to run on multiple monitors simultaniously like this. My home machine has 4 monitors on it, and I'd love to drag the map over onto another monitor so I can have it open at all times <img border="0" src="http://www.cnet.com/i/mb/emoticons/happy.gif" alt="happy">
      But... Will it support my old Gamecube games? I still like those. I play just as many Gamecube games on my Wii as I do actuall Wii games.
      blackepyon01@...
      Reply Vote

  • I can see how this would be a boon to certain gamers

    ...as long as it still supports the old remotes as well. The old motion sensor remote is what made the Wii and made the other consoles scramble for something as interactive as that. Losing that for the family games would be a massive blow to Wii fans.

    The biggest fault I've always seen with the Wii is its lack of graphics horsepower, which kept it from being a true gaming system and kept it in the casual games sector. This new console seems to have fixed that. Hopefully they won't be a generation behind when it comes out like the last Wii, and that the small form factor doesn't create heat issues.

    For RP games and FPS games, this kind of new controller would be awesome, especially that the screen is touch sensitive. Imagine having your entire inventory at your fingertips without additional button presses to access it, or your weapons/armor layouts at a single touch. Or even personally customizable button layouts to control it how you like it. It very well may revolutionize the way we play games, especially if they can get the precision of the controller to rival that of a mouse. I for one have hated FPSs on consoles simply because of the lack of minute control that a keyboard/mouse gives me. I guess we'll see how that turns out in the future.
    Zorched
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Nintendo unveils the Wii U

    The new system is also an attempt by Nintendo to capture hardcore gamers, who have shied away from the company's family-friendly titles. <a href="http://www.cartitleloans.net/">car title loan</a>
    MikeJason
    Reply Vote
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