Nintendo unveils the Wii U

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