At today’s Nintendo press conference today during E3, the company formally announced the Wii U, the successor to the mega-popular Wii. Coming sometime in 2012, the console is adhering to Nintendo’s new mantra, “Something for Everyone”. That translates to an increased focus on the core gamer, without forgetting about the casual buyer that made the Wii so popular.
When Reggie Fils-aime took the stage to announce the device, he sparked the buzz words “you, utopian, unifying” alluding to singular and personal experiences that the Wii didn’t necessarily capture. This lead to the natural name for the new console: “Wii U”.
The Wii U (wheeeeyooooo!) will allow users to take the big screen experience away from the TV and into their hands, thanks to the 6.2″ screen on the console’s controller. The console will be able to stream the game’s visuals to the device, should you choose to move away from your television or you’re lying in bed at night and don’t want to wake your wife. Satoru Iwata confirmed several times that this was not meant to be a new portable console, but an extension of the TV experience.
The new touch screen controller includes a stylus, allowing users to draw images right on the device to customize in-game characters, create artwork, and more. A built-in forward-facing camera allows for photographs and video capture, with Nintendo showing a video chat just through the controller between members of a family in different locations. It’s eerily like Apple’s Facetime, actually. The device allows for internet browsing, video play, and the ability to flip photos from the controller to the TV. The entire concept is very much like Apple’s AirPlay.
The revealed specs of the controller are as follows: two shoulder buttons, two trigger buttons, two circle pads (Nintendo’s now de facto method of analog control), D-pad, A, B, X, Y, Home, Start & Select, microphone, speakers, a gyroscope and accelerometer for motion controls, and a port at the bottom for charging the built-in battery.
The device isn’t abandoning the Wii controllers, either. In fact, motion controls are now meeting augmented reality, an Nintendo showcased this in a big way. The Wii U controller can be set on the ground face up, for instance, with a golf ball on the screen. The user can line up the WiiMote with the ball, as if they were actually golfing, and swing away, sending the ball from the controller to the television in a smooth stroke. In another trailer reel demo, the controller is held in front of the television screen as a baseball game is played. A virtual strike zone is streamed to the device, and the pitch is lined up with the motion controls. In an FPS demo, the controller is used as a sniper sight. Gaming can be played completely independent of the TV as well, as a demo of mutli-player Othello was shown using only the controller.
During Nintendo’s teaser reel, more demos were shown (some of which are playable on the show floor this week). These include a game where throwing stars are flung from the controller to the screen, pointing the controller around the room to avoid arrows being shot at the user (in Shield Pose), and in Galactic Fighters players use a combination of WiiMotes and U controllers to shoot each other on the TV or rain hellfire down from the sky. Chase Mii showed players running around on a field while others tried to tag them, and New Super Mario Bros Mii allowed the game to be moved from the TV to the small screen, with the ability to import Miis as playable characters.
Some final notes that were revealed in a post-conference interview with Fils-aime on Gametrailers were that the device would use a proprietary disc format, not Blu Ray as many had predicted, and that the consoles hardware shown was near final. Nintendo doesn’t want to detract from the controller as the focus of the device, so the design of the hardware is minimized. Fils-aime also mentioned that more information on Nintendo’s online structure for the console would be revealed at the developer’s roundtables this week.
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