It’s time again for an onslaught of obvious and unintelligent puns (peeyou) because Nintendo has officially revealed its new home console the WiiU during their press conference at this years Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 for short). The successor to the Nintendo Wii will finally give fans a chance to play their favorite Nintendo franchises in glorious HD (about time!). The WiiU is fully backwards compatible with Wii software and can utilize the Wiimote and nunchuck setup some of us have grown accustomed to.
The key feature of this new console is its “tablet” styled controller. The new controller boasts a six inch touchscreen that has the ability to transfer the entire game being played onscreen to the controller’s screen itself. This feature is likely in place for those that want to continue playing games while someone else (Daddy?) watches the TV. The controller has 4 trigger buttons, two analog sticks, a classic d-pad, 4 classic face buttons, a home button, internal gyroscope (for motion play), and a camera. While the controller appears to be a bit big, people on the showroom floor who actually used it say it is very comfortable and extremely light.
There are no official hardware specs yet, we have no idea how much the WiiU will cost, and an official release date has NOT been announced. We do know that it should arrive sometime in 2012. And while there was a nifty LEGEND OF ZELDA HD tech demo shown (which was awesome!), there are no official games from Nintendo just yet besides a new SMASH BROS. that we have absolutely no information on other than it is in production.
Thanks to IGN.com, I have posted a video below that will show you how this new controller works and the many new and exciting possibilities being offered. Stay tuned for more news as it comes out such as a firm release date, price, and what games we can expect.
