Nintendo announces Wii U
Published: June 7, 2011
So “Wii 2” will actually be known as Wii U.
And the successor to Nintendo’s popular game console will be released in 2012, the company announced Tuesday at its E3 Expo press conference in Los Angeles.
As buzz about the new system has grown over the last few months, gamers have been anticipating high-definition graphics, new ways to interact with games and plenty of cool titles. On Tuesday, Nintendo came through with some of that.
The announcement offered few technical details about the console itself, but demos showed high-def graphics and an interesting new controller that looked a lot like a handheld Nintendo DS with a few extra knobs and a bigger screen.
It seems the key element of the new system will be flexibility.
The controller has a 6.2-inch screen as well as a full range of control buttons and knobs, a microphone and motion-sensing technology. It also will allow the integration of the Wii remote and balance board. It appears that all of this hardware can be combined in interesting ways. One example shown on the demo video featured a golf game where a traditional Wii remote acted as a golf club, the Wii U was on the floor acting as the tee and an image on the TV served as the hole.
Although the system is primarily intended to be used in conjunction with a TV, the action can be switched to the small screen, allowing a full console experience on what would basically be a handheld system.
Wii U will also permit Web browsing and Skype-like video conferencing.
Unfortunately, the only Nintendo title announced for the Wii U was “Lego City Stories,” an open-world game that is being developed in conjunction with TT Games. However, third-party developers mentioned delivering “Assassin’s Creed,” “Darksiders 2,” “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online,” “Aliens Colonial Marines,” “Metro Last Light,” “Tekken,” “Batman: Arkham City” and “Ninja Gaiden 3.” These titles sounds very cool, but you’ll be able to check out most of them on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 many months before the Wii U is even available.
Although this all sounds interesting, it doesn’t add up to a show-stopping announcement. Much of what’s available – from the high-def graphics to the launch titles – will be old hat for most gamers by the time Wii U hits the streets. And now that all of the consoles have motion-sensitive control systems, Nintendo’s new wares don’t exactly look groundbreaking.
Of course Wii U wasn’t the only thing Nintendo was pitching Tuesday.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of “The Legend of Zelda,” Nintendo will release several games in the franchise. These include an enhanced 3-D version of the legendary “Ocarina of Time” for the 3DS handheld system, a four-player game for the DS and the new “The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword,” coming on the Wii at Christmastime.
Officials also announced a host of new games for the 3DS, including such popular franchises of “Mario Kart,” “Star Fox,” “Super Mario” and “Kid Icarus.” One of the most interesting is “Luigi’s Mansion 2,” in which the little guy uses Ghostbuster-like gadgets to battle a host of ghosts.
Nintendo also highlighted a number of third-party 3DS games from such franchises as “Ace Combat” and “Resident Evil.”
- Brian Bowers
