E3 2011: Wii U Specs & Features Emerge
![E3 2011: Wii U Specs & Features Emerge [The New Nintendo Console, Wii U, May Have Handheld Elements, But It's No Handheld]](http://tftscdn3.nexus404.com/Blog/thumbnailimages/alt/WiiU-Controller-At-E3TFTSThumb220153.jpg)
Nintendo put out its big presser this morning, and one of the biggest things to emerge from it was the new Nintendo console. Dubbed the Wii U, it’s not only a console, but it’s also got a whole lot of handheld functionality thrown in with it.
The biggest part of the Wii U is its controller. Featuring a pair of 3D pads, as well as a standard plus-shaped D-pad, a pair of shoulder buttons and a pair of triggers, microphones, an accelerometer and gyroscope, as well as a camera and a 6.2 inch LCD screen, with a speaker, it’s designed to not only work with the Wii U, playing games and performing various other functions (web browsing and video chat were just a couple of the mentions), but also function as a separate gaming platform in its own right.
Nintendo brought out a video in which someone was gaming on a full-size television, and then someone else came in wanting to watch baseball. And while in some houses, that would have resulted in a screaming tantrum, here it’s quite smoothly accepted. Why? Because the gamer could transfer his game directly to the controller and continue playing from there.
This prompted Nintendo to specifically say that the Wii U is not a handheld, but rather, a full console experience, and they’re right. It is a console, augmented by a handheld. They showed how the new controller could be used to get new views of experiences–a golf game, for example, showed the ball at rest in a sand trap while the television showed the green ahead.
It’s going to be an interesting sell, I’d say. While it’s definitely got some serious advantages to its credit, it’s also going to have quite a bit to fight against. Will it have the depth and breadth necessary to appeal to gaming markets Nintendo had formerly fared poorly in? Or will Nintendo’s new effort be dismissed before it can even hit the gate? No matter what side you fall in on, hit the comments section and tell us what you think!
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I’m really unconvinced by this. It’s essentially a tarted up dreamcast and though it looks like its getting great third party support, which is a first for a nintendo machine in recent memory, do we really want to play battlefield or ghost recon online with this thing? Nintendo doesn’t have a great past with online gaming and I think the experience of games must people play will not be different enough on this new machine to justify the inflated price its must have considering its controller. And how much is another controller going to cost? The current price of a DSi I’d imagine and that’s asking a lot of consumers in this climate.
“do we really want to play battlefield or ghost recon online with this thing?”
Why the hell not? There are literally tons of possibilities.
Well I think the reason a DSi costs so much is because it isn’t just an lcd screen it also has all the processors and gaming hardware. From the sounds of thing’s I don’t think the wiiu controllers will be able to play games alone. The Wiiu does all the computer work and simply streams the images to the controller. (They made it a point to say the controller wasn’t a portable gaming device) Touch screens when bought in bulk are pretty cheap these days. I don’t see them costing more than 80 bucks, but probably less then that.
This is probably the best expression of what’s going on here. Though Skeptic87 may be right about playing games like Ghost Recon or Battlefield, consider Nintendo’s regular suite and wonder if that would work out better instead. There are, indeed, literal tons of possibilities afoot here.
It will just a way to get rich quick. They will get high sales at the beggining using just like the Wii, that is why they are using the same name, controller has to cost at least $140 each, third party games are gonna be on current systems also with better controls and new xbox and ps are gonna be out soon and will destroy it! Sorry Nintendo, u guys are a generaration too late, have fun making money off the gullible.
I admit it doesn’t look good for them at the outset, but betting against Nintendo isn’t good practice, Leo. They’ve come back from worse previously. Also consider that they’ve got a serious form factor advantage–no other system works like Wii. Or, conversely, like Wii U.