Nintendo had its big conference today and announced their new console and it’s called Wii U.
Several rumors surrounding Nintendo’s new console were flying around leading up to its announcement and it turns out that some of them were true. The new console is officially called Wii U and will feature a ton of features that people have been screaming for awhile.
First off, it finally features 1080p graphics with HDMI out which everybody believed it needed. Apparently the rumor about the touchscreen controller were true as well. It is in fact a 6.2 inches and will feature two circle pads and you will be able stream game content to it. The touchscreen can be used with a stylus and is much like a DS screen in that it uses a cheaper resistive screen as opposed to a capacitive screen like the iPhone. It also features a D-pad, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, 4 front buttons, L/R bumpers and triggers, and a camera that can be used for a FaceTime like interaction. You will be able to get online with the new controller and will be able to continue playing your game directly on the controller. You still be able to use all of your old Wii controllers with the new console too.
The console itself will feature an IBM CPU and AMD Radeon GPU. It will include internal flash memory that you can expand with SD card slot. The media it will use is not announced yet, but the new console will be backwards compatible with Wii games.
Nintendo brought out a ton of developers saying they are looking forward to developing for the new console with a bunch of hardcore titles supposedly in the pipeline. This might be the console that hardcore gamers have been wishing for from Nintendo for a long time. Titles that have been confirmed are a new Super Smash Bros game, LEGO City Stories, and a new Pikmin game as well. We also saw a flash of new HD Zelda title so hopefully we will get to see some more of that soon.
No official release date or price has been announced, but Nintendo has confirmed it will be arriving sometime in 2012, so those 2011 rumors were false.
