LOS ANGELES — Nintendo revealed its new home console
on Tuesday, dubbed the Wii U — a new high-definition video game system
that will use a new touch-screen controller to play games both on and
off the TV screen.
The Wii U’s white, plastic controller is about the
size of some tablet computers and features a 6.2-inch touch screen, as
well as a standard array of gaming controller buttons. But a tablet the
Wii U controller is not.
Images displayed on the Wii U’s controller are all
produced by the Wii U console itself and the screen is just that —
another screen.
The display on the Wii U controller can work in a few
different ways: as a complement to a game on a TV, adding extra
information or control options; as a mirrored screen, displaying the
same images as what’s on a TV; or as the only gaming screen, for when a
friend may want to watch a TV but a Wii U user might want to keep
playing a video game.
The screen’s options will allow users to game at home
without being tied to their TVs, but because the controller relies on
the Wii U console for everything displayed on the screen, it isn’t a
true portable gaming system on its own.
The touch-screen will also be compatible with a
stylus and feature two cameras, one front and one rear, that can be used
for augmented reality games or to conduct a video chat session with
friends who also own Wii U systems.
An accelerometer and a gyroscope are built into the
new controller, so motion control (which is a trademark of the current
Wii system) will play a role in the new device as well.
But the Wii U won’t rely just on the touch-screen
controller. The new system will be backward compatible with the current
Wii’s motion controllers and other accessories.
Los Angeles Times reporter Alex Pham covered
Nintendo’s big unveiling at the Nokia Theatre — the presentation is part
of the E3 video game conference in L.A. this week — and reported that
Nintendo said it will ship the Wii U sometime after Apri 1, 2012. The
company did not offer a price for the new system.
From Pham’s report on our sister blog Company Town:
The console is called Wii U, “for unique, unifying,”
said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime at the company’s
news conference.
Nintendo hopes the new console will rev up sales for
its products, which have fallen off a cliff after enjoying three years
of double-digit growth that was fueled by demand from a broad audience
of female and older consumers who bought into its novel motion
controller and fitness games.
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