We were at Nintendo’s annual E3 press conference today, as they announced the successor to Wii, called Wii U…
As many predicted, the main feature of the Wii U is it’s new revolutionary controller. It looks very much like a tablet, but much thicker and sporting thumb sticks, a d-pad and action and shoulder buttons, and z triggers. In the centre is a 6inch high resolution touchscreen which can be used either as second screen in gameplay, or more importantly as the main screen, while for example someone is watching TV. This is not a portable console however, and is tied to a Wii-like box (details of which were not shared).
It’s possible, much like the iPad, to play casual games – such as board games – with the device laid flat on a table. Examples were also shown where it is used as a window into the gaming world. Utilising the gyroscope and the accelerometer of the device, you can hold up the controller and move around the room, for an augmented style viewpoint. You can even point at the TV to see extra content or a zoomed in view of the action, great for sniping in an FPS for example.
A cool demo, if a little gimmicky, showed a person playing a golf game. With a WiiMote in hand, they placed the Wii U controller on the floor (screen facing up). The main view of the course was on the TV, while the ball itself can be seen by your feet on the floor on the Wii U screen. As you swing the WiiMote and take a shot, you could see the ball leave the WiiMote screen and fly onto the TV. Very cool.
Lines permitting, well be getting hands-on with the new controller in the coming days. In which case well update this story. While the Wii U takes it’s main inspiration from the Wii and DS systems before it, there is no doubt it also take cues from the iPad, and together with the announcement of Sony’s Vita (NGP), is the first wave of counter strikes towards Apples continuing success with their iDevices in the gaming space.
