Nintendo's Wii's Successor Announced at E3

Reggie Fils-Aime revealed Nintendo's new console and its controller live on stage at the company's E3 press conference today. The new system is known as Wii U, and the controller features a large 6.2 inch touchscreen onto which games can be projected. You won't need to give up your gameplay when someone else comes into the room and wants to watch TV.

The new controller also features motion control in the form of an accelerometer and gyroscope, a camera, a sensor strip to work with the Wii Remote, a microphone, rumble, stereo speakers and a stylus.

The "second screen" use of the controller presents the opportunity to have elements of a game projected onto the floor, such as your ball's lie in a golf game.

It also features two analog sticks and traditional buttons, including analog triggers and shoulder buttons.

Existing Wii peripherals will wirelessly connect with the new controller, allowing those self-conscious about their Wii Fit results to view them in privacy.

The new controller can also be used as a web browser and even a magnifying device for on-screen web pages. And, as you might expect from past iterations of controllers with screens in them such as the Dreamcast VMU, it can also be used to display additional game information during play.

Iwata stressed that the controller is not a standalone handheld -- images on the screen are generated by the Wii U and streamed wirelessly with "no" latency to the device.

The console itself is about 1.8 inches tall, 6.8 inches wide and 10.5 inches long. It features a slot-loading 12-centimeter disc drive for Wii U and Wii discs -- Wii U discs will be a proprietary format, just like the Wii. Audio-video output will come from an AV Multi Out connector with HDMI, component, S-video and composite compatibility at resolutions from 480i all the way up to 1080p. HDMI output supports six-channel audio.

As for storage, the console will feature internal flash memory of an unspecified amount as well as the option to add to this with SD cards or USB hard disk drives. There are four USB 2.0 connectors on the console.

Unfortunately, there are little news as of yet about what games will be produced for it. But as far as they announced, the games that will be released are:

• Darksiders II
• Batman: Arkham City
• Tekken
• Assassin's Creed
• Ghost Recon titles
• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Ninja Gaiden 3
• Battlefield 3

Source: GamePro