Wii U

History

E3 Media Presentation

With rumors hitting the week prior, Nintendo confirmed the first information about its next console on April 25, 2011. The news was issued via a terse update on Nintendo of Japan's investor site, stating that the " Wii's successor" would be launched in 2012.

And on June 7, 2011 at their E3 press conference, Nintendo unveiled what they promise to be a new way to enjoy home entertainment with Nintendo's next home console, the Wii U. With a new touch screen controller that also includes all standard buttons, precision motion controls, and full 1080p HD graphics, Nintendo promises a whole new world of play styles and gaming possibilities for Wii U players.

As Nintendo of America president and CEO Reggie Fils-Aime explained on stage, that the Wii U is about tailoring the Nintendo game experience not just to a casual perspective, but for so-called hardcore players as well.

In October 2011, Nintendo confirmed that they will be re-revealing the Wii U at E3 2012.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata mentioned during the company's Financial Briefing in January 2012 that the Wii U would launch during the holiday 2012 season.

Iwata announced during Nintendo's Financial Briefing in April, 2012 that all Wii U games would be available for purchase as traditional packaged software in retail stores and via digital distribution on from day one. Nintendo is partnering with retailers to allow the sale of digital codes through retailers to achieve a "win-win" situation. Additionally, he let it be known that, while the details and software line-up for Wii U would be announced at E3 2012, the actual launch date and price would be revealed at a later date.

Details

Zelda in High-Definition

Although still unconfirmed by Nintendo's presentation, various industry insider rumours point to a console that is at least on a par, if not even more powerful than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, this still allows for backwards compatibility with Nintendo's Wii software and motion controller. Reggie Fils-Aime, in an interview with Geoff Keighley, stated on SpikeTV that the new console will not upconvert Wii games to an HD resolution (the Wii U will output 1080p for its own games, as confirmed by Reggie). He also stated that Nintendo will not be using Blu-ray discs for its software, but a Wii U specific media disc capable of storing the large amount of data necessary for HD visuals.The system's controller will feature a standard dual circle pad and button layout with an additional 6.2 inch touch screen set directly in the controller itself, the touch screen is also compatible with a stylus but does not support multi-touch input. Games will be streamed to the controller by the console, meaning that it is not necessary to play games on a TV.

There has also been speculation on the major innovation of the system. Many speculate that the major feature of the system revolves around its social aspects. Sam Kennedy of 1UP stated Nintendo's online system will not use friend codes, however, will try to make their online system similar to a local multiplayer experience. He says that your friends' gameplay sessions can be streamed to your controller and players can seamlessly join their friends in the game. He also states that the same principle can be used for older Nintendo titles.

The system will use 25GB proprietary discs for games. Rumors regarding the system's storage claim that it will have 8GB of flash memory. The system will also have support for external USB drives, for additional storage capacity.

Hardware

Main Console

Wii U Console

The Wii U may not be as small as the original Wii but only by a few inches. The Wii U will be Approximately 1.8 inches tall, 6.8 inches wide and 10.5 inches long. Nintendo later stated that the design of the console itself that was shown at E3 was not final.

• Media: A single self-loading media bay will play 12-centimeter proprietary high-density optical discs for the new console, as well as 12-centimeter Wii optical discs.
• Video Output: Supports 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i. Compatible cables include HDMI, component, S-video and composite.
• Audio Output: Uses AV Multi Out connector. Six-channel PCM linear output through HDMI.
• Storage: The console will have internal flash memory, as well as the option to expand its memory using either an SD memory card or an external USB hard disk drive.
• CPU: IBM Power®-based multi-core microprocessor.
• Ports: Four USB 2.0 connector slots are included. The new console is backward compatible with Wii games and Wii accessories.
• It has been confirmed that Nintendo's partnership with AMD will continue, including a custom Radeon HD GPU in the system.

Controllers

Tablet Controller

Wii U Controller

The new controller incorporates a 6.2-inch, 16:9 touch screen and traditional button controls, including two analog Circle Pads. This combination removes the traditional barriers between games, players and the TV by creating a second window into the video game world that can be used for a variety of things. For example, games can be augmented with real-time data displayed on the controller (such as inventory systems or maps) while the primary action occurs on the big-screen. The action can also be transferred to the controller screen instead, so that other content could be viewed on the TV. There was some indication that this manner of screen swapping could even be taken a step further, giving split-screen players their own dedicated view.

Button Layout/Features

The rechargeable controller Also includes a Power button, Home button, +Control Pad, A/B/X/Y buttons, L/R buttons and ZL/ZR buttons. It includes a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope, rumble feature, camera, a microphone, stereo speakers, a sensor strip, a stylus and NFC technology.

NFC

During Nintendo's January 27th, 2012 Financial Briefing, they revealed that the controller would also support NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, ultimately allowing functionality similar to the figurine-scanning in Skylanders and enabling the scanning of credit cards for micropayments.

Controller Portability

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was quick to point out that the controller device was “not designed to be a portable video game machine, even though it shares some of the characteristics.” Killing the idea that the controller could be used as a legitimate portable gaming tablet (like Apple's iPad) which everybody was quick to compare to. This becomes especially clear when you realize that none of the game play is rendered on the controller itself.

Twitter-Leaked Revision

Revision revealed on Twitter

As the console has not been finalized in all aspects, the Tablet Controller is up for revisions. In May 2012, a QA Tester for TT Games tweeted a picture of a revised Tablet Controller. This revision changed the Circle Pads to traditional Analog Pads (with a circular gate instead of an octogonal one), among a host of other superficial changes, such as a rearrangement of the Wii U logo, Start and Select buttons, and two potentially new, unlabeled buttons. The tweet was soon taken offline.

Backwards Compatible Peripherals

Classic Controller Pro

The Wii U will also support up to four Wii Remote (or Wii Remote Plus) controllers connected at once along with the tablet controller (allowing for five players simultaneous multiplayer). The new console supports all first party Wii controllers and input devices, including the Nunchuk controller, Classic Controller, Classic Controller Pro and Wii Balance Board.

Nintendo Network

During Nintendo's Financial Briefing on January 27th, 2012 Satoru Iwata announced the Nintendo Network platform. An overarching online platform that covers 3DS as well as Wii U, it is going to support various, as of yet, unspecified services and eventually even downloads of full retail software. Nintendo Network is supposed to be an evolution from the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection that appeared on Wii and DS titles. Features will include "sale of digital content" and "communication between users". Similar to Microsoft's and Sony's platforms, Nintendo Network will allow for multiple user accounts to be created to share between family members.