E3 has brought us a plethora or new information on Nintendo’s enigmatic upcoming console. Nintendo is looking to get a jump start on the competitors by releasing their next-gen console before Microsoft or Sony have even announced theirs. With all the new info we have, the Wii U is really shaping up to look like a worthy successor to the original Wii.
We’ve all seen the new Wii U gamepad and its features but have yet too seen much at all about the console itself. It is pretty similar in size to the current Wii, at 46 x 172 x 268.5mm, weighing in at only a bit over 3 pounds. It includes all current outputs, including HDMI and cable, and will be supporting resolutions of up to 1080p, a vast improvement over its predecessor. The console will be able to support up to 2 Wii U Gamepads, 4 Wii U Pro Controllers, or 4 WiiMotes at once. Though the console comes with built-in flash memory, it will also 4 USB 2.0 and 1 SD slot to allow for additional memory devices.
The most important part of the Wii U is its primary controller, the screened Wii U Gamepad. It is reported to be 133.4 x 255.4 x 41mm in size and weigh about a pound. The touchscreen in the center is 6.2″ and it will also have a built in gyroscope for motion controls. In addition, it will have the same button layout of most modern controllers, with four face buttons, dual analogs, a start button, two triggers and bumpers, a home button, power button, and sync button. One would think that powering such a device would require a lot of power and that is true. It will take about an hour and a half to fully charge the gamepad that plugs directly into the console by USB cable. However, it is reported to have about 3 to 5 hours of battery life, per charge. This may mean you have to charge it during long gaming sessions but the controller plugs into the console during use, without interrupting the user’s game.
Set for a ‘holiday’ 2012 release, it is reasonable to believe that they must already have a good idea of what games will be available upon release. From what has been announced so far, these are the games prospective Wii U owners can expect by the end of the year.
- NBA 2K13 (2K Sports)
- Ben 10: Omniverse (D3Publisher)
- Family Party: 30 Great Games (working title) (D3Publisher)
- Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game (D3Publisher)
- Mass Effect 3 (EA)
- Jett Tailfin (Maximum Games)
- Tank! Tank! Tank! (Namco Bandai)
- Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (Namco Bandai)
- Lego City: Undercover (Nintendo)
- New Super Mario Bros. U (Nintendo)
- Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge (Nintendo)
- Nintendo Land (Nintendo)
- SiNG (working title) (Nintendo)
- Wii U Panorama View (working title) (Nintendo)
- Game & Wario (working title) (Nintendo)
- Pikmin 3 (Nintendo)
- Project P-100 (working title) (Nintendo)
- Wii Fit U (Nintendo)
- Aliens: Colonial Marines (Sega)
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Sega)
- Darksiders 2 (THQ)
- Assassin’s Creed 3 (Ubisoft)
- Just Dance 4 (Ubisoft)
- Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth (Ubisoft)
- Rabbids Land (Ubisoft)
- Sports Connection (Ubisoft)
- Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013 (Ubisoft)
- ZombiU (Ubisoft)
- Rayman Legends (Ubisoft)
- Scribblenauts Unlimited (Warner Bros)
- Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition (Warner Bros)
- Chasing Aurora (Broken Rules)
- Trine 2: Director’s Cut (Frozenbyte)
- Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (Gaijin Games)
- Aban Hawkins & the 1,001 Spikes (Nicalis)
- Cloudberry Kingdom (Pwnee Studios)
(Via Eurogamer, Game Informer, That Videogame Blog, CVG)
[…] known for months now that the WiiU console can support two of its rather innovative GamePads being used on one system at the … and we’ve also known that absolutely none of the launch titles for the console will actually […]