Nintendo took the stage on Tuesday, June 5, at the E3 conference in Los Angeles, touting the upcoming Wii U console, a range of new games including Batman Arkham City Armored Edition, New Super Mario Bros. U, and Pikmin 3, and its own social media platform - Miiverse.
"Using their personalized Mii character, players enter Miiverse and see games, applications or entertainment content that either they have interacted with recently, expressed interest in learning more about or that their friends are using or discussing," said Nintendo. "From here they can challenge their friends to play together, ask a question about a difficult level or discover new elements of their favorite games they never knew existed."
Two-Screen Experience
The touch screen controller, however, is one of the biggest draws of the new Nintendo Wii U, as it will turn the Wii U into an exciting two-screen experience. "The Wii U is really interesting in terms of asymmetrical game play, with one player doing something and one other player doing something at the same time," said Ubisoft France studio director Xavier Poix, as cited by Reuters. Lured by the possibility of having two players use two screens in one game, Ubisoft jumped on board and said it is developing eight games for the launch of the Wii U.
According to Endgadget's Tim Stevens, Nintendo made some "subtle tweaks" to the controller's hardware, the most notable one being "the change from circle sliders to proper analog joysticks for each thumb." The stylus has been relocated from the left to the back-right side of the controller, while the triggers are "slightly wider and more pronounced."
Other Features
"Like most Nintendo controllers, the Wii U gamepad is comfortable to hold in the hand and feels quite durable," wrote Stevens. "Lengthy gaming sessions should be no problem." Nintendo also told Endgadget that players will be able to use at least two touch screen controllers with each console. Nintendo's new Wii U will also feature a headphone jack, a front-facing camera for video chat, a microphone, motion gaming capabilities, and trigger buttons for shooter games.
The company did not offer details on pricing, but asked customers to be patient. "We will be sharing information on the launch date, price and launch lineup well before they need to make those [shopping] decisions," said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, at E3, as cited by USA Today. "From our perspective, now is not the right time."
