Nintendo found lightning in a bottle with the Wii, and with the Wii U--the company’s upcoming console--it might have found the bottling plant. The Wii U builds on the barriers broken by the Wii and takes advantage of a touch-screen-equipped controller that offers you a new way to interact with games paired with a console capable of HD visuals.
To save you the effort and grief of reading through the whole article, we'll just state up front that Nintendo did not disclose many pertinent details of its next system at E3 2011. There's no official price point. And there's no specific release date. It might come out somewhere between April Fools' Day and New Year's Eve in 2012. The rumors were also correct about the Wii U. It's most definitely going to be running in high definition, and the controller is every bit as outlandish as we were led to believe. Probably more so.
The Console
The actual hardware behind the Wii U is still under wraps. Nintendo offered no specifics as to the internals behind its upcoming console outside of saying that it has a multicore IBM Power processor, but its size and capabilities give us much to speculate about. The Wii U appears to be no larger than the Wii itself, but it's much more capable, outputting 1080p visuals over HDMI. The console has internal flash memory for storage that is expandable via USB and SD memory cards. Games will come on proprietary high-density optical disks similar in size to a DVD. Like the Wii, the Wii U will be able to download and play games. It's also backward compatible with Wii software and devices (specifically the Wii Remote and Nunchuk--a key point we will get to). Nintendo made no mention of backward compatibility with GameCube games.
The Controller
As with the Wii, the controller is the heart of the Wii U. And it's large--think somewhat smaller than an iPad and considerably bigger than the original Sony PSP. The reps on hand noted that the controller was designed to offer a new way for players to interact with the console, games, and other players. They understood that, much like the first time we saw the Wii Remote, the only way to really understand was to show us.
On the face of the controller you'll find a 6.2-inch touch screen (Nintendo declined to say whether it was multitouch capable). A stylus slides out of the controller for use on the touch screen (which makes us think it's based on resistive touch technology). During the E3 2011 press conference, Nintendo showed the stylus being used for fairly complex sketching, which shows us how detailed the touch screen will be. The matte screen has great viewing angles and offers vivid colors and brightness, making it ideal for use by two people at the same time at very off angles. The pixel density seems to be high enough to put it on par with modern smartphones. Nintendo stated that it's not high definition, but the resolution appears to be substantially higher than the 3DS screen. We're guessing the screen is under 1280x720 and above 640x480.
Nintendo eschewed a complex controller with the Wii by limiting the number of buttons. By contrast, the Wii U controller practically bristles with them. Two circle pads, similar to those found on the portable Nintendo 3DS, flank either side of the screen. A D pad resides on the left; A, B, X, and Y buttons are on the right; two shoulder buttons are on the top; two trigger-like buttons are on the bottom; and the usual array of start, select, and home buttons line the bottom. But it doesn't end there.
Like the Wii, the Wii U controller also features motion controls that should be on par with the Wii MotionPlus. Although you won't be using it like a Wii Remote, as its bulk and unwieldiness prevent it from mimicking sports equipment like bats and rackets.
A front-facing camera sits at the top of the controller, ostensibly for use in taking pictures and possibly for augmented-reality capabilities. At its E3 2011 press conference, Nintendo revealed that the controller will have video chat capabilities. Built-in speakers also play back sound, and the controller also features a headphone jack.
The controller is capable of playing games even if the TV is being used at the moment for something else, like watching shows. It's portable in a sense, but only within wireless reach of the main console, because all of the controller's visuals are generated by the console and then streamed to the controller.
One of the key features of Wii U is its backward compatibility with Wii controllers (remotes, nunchuks, and more). Many of the cases we saw involved anywhere from two to four remotes, with and without nunchuks, and one player on the Wii U controller. Players on Wii Remotes would generally get split-screen gameplay on the TV, while the player on the Wii U controller would primarily use the screen on the controller. Most of the games we saw would give the player on the Wii U controller extra information, or an entirely different perspective paired with vastly different controls. In general, the player with the Wii U controller was pit against the players with Wii Remotes.
Graphics
Outside of stating that the console outputs at 1080p, Nintendo was mum on details. But judging from the visuals, we can speculate a little on what's driving Wii U. Many of the demos we saw had dynamic lighting and shadowing, light shafts, high dynamic range rendering, full reflections, and bump mapping, and some titles also featured antialiasing. It's hard to say whether the console was rendering at a lower resolution and then upscaling to 1920x1080, a common occurrence on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The console's GPU has its limitations--distant objects in complex scenes were noticeably less detailed than those found in the foreground.
The screen on the Wii U's controller receives a video stream from the console and does not have its own mobile GPU. Looking between the controller and the console, the visuals were more than comparable, if not identical. Impressively, we didn't notice any compression artifacts or lag between what we saw on the TV and what we saw on the controller's screen.
Technical specifications:(these are not final specs)
Processors:
- IBM Power-based multi-core 45 nm microprocessor
- GPU: Custom-designed AMD Radeon HD GPU
Storage:
- Internal flash memory expandable via SD memory card slot and USB slots (4) using a USB hard disk drive
- Slot-loading disc drive compatible with 12-cm "proprietary high-density optical discs" and 12-cm Wii optical discs
Controller:
- Built-in accelerometer, speakers, front-facing camera, microphone and a 6.2 inch touchpad
- Two Circle Pads and one Digital Pad
- Select, Start, Home and Power Buttons
- A/B/X/Y front buttons, L/R bumper buttons and ZL/ZR trigger buttons
Video:
- 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i output
- Compatible with HDMI, component, S-video and composite cables
Audio:
- AV Multi Out port. Six-channel PCM linear output through HDMI
Update: (thx to robocop)
Source
Any hope you had of playing Super Mario Sunshine or Super Smash Bros. Melee on your Wii U can be cast aside. Along with every other GameCube game on the market, they won't be playable.
Giant Bomb has learned from Nintendo PR director Mark Franklin that Wii U is not compatible with GameCube games, which explains the apparent lack of GameCube controller inputs on the system. On the bright side, we do know it's fully backwards compatible with Wii games and controllers (including things like the Nunchuk and Balance Board), so your existing collection of Nintendo products won't be entirely useless on Wii U. The Wii, by contrast, had four GameCube controller inputs and was able to play all of its predecessor's games.
The system is planned for a release in 2012, at some point after March.
