Wii U Consoles

Nintendo has announced that the hotly anticipated Wii u console will be going on sale during the next financial year, which could be as early as the beginning of April 2012.  Nintendo are determined to make the launch a smooth process, taking learnings from failures of the launch of their latest handheld games console the Nintendo 3DS.

Satoru Iwata the president of Nintendo said, “Based on the bitter experiences we have had with the 3DS, we are making every effort to prepare so that the Wii U console will not stumble during its launch”

It seems more likely that the Wii U console will hit the retail outlets later on in the year after the final product has been tried and tested and next year’s E3 expo in Los Angeles in June.  The games console is set to launch alongside some well-known brand titles which have yet to be disclosed although sources suggest new Mario and Zelda games and even a new Mario Kart game are highly likely candidates. Aswell as leading games Nintendo has suggested that the more powerful games console will launch with a healthy suite of accessories and the much talked about tablet style Wii U controller.

Nintendo are hoping that the Wii u console will help to make up some of the financial losses experienced from the large price cuts in the 3DS units.  We will keep you posted on more Wii U release date information when we know more.

Killer Freaks from Outer Space from developers Ubisoft is a FPS that is currently in development exclusively for the Wii U console. The video game will utilise the functions of the Wii U controller to create a truly immersive experience where the control and its screen is used an interactive element for gameplay through its spacial controls.

A recent demonstration of the game showed a dark and evil London infested with bloodthirsty aliens, with the player taking control of Darren Boyle as he commences with a personal war on the aliens in order to store London to its normal state.  Instead of the standard movement controls of a FPS through the use of dual analogue sticks the player can actual move Darren through the game by moving the Wii U control alone.

This is all possible from the new enhancements to the Wii U console, more specifically the controller’s new gyro and accelerometer technology which according to Ubisoft will allow a more involving gaming experience through a huge increase in the ability to accurately monitor a player’s movements.  Ubisoft went on to demonstrate different multiplayer features also that currently don’t feature a second Wii U controller but enable extra players to get involved in the action via standard Wii controllers.  Killer Freaks from Outer Space will be available for the Wii U console from next year.

Following the Nintendo Wii u’s unveiling at E3 we are getting more and more details of the underlying tech behind Nintendos new console. Now Nintendo has released in depth Wii u Specs on detailed dimensions of the console and controller, its display and button interfaces and connection capabilities.  We are still yet to hear anything concrete on the graphics card that will powering the unit (it is rumoured to be a custom Radeon GPU chip similar to the R770).

The Wii U console will be backwards compatible and is compatible with all existing current Wii controllers, this includes the motion plus, balance board, nunchuk and everything else you can think of.  What’s more interesting is that Nintendo have revealed that the Wii U will use its own form of HD disc technology

The full Nintendo Wii U spec from Nintendo is as follows:

Wii U Launch date: 2012

Dimensions: Approximately 17 centimetres wide, 26.67 centimetres long and 4.5 centimetres tall.

Storage: The Wii U will feature an internal flash memory with an added option to expand the consoles memory with an external hard disk drive or SD memory Card.

Video: Will fully support 480p, 480i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p. Will be compatible with HDMI, component, S-video and composite cables.

Central Processing Unit: Multi-Core processor powered by IBM

Discs: The Wii U will play 12cm HD and 12cm Wii optical discs through a frontal single disc entry bay

External Inputs: 4 x USB 2.0 connections

Accessory input: Wii U supports all existing Wii controllers and accessories including four Wii remotes simultaneously plus the new controller, Nunchuks, balance boards and classic controllers

Screen: 6.2 inch single touch screen with 16:9 aspect ratio that doubles as a gaming window.

Controls: Standard D-pad, 4 standard action buttons, two analog Pads and double left and right shoulder buttons.

Controller features: Rechargeable Wii u controller includes a built-in microphone, stereo speakers and camera for video calls (amongst other uses), gyroscope and accelerometer and rumble feature.