Nintendo Unveils New Wii

7 Jun, 2011 By: Chris Tribbey

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Nintendo June 7 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) unveiled the successor to the market-leading Wii console, the Wii U, which includes a controller that features a 6.2-inch touchscreen, allowing gamers to watch their gameplay simultaneously on two screens.

The controller can display information on the screen that doesn’t appear on the TV, and the viewpoint of the game can change on the controller screen based on its orientation. The controller also includes a microphone, speakers and an inward-facing camera.

Pricing for the Wii U was not announced. Nintendo expects to ship the system in spring 2012.

“Wii U redefines the structure of home entertainment by fundamentally changing how the TV, the game console and the Internet function and interact together,” said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. “The experience enabled by Wii U and the new controller takes players deeper into their games, while reaching out wider than ever before to be inviting to all kinds of gamers.”

Also June 7 at E3:

• Best Buy announced a series of new gaming programs, promotions and partnerships, including a major expansion of its digital gaming business.

“We’re putting a stake in the ground with gaming here at E3 and working to ensure that we are the ultimate destination for gamers,” said Chris Homeister, SVP and GM of the entertainment group at Best Buy. “Our goal is to grow our network of loyal gamers by giving them more — more value for game trade-in, more incentives to choose Best Buy and more of the technology they love. We can provide a better experience for gamers than our competitors and we’re investing heavily to do that.”

For the PlayStation 3, Best Buy’s CinemaNow video service is coming in the fall, and for the Xbox 360, Best Buy will start selling digital token codes for gaming titles and add-on content. For PC games, consumers can download approximately 175 gaming titles via a Best Buy PC application.

Starting this summer gamers who pre-order five games at Best Buy will receive a $100 Best Buy card useable anywhere in the store. And Best Buy’s physical stores soon will have dedicated gaming experts, each certified on the latest games and consoles.

• NXP Software launched a new 3D and social movie-viewing application for the Apple iPad, which allows viewers to post a movie scene to Facebook and watch 3D videos using anaglyph glasses.
 

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