Wii successor named 'Wii U'

by Steve Watts, Jun 07, 2011 9:58am PDT

Related Topics – Nintendo, wii, E3 2011, Wii U

[Update] Nintendo has sent out a fact cheek and photo of the Wii U (below). We've combed through the sheet for more details.

The controller features a 6.2-inch screen, accelerometer, gyroscope, rumble, inward-facing camera, microphone, and speakers, plus the "classic" controller scheme. Each console comes paired with one touchscreen controller, and can support up to four additional Wii Remotes as well.

[Original Story] At Nintendo's E3 briefing, the company named its next game console the 'Wii U' and showed off the controller. Iwata confirmed that the system is in HD, and a teaser video showed off the touch screen controller in action. Games can be played remotely on the controller's screen, streamed from the Wii U device itself. Iwata promised it would be done "without latency issues."

Besides the touch screen, the controller sports traditional button configuration, dual-sticks, a touch pad, stylus, microphone, and camera. The teaser video showed a variety of ways that the controller interacted with a TV screen, like zooming in, used as an aiming device, and serving as the menu for a teaser of an HD Zelda game. It also showed video calls, web browsing, and Iwata promised backwards compatibility with the existing Wii.

Iwata warned that the console is not designed to be portable, and is instead meant to stay in proximity of the Wii U hub system, which we didn't see. It's coming in 2012.

Tech demos for the Wii U will be available on the show floor. The Nintendo conference is still ongoing. Shacknews will update as more details become available.

A closer look at the Wii U

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Steve Watts posted a new article, Wii successor named 'Wii U'.

At Nintendo's E3 press briefing, it revealed the Wii successor: the Wii U. The company confirmed the touch screen controller, HD functionality, and a variety of non-gaming functions.

Jun 07, 2011 9:58am PDT

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Steve Watts posted a new article, Wii successor named 'Wii U'.

At Nintendo's E3 press briefing, it revealed the Wii successor: the Wii U. The company confirmed the touch screen controller, HD functionality, and a variety of non-gaming functions. : Shacknews
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  oh goddamn fucking lol : cornchak
  - I was just about to reply with something similar. LOL....so so so sosososos bad : KAF Elite
  - I got Wii on U! : MagicWishMonkey
- Wii U? Oh Jesus Christ. : BeerHunter
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  They call it a controller, not a console : MoreVespeneGas
  - I think the Devs in the video did suggesst it waas streaming from a the home console. : InfernoAblaze
- That controller looks mighty big and uncomfortable. : xpogox
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  What a relief! I thought for a second there they'd call it something silly. : SentryDown
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    LOL Wii 2 would have been OK, but that's just plain silly : tunis5000
    - Wii 2. Wii U. I think I just got it : rosewood
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    Should've called it the Super Wii. : one random winner
    - Wii Cube64 : X-GOUKI
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  Hopefully by backwards compatible they mean you can use the Wii remote with this new hardware. Can't ima... : daggot
  - Reggie did say you could use all the Wii accessories with the Wii U : Ryking
- *facepalm* : virus
- This is all I can think about when I read that name. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JElywbkSbY : Teiresias
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  Looks badass for a game like Jeopardy!! First thing that came to mind when I saw it. : Pneum0
  - Looks awesome for 3 or 4 game ideas and then that's it. : zehh
- Wii u Wii u. Are the po lease coming after me? : SlingBlaze
- Why are the analog sticks above the d-pad and the buttons. Also, wtf not portable? What the hell is the ... : TheVietSpecial
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  So are you suppose to concentrate on two screens at once that are not even the same size? There's gonna ... : TheAirWolf
  - toggle
    I disagree. I know a lot of people who have a laptop or iPad when they watch TV. I think 2 screens aren't... : Runnermatt
    - big difference between watching TV and playing a game : RikiTiki2
    - Most people I know that play with laptops or iPads while watching TV aren't really watching their TV, jus... : Vincent Grayson
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    That's entirely up to the developers. I doubt many will force you to literally be playing a game across b... : Zek
    - Yeah, playing two linked games simultaneously would be a bit too hardcore for most gamers. : RaptorII
  - Is it any different than the issue facing developers with the 3DS? You're still doing the look up/down th... : Haxim
  - Yes, if the developer is an idiot, that will happen. : OverloadUT
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  Ohh Wii U, killer tofu! : harpersmells
  - toggle
    The Beets! well done sir. : FreshwaterAU
    - Now I've got "Bangin' on the Trash Can" stuck in my head. :( : harpersmells
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  "The PSVita? Really Sony? Don't you know silly names are our turf? Here, let us prove it to you! /Our... : genom
  - Heard at work: Coworker 1: "Well, if you say it over and over again really fast, it's fun! Wii U Wii... : genom
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  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JElywbkSbY : Gore87
  - This is exactly what I thought : mrblarg
- Terrible name, not great idea. Think I'll stay in the unconvinced column : apocreg
- good god! that thing looks unconfortable and expensive : oscarkil09
- no u : rasputinreborn
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  Out of the 3 underwhelming pressers, I think Nintendo won. In summation: Observation: Nintendo introd... : zolointo
  - toggle
    Microsoft: Please, please buy Kinects. : riptyde
    - worked for me! Kinect is fucking awesome and only just starting to be taken advantage of : rasputinreborn
  - toggle
    equivalent to a mouse for a console? : Toth21
    - Well, it's not a mouse, but it's about as close as we're likely to get. : one random winner
- I really like the game streaming idea... I want that on NGP. So when the wife watches TV, I can just boot... : Nullzero
- Also, I'm wondering about how the Wii U controller gets it's stuff. Are load times going to be bonkers be... : zolointo
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  WTF no Wii game upscaling?!? Reggie Fils-Aime just confirmed it. :( : Alastayr
  - I was VERY surprised by this as well. I'm really disappointed. : pun][sher
  - It's not trivial, probably not really worth their trouble to support it across the board. : Zek
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    Haven't PS3 and the 360 more or less proved that noone gives a fuck about backwards compatibility? Sure p... : master_disaster_17
  - toggle
    it's not about resolution , it's about graphics quality , it will probably upscale to resolution but ofco... : RuskiSnajper
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      so resolution upscaling will definitely be there i hope ... i mean , they won't leave it with black bars ... : RuskiSnajper
      
      Yeah... that would suck. : one random winner
      
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      Upscaling is pretty much just a zoom in with a few tricks. : razlebol
      
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      Also most TV will do it if the console doesn't. : razlebol
      
      yes, but the consoles do it better (Better HDTVs have better hardware) = GPU acceleration = "few tricks" ... : RuskiSnajper
  - PREORDER CANCELED : rosewood
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  This is ging to sell like crazy and we're all going to end up with one eventually. ;( : Snipergen
  - toggle
    And it will fairly rapidly lose what little gimmicky appeal it has once there are no 3rd-party games. Sa... : wytefang
    - Stupid Nintendo and their lack of 3rd-party games like Ninja Gaiden, Battlefield 3, Darksiders 2, Madden,... : ColoradoCNC
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    Nope. Learned my lesson with the Wii that is literally used for nothing but running Netflix. : riptyde
    - At least the new one will do 1080p Netflix! : swiftB3
  - At least we can play Mario Galaxy while taking a dump now haha : Sailor of Fortune
- Looks cool. I'm looking forward to what this brings 2 player games. : systatic
- Everyone is just gonna call this the Wii 2. This name makes it sound like a university of urination. : Firefly1985
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  you're all forgetting the most important feature of this new system POOPING just went hardcore gaming : NukemForever
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    That's a damn fine point actually. Being able to pause the game and bring it into the bathroom with you ... : atom519
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      I wouldn't bank on anything beyond a bluetooth strength signal. So unless your bathroom is directly off ... : borland502
      
      Mine, at the moment, actually is, although I'll probably be moving before this thing comes state side. : one random winner
      
      PS3 Bluetooth has some ridiculous range in my house. : korruptedone
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    can do that with ps vita for less money probably : wickoattack
    - Understood, but I like the way the controller can interact with the screen. It's neat. I try to keep t... : kingdepork
- While I'm iffy on that big honkin' controller thing I can understand why they limited it to the proximity... : borland502
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  Wii U brow me? : Thund3rball
  - wii u marry me ? : hanged_man
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  Well, I've got to hand it to Nintendo - they're genius' I hope people do something interesting with it : chazums
  - toggle
    I can't tell if this post is intentionally funny or not : riptyde
    - unintentionally :( : chazums
- WII AEIIIIOOOOUUUUU JOHN MADDEN JOHN MADDEN AEEEIIIIOOOOOUUUU http://youtu.be/Hv6RbEOlqRo : Broken Canoe
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  Part of me wonders if Nintendo lost the magic again for consoles. We all have to wait and see, but it wo... : borland502
  - ^^ Nintendo wet team got him. : swiftB3
  - I can see them having an issue getting 3rd party exclusives that would draw core gamers. All of their ex... : kingdepork
  - I don't expect Microsoft or Sony to jump in with $600 consoles in 2014. And if the Wii launches at $400 ... : Crimsonbeak
  - toggle
    "Hey. Third-party devs. We sold eighty million of our last "kiddie" console that everyone hated. You in o... : Deathlove
    - toggle
      "Hey. Nintendo. You actually got buttons and thumbsticks on this shit yet so we don't have to design a wh... : Haxim
      
      Also, you're technologically competent so we don't have to dumb down our shit to the point where it looks... : one random winner
      
      And the answer is yes! : Crimsonbeak
      
      "lol going to the bank brb" apple : not work safe
- #70
  
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  By: byorn x Show Full Post
  
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  I like all of the optimism over devs figuring out how to use a new control method well.
  
  Jun 07, 2011 12:14pm PDT
  
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  I like all of the optimism over devs figuring out how to use a new control method well. : byorn
  - toggle
    this is one of the weird things, that they think all that freedom is better than streamlining things to r... : thebigbeefsandwich
    - They've introduced every major controller change since the SNES, I don't think they're going to stop any ... : one random winner
    - Or, in other words, people who don't want to have to learn how to use the 13 buttons, two analog sticks, ... : ColoradoCNC
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    Unlike the Wii this actually has a completely conventional controller you can use. Developers who don't w... : Zek
    - I said it in another thread, but I think this is absolutely the best thing about it. Developers can make ... : -JLN-
    - But then why buy the game for the Wii U when you probably already have a 360 or PS3? : byorn
- Update! We now included some new details from the fact sheet and a photo of the Wii U. If you look closel... : SporkyReeve
- Sigh. This will be the same as every single nintendo system since the gamecube for me, including the han... : vitek r
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  And next one will be called Wii C U. : Unkei
  - After that it will obviously be the Wii C U P. : one random winner
  - I'm hoping for FU : chazums
- Wiii U, Wii U, Pull Ovah! Pull Ovah! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQBLzotAn3M&t=45s : cptincognito
- With everything that they threw into the controller, I'm surprised the screen isn't 3D like the 3DS's scr... : TroZ
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  Noone is even mentioning that the "extra controllers" are probably going to cost $$$. This isn't your av... : JodoMcFatty
  - We went over that pretty thoroughly in a prior thread, they're definitely going to be a little more expen... : one random winner
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  I honestly think Vita is a worse name than Wii U, but they're both bad. : Wolfslice
  - toggle
    calling it a PSV is fine though. there is no short-hand good name for wiiu : threeup
    - toggle
      im getting arthritis from typing all 4 characters : MoreVespeneGas
      
      it is short, but it sounds stupid. : threeup
      
      Some people say things out loud to real people that they call "Friends". You have to take into account mo... : uglysad
    - Wii2u : HockeyJohnston
    - WU? : thebigbeefsandwich
    - I am just calling it the U. wiiu is hard to type fast without hitting y : deathofrats
- couldn't they have just called it the super wii? god damn I hate the name "wii" : jrsX
- This is all I can hear when I read "Wii U" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sYN5nzG_9Q : jake
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JElywbkSbY : drucifer
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  Why not evolve the Wii? You know, actual responsive motion controls, maybe a more clever IR tracking syst... : BenMurphy
  - if they just evolved the wii's motion controls, that'd be Move : RikiTiki2
  - lol : MoreVespeneGas
- soooo its a HD VMU. nice. : creep
- Call me crazy but i think Nintendo fans will buy it. : Cashh
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  Ooh, Wii U? I look just like Buddy Holly! : ChibiJosh
  - lol : pyide
  - lmfao : deject
- Does it play Gamecube games? If I could sell my Wii right now... : ghost in my shell
- it also won't launch until next holiday season meaning whatever sony and microsofts next console is I'd p... : jrsX
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  Every time I hear the name "Wii U", I'm going to think of Kung Pow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J... : uglysad
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    lol, love that movie : Godhatesfatpeople
    - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LodustivZqM : Godhatesfatpeople
  - perfect : RikiTiki2
  - ahahahahaha : thebigbeefsandwich
  - I hope they have icys! : X-GOUKI
  - Hahah yeah that's the first thing I thought of. The Nintendo Ling Ling! : TastyWheat
  - HAHAHAHAHAH I will never not hear this now. God I hate that movie.. but love it. : HL3dsx
  - haha I made this earlier http://i.imgur.com/SMHKZ.gif : rgoer
  - i watched this than a clip called 'badong' then added the movie to my queue : aurealis
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    I still don't get why they did that to the translation? It makes no sense at all to me. : ovrlrd
    - because it's funny? : RikiTiki2
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    We trained him wrong as a joke! : LilCrypto
    - lol : Godhatesfatpeople
  - I posted this hours ago and got nothing. =P : Lunatic Angelic
  - Damnit Munar I'm gonna kick your ass! >;c. he was doing that all day and I didn't catch on :c : Malku
  - Yeah I tweeted that same thing early this am when they announced it : VegasX
- So will it only use one U unit or can it be four of them per console? Also that's gotta be fucking exp... : Sailor of Fortune
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  ho hum another day, another legion of gamertards criticizing Nintendo while they laugh ATWTTB : jjastor
  - GAMERTARDS : RikiTiki2
  - Probably want to avoid insulting people in the future based on things that haven't transpired. If Nintend... : JarEme
- "Whew" ...at least, that's what I'll be calling it. Not that it's a sigh of relief or anything. The ... : damnedeyez
- Knock knock. Who's there? Wii U. Wii U who? Wii U ever stop with these weird names? :( : Nixx2004
- that controller looks huge : filthysock
- What's a "fact cheek" ? : MBlueD

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