The E3 week has just wrapped up, and we’ve had a bunch of major announcements, the biggest of which was Nintendo’s new console. Nintendo announced the Wii U, which will be the successor to the Wii, and will pack some powerful hardware — more powerful than the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
But that’s not Wii U’s trump card: it’s the new controller. A brand new, and fairly large controller with a built in touchscreen, kinda like a tablet with input controllers. Nintendo showed how the new device will be able to offer a new way of playing, for instance, as you can see above, Nintendo showed a new Zelda game (which looked amazing), where the regular gameplay was on the big screen, while a map of the dungeon was on the controller screen.
Hardware wise, the new Wii U will support 1080p gameplay, and is built on the same type of hardware found in the Xbox 360, only more powerful. The Wii U is slated for released in 2012.
A new round of Wii 2 rumors suggest that Nintendo’s next console will only feature 8GB of internal storage, which sounds like a lot, but in fact, it isn’t, considering that DLC these days can go well over 1 GB in size, and full downloadable games are anywhere between 2 to 5 GB in size. The rumors also suggest that Wii 2 will be expandable with SD card slots and USB drives, much like the current Wii is.
Another set of rumors, this time quite surprisingly, state that 1080p isn’t certain to be supported on the Wii 2. This should be a big no-no, as 1080p is standard these days, both on TVs, and the Xbox 360 and PS3. Since the Wii 2 is rumored to be more powerful than the Xbox 360, 1080p shouldn’t be a problem at all for it.
If you’ve been paying attention you’ll know that a ton of rumors have been circulating as of late that say Nintendo will come forth as some point in the near future to announce a second generation Wii console. Many of these rumors point to waning Wii sales due to the fact that both Sony and Microsoft have launched their own motion controllers for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 but up until now Nintendo remained quiet regarding the matter.
Well that has officially changed as Nintendo has just issued a statement saying that they will in fact be launching a next generation Wii at some point next year. Even better, they also confirmed that they will have a playable version of the console at this year’s E3 which is set to go down on June 7th.
What will the next generation Wii hold? We aren’t quite sure and won’t be until E3 rolls around or a hefty leak happens. Stay tuned!
With just about every release modern video games are getting more graphically advanced than ever before. Luckily, game console have largely kept up with the rush thanks to high powered hardware but unfortunately due to their mass some games on the Xbox 360 feature several DVDs. Luckily, the PS3 introduced the gaming community to the Blu-ray drive but considering Microsoft and Sony are rivals in this sector it’s unlikely we’ll see a Blu-ray drive in an Xbox anytime soon – but what about the Wii?
As you’re sure to know there has been a ton of talk circulating regarding the possible announcement of a second generation Wii during this year’s E3. This console has sometimes been referred to as the Wii 2 and other times the Wii HD. Unfortunately there’s pretty much no way to know for sure what it will include or if it’s even real until Nintendo comes forth to announce it but that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate, right?
The latest set of rumors regarding the the Wii HD/Wii 2 say that the console will feature a built-in Blu-ray drive. If Nintendo is really looking to compete with the Xbox 360 and PS3 in terms of graphics this wouldn’t be too far of a stretch but seeing how Nintendo has never really put an emphasis on graphics in the past, rather focusing on gameplay, it’s a bit strange to ponder.
What do you think Nintendo’s next generation console will include? What are you hoping for? Let us know.
The Nintendo Wii has sold like hot cakes pretty much ever since it was released. This isn’t much as a surprise as it introduced the home console market to motion controlled gaming allowing just about anyone whose anyone to pick up and play. However, now that both Microsoft and Sony have their own motion controllers on the market Wii sales have begun to dwindle. Due to this, many have speculated that Nintendo will come forth soon to announce the second generation Wii or an entirely new console altogether.
In fact, new rumors have just surfaced from big name publications like Game Informer and IGN that say Nintendo will be debuting the Wii HD during this year’s E3 in June. Unfortunately, these rumors come from completely anonymous sources so there’s virtually no way to confirm them but June is just around teh corner so we won’t have long to wait.
What is the Wii HD, you ask? Well, we’d speculate that it’s the same exact thing as the original Wii but with beefed up hardware allowing games to better compete with the likes of the PS3 and Xbox 360. What do you think? Is that something you’d like?
Sure, the PS3 and Xbox 360 and years ahead when it comes to graphical capabilities but the Wii has long been the only one with a motion controller (we’re not even going to mention SIXAXIS). However, now that Project Natal and Playstation Move are just around the corner, the consoles are becoming increasingly alike.
Well, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto hopes to change this with the Wii 2 saying:
“In the next generation of hardware, the challenge is how unique and different a product Nintendo is able to make. Whether that be Wii HD, Wii 2 or an entirely new console, I am not in a position to say at this point.”
I hope they don’t name it the Wii HD, that would be too cliche.
While we are just over half way through this current console generation, curiosity, rumors, and speculation on the next generation of consoles has been far from dormant. The Wii HD has all but been announced, the PlayStation 4 has been mentioned several times by various Sony employees, even if only speculatively, and the Xbox 720 is probably going to be announced the next year or two.
While these future consoles are still in development, there several features and functions that we should be able to expect from all of them.
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Despite some people believing that Nintendo can hold off on producing a new system as long as there are people in this world who do not own Wiis, there is a recent, and very reliable, rumor that suggests that Nintendo is in fact producing a “Wii HD”. According to the story, Nintendo has been showing off the new system to game developers and publishers, and the set date for this device is in 2011.
While our sources are reluctant to be too specific about “Wii HD,” they have been able to divulge some (albeit predictable) generalizations. High definition visuals are assured, as is a greater emphasis on digitally distributed and backwardly compatible content, indicating that the new system will feature some form of local storage medium such as a hard drive or large flash memory solution. It has also been indicated that Nintendo’s emphasis is again on what the consumer will hold in their hands and interact with, rather than the “console” itself.
This report isn’t just backed up by anonymous sources either, there is another factor pointing at a far more advanced Wii: math. Apparently, the amount that Nintendo has been spending on research and development has grown disproportionately to previous years. The year 2011 will also mark the end of a development agreement between IBM and AMD, who provide core technologies (processors and graphics specifically) for Nintendo.
