Nintendo...THE entrance platform for almost all gamers. Ask anyone born in the 80's and they'll most likely be able to list of at least a dozen games they fell in love with as a child. Since the debut of the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) there have been a few more consoles released by Nintendo, I'm sure you can name a few yourself, but when the Wii hit the market it was something completely original and new.
Now I loved the Wii when it came out, I was even one of 'those people' lined up outside of BestBuy waiting to buy one of the first Wii consoles in my city! However the types of games released for system were geared towards younger children and casual adult gamers, and while it held our attention for a time it wasn't enough to retain avid gamers attention spans. I believe it was due to this type-casting of 'kiddie games' along with lower resolution graphics that saw sales slow dramatically and the Wii craze fade. However Nintendo isn't going out without a fight, coming soon this year Nintendo will be releasing the "Nintendo Wii U".
This revamped Wii is way overdue and has the possibility of resurrecting the Nintendo franchise. How so? Well the Wii U is a Wii console on steroids, they've jacked it right up! This time around the Wii U will be able to support HiDef gaming, that's right 1080p folks. While this is nothing new to Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 owners, this move by Nintendo has finally brought them back up to a level playing field. But wait, it's not just video resolution that's changed, there's more.
The Wii U also now supports 6 channel audio, has internal flash memory + SD memory card expansion & USB memory support. (This will vastly expand the memory of the console and save avid gamers like myself from having to dig through a pile of SD cards to find the right one) Additionally the new console will boast a IBM processor, a Radeon HD graphics chip, and best of all a completely revamped controller system.
The Wii nunchucks were cool at first... it was kinda neat to swing the controller like a golf club and pretend I was really on the course. This grew old... and quickly too. Many games didn't properly support the nunchucks and some that did required awkward movements to control the game. But that's over!!! Look what we have now!
Damn rights!! What else can you say? This tablet looking controller has a 6.2 inch touchscreen built right into it, with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The button layout should look familiar to anyone who has held a Nintendo controller before, with twin joysticks and a directional pad. Along with the touchscreen this controller also has a few other new innovations such as a microphone, camera, stereo speakers, it has built in accelerometer and gyroscope, and also has a stylus pen as well as a headphone jack, volume controls and NFC support. This is the 'one controller to rule them all!'
So far rumor has it that the Wii U will be aggressively priced at $299, and finding a official release date has been harder than finding a needle in a haystack. However one can guess that Nintendo will make the release when its' target demographic will be best able to make the purchase.... so either the Summer or Winter Holidays of 2012!
Good Job Nintendo! Keep it up, and if you send a Wii U my way I'd be more than happy to test the unit for you!!
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