Is the Wii U Going to Be a Success?

The Wii U is Nintendo's latest and greatest games console. This is the successor to the immensely popular Wii which launched in 2006 and was revoloutionary at the time with its motion control gaming. This time round Nintendo have introduced a new type of controller, one which none of us have ever seen before. The Wii U controller is now more like a tablet device with controls seen around the bezel of the screen. The idea being that extra information can be shown on the gamepads screen such as a map, inventory or can even act as a individual screen whilst playing games. However Nintendo have announced a series of different controllers that are compatible with the new Wii U console there is of course the gamepad wit the touch screen in the middle as shown above, the classic wiimote and numchuck as well as a new controller that is a cross between a Xbox 360 controller and the current Classic Controller Pro already for the Wii. 

The Wii U is has had a boost in graphics sinse the Wii, the Wii U now featured HD graphics which it desperately needed as the Wii graphics were dated even back in 2006. Now with the increase in resoloution it will hopefully allow more detailed and realistic looking games to the Wii U a thing that the Wii struggled to do and developers chose to give games a cartoon aesthetic to hide the Wii's glaring problems.

 

Nintendo held their presentation yesterday at E3 and many people felt underwhelmed. Nintendo spoke briefly about the possiblities of the WiiU and how it is going to be used in a home enviroment. They also announced a few new games for the WiiU platform including Super Mario  Bros U, Pikmin 3, Lugi Mansion and Nintendoland. However these first party games weren't particuarly new or innotative, the new Super Mario game looked literally a clone of the Super Mario Bros game already on the Wii console. 

The main thing that is of concern here is price which is yet to be revealed by Nintendo. For the Wii U to be successful it has to be at the right price point as at the moment there aren't may compelling reasons to upgrade to if you are a current Wii owner. Yes, more third party titles are going to come the Wii U such as Batman: Arkham City and ZombiU, which taylor to the hardcore gamers. The gamepad seems to be the unique selling point to the console and its going to be interesting how much it is going to be for the gamepad and if you want a two player experience that is going to add up over time.