Wii U is Nintendo’s new console

During Nintendo’s 2011 E3 briefing this morning they finally unveiled the successor to the Wii, the Wii U.

Formerly known under the codename ‘Project Cafe’, the system was official named the Wii U by Reggie Fils-Amie because it “includes you”.

The Controller

The real news however is the controller, which sports traditional gaming controls and buttons alongside a 6.2 inch touchscreen. It looks something like a hybrid of the Wii Classic Controller and the iPad 2.

Nintendo showed Wii U games being played on a television and using the controller’s screen to augment the experience. Conversely you can turn off the TV and continue gaming using the controller’s screen alone. Wii U games run on the console itself and stream wirelessly to the controller.

The controller is loaded with features and contains two analog sticks, a control pad, four face-buttons, two shoulder buttons, a built-in microphone, speakers, accelerometer, gyroscope, and a camera. Whew, oh and it has rumble too.

The Console

You’ll notice that the Wii U console itself looks quite similar to the Wii, it’s glossy white with a disc drive and SD-slot. It features sleek rounded edges not unlike the original Xbox 360. It appears to be slightly bigger than the Wii but nowhere near as large as a 360 and PS3.

The system outputs video from 480i to 1080p via an HDMI cable and

The Wii U is backwards compatible with Wii games and peripherals, they even showed games using Wiimotes in conjunction with the Wii U controller.

The Games

While the controller and the system are interesting, they’re no good without great games to play on them. Nintendo showed a few tech-demo offerings meant to demonstrate the Wii U’s gaming potential. One showed Mario platforming alongside a Mii. Reggie Fils-Amie stressed that these weren’t actual games, only demos. Notably, a clip was shown of an HD Zelda that used the controller’s screen to show a dungeon map.

Nintendo has recommitted themselves to working with third-party publishers and a brief video montage of third-party Wii U games was shown. It wasn’t clear if the footage was from the games running on the Wii U or just taken from existing trailers. Among the list of confirmed titles coming to the Wii U are: