Friday, July 22, 2011

Gaming News: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE WII U

The Wii U has been taking the gaming world by storm.  As the first next-generation console to be announced, a lot of attention has been magnetized toward Nintendo's next big system.

But, their little machine which seems to have a mini iPad as a controller is relatively unknown.  But that doesn't mean we don't know anything.

Here's a quick rundown of things we know for certain, or at least near certain, anyway.

The New Controller

Pictured above, the new controller has really been what's garnering attention for the system.  Instead of the tiny wand-like controllers from the previous Wii, the Wii U has a large controller with a very sensitive 6.9 inch touch screen on it.  Demo videos have shown that this has a camera in it, which allows a Facetime-like video chat system to be used.  It's also sensitive to movement, as seen when it clears the pieces from a go board.  Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of it is that you can turn your television off and actually play the game directly from your controller (although obviously it still needs to be connected to the system).  All of the little gadgets and gizmos in this controller include:  an accelerometer, a gyroscope, rumble support, the front-facing camera, a microphone, and stereo speakers.  The good news is that it's rechargeable, so no more scrambling for AA batteries.

System Specs

For storage, it has internal flash memory, though the amount(s) haven't been revealed.  Storage is also expandable with SD cards and external storage.

The CPU is a 45nm IBM Power-based multi-core processor with embedded DRAM.  It's said to be roughly 50% more powerful than the PS3.

As for the GPU, the Wii-U has an AMD Radeon-based HD GPU that will support up to 1080p high definition.

The only information we've got about RAM is that it's going to have a "large memory capacity".

Interestingly, Nintendo opted to go with just USB 2.0 slots for their controllers, much like the X-Box 360.

That's all the important info we have for now.  Of course, stay tuned for any new developments.


15 comments:

  1. Looks insane man, you planning on getting one? Blog looks like it has potential, keep up the good work!

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  2. it really looks pretty cool. im sure my little cousins will buy it so ima have to go visit and play it soon! xD

    +follow

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  3. Bigshanks: I hope to get one, but I'm gonna wait until I see what titles are coming out for it to make my final decision. Part of me just wants to get it for the controller itself, ha.

    Thanks for the comments, both of you!

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  4. Won't be investing, but it does look pretty cool.

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  5. Man this looks quite cool, but too bad i'm an xbox and pc gamer ;) btw nice blog! Keep it up +followed

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  6. I'll never leave my xbox for a wii, hahha, too bad cus this wii look amazing.

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  7. I'm still burned from the Wii and it's gimmicks, this new controller seems to be going down the same path as the Wii.
    Anyway great post.

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  8. I don't think it'll be able to compete with the new consoles that sony and microsoft will release.

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  9. The wii beat the ps3 and 360 tbh so i think it will compete very well. looks interesting.

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  10. I though it was only a controller. My girlfriend now wants a Wii U

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  11. It looks pretty cool, but I don't like most of the wii games so I probably won't like this.

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  12. I don't want a Wii U, just all I can think is PEE U! ;P just kidding, but awesome blog and I'll definitely be following you

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  13. First day purchase for me. I loved their e3 presentation about 3rd parties and the new controller

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  14. Dude keep up the good work, great post.

    and....50% MORE POWERFUL THAN THE PS3?? I know its been five years but I thought they would have gone the same route as the Wii and kept the power lower for cost efficiency and such.

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