E3 2012: Nintendo Direct Pre-E3

So Nintendo have begun their E3 festivities with a presentation designed to outlay some of the new features of the Wii U - and it actually looks pretty good. The first thing of note in the 'live' video is the revamped Wii U Game Pad.




The design (as you can see above) now has contoured shoulders for better grip and better analogue sticks in line with the kind on offer from Sony and Microsoft. The newly added TV control button allows the player to switch the gameplay between the TV and the Wii U remote - and it can also apparently function as a remote control for your TV.

EDIT: You can now watch the Nintendo Direct Presentation in our videos library!

The new Wii U controller also has support for Near-field communication - placing certain objects on the Wii U controller's NFC reader/writer will allow for different effects in game - Nintendo are likely to go into more specifics at E3.




For those not interested in holding a big square controller in their hand, Nintendo have some good news - announcing the Wii U Pro Controller. As you can see in the image below, it ditches the screen (and weight) and features a design similar to that of the Xbox 360 - with the face buttons and right analogue stick reversed. Naturally it will provide a different experience to the Game Pad - and companies will no doubt have to design with the Game Pad in mind, if not preferred.




Most of Nintendo's focus after showing off the revamped Wii U Game Pad was on the Wii U's online capabilities. Utilising the 'Miiverse' you will be able to connect with gamers throughout the country and world, sharing hints and tips, pictures and even game content centred around the game you are playing. The Wii U Game Pad can be used as a camera for video chat and the Miiverse itself is browser based - and while it will only be available on the Wii U at launch, Nintendo plans to bring the social network to the 3DS, PC browsers and smart phones in the future.

If you'd like to see the Nintendo Direct presentation for yourself, you can check it out on Nintendo's YouTube channel in our videos library. We'll have more news from Nintendo later this week - hopefully something about the launch line-up and maybe they can tell us how they plan on filtering out the thousands of penises that are sure to plague the Miiverse. What do you think - does this pique your interest for the Nintendo Wii U? Let us know in the comments below!