Electronics

[gardenman]

At 6 PM ET (3 PM Pacific) on 6/3/2012 Nintendo will release a new Nintendo Direct video offering more details on the new Wii U. This will apparently focus on the concept behind the Wii U. This will be available on their website. Also on Tuesday 6/5/2012 at Noon ET the Nintendo presentation at this year's E3 will take place where the new Wii U is likely to be heavily featured. You can watch it live through Nintendo's website, online through a number of other sites, or on G4TV on cable/satellite.

For those who don't have a clue what the Wii U is, it's Nintendo's newest gaming console that will be released for the holiday 2012 season. It's expected that we'll get a list of the games that will be availalbe at/around the release date (estimated to be October/November) during E3. The Wii U is an nice evolution of the Wii in that it will now include full hi-def graphics, use a tablet like controller (possibly more than one if rumors are to be believed,) will be fully integrated into streaming media, and will even allow full games to be bought and delivered directly to the device through an online Nintendo store. The Wii U is also fully backwards compatible with existing Wii games and devices (like controllers, and the balance board.)

Nintendo is apparently not going to anounce the price or official release date at E3 (rumored price is $299 and expected release date is October/November) but save that information for a later press event. If you've got a gamer in your family it might be a good idea to take a look and see what the future holds. Sony and Microsoft are apparently still more than a year away from introducing new consoles, so if you've got a gamer on your Christmas list, then the Nintendo Wii U may be a good option for them.