  hide cookie message  Nintendo's Next Console Breaks Mould Once
Again  Nintendo unveiled its wildly different next console at E3
The big Nintendo console surprise no one's really surprised
about turns out to be called "Wii U," but it managed to startle
us at Nintendo's E3 2011 press event anyway. Imagine a console
that's not really a console, or a controller that's not really a
controller. In fact we're still not sure what exactly to call
it, besides "fascinating" (at this point, anyway).  The new
system's basically a set-top box, like the Wii, but interlinked
wirelessly with a tablet-style gamepad. That gamepad's about the
size of a trade paperback turned sideways, with standard
Nintendo dual thumbstick, trigger buttons, and stereo speakers
on either side of a 6.2-inch touchscreen that's set smack in the
middle. Think micro-tablet with physical controls. Oh, and it's
loaded with an accelerometer, gyroscope, microphone, inward-
facing camera, and rumble support.  The Wii U (pronounced "we,
you") actually all