Wii U

Project Café (colloquially referred to as Wii 2, Wii HD, Nintendo Stream, or Nintendo Feel) is the codename for Nintendo's upcoming video game console and successor to the Wii. The system will be released in 2012 and will be demonstrated in playable form at the Electronics Entertainment Expo 2011, where the system's specifications will be announced.

Background

In late 2008, speculation was raised about the successor to the Wii. Initial beliefs were that the new console would be an enhanced version of the Wii, named the "Wii HD" and would have high-definition video output along with a Blu-ray Disc drive built in with a release in 2011. However, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata later stated that he saw "no significant reason" to include HD in the Wii console, and that such an addition would be better suited for a successor. Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto also expressed Nintendo's interest in working with HD graphics, but clarified that the company is primarily focused on the gameplay experience. In October 2009, Miyamoto said that they had no concrete plans about a successor yet, but knew that the successor would possibly still feature motion controls and expects its interface to be "more compact" and cheaper. Iwata also mentioned that the Wii's successor might be 3D-compatible, but concluded that the adoption rates of 3D televisions should increase to at least 30% first. In 2010, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime commented that he felt "confident the Wii home entertainment console has a very long life in front of it" and declared that a successor would not be launched in the near future. At the E3 2010 presentation, Iwata revealed to the BBC that they would begin announcing a new console once Nintendo ran "out of ideas with the current hardware and cannot give users any more meaningful surprises with the technology [they] have". Later, at an investors meeting, he disclosed that they were "of course studying and developing the next console to Wii", but they were simultaneously keeping its concepts secret because it was "really important for [his] business to positively surprise people". Reggie Fils-Aime commented in a CNN article and claimed that Nintendo's next home console will not likely feature stereoscopic 3D, based on what 3D technology Nintendo has experimented with.

April 2011

In April 2011, an unnamed source indicated that Nintendo was planning on unveiling the successor to the Wii during E3 2011, that would be capable of gameplay in HD resolutions and will be backward compatible with Wii software. It was also rumored that the console would feature an all new controller with a built in high-resolution screen. The origin of the rumor for the codename (and many other details) was French technology publication 01net. 01net had previously revealed the technical specifications of Sony's Next Generation Portable before it was announced. Claims have been made that the new machine is significantly more powerful than the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is likely that the new console will feature resolutions as high as 1080p. However, many sources[who?] doubt that it will feature 3D graphics like Nintendo's latest handheld, the Nintendo 3DS. 01net also claims to know some of the technical specifications of the new console (translation from Develop): "CPU is custom IBM PowerPC with three cores, GPU should be an ATI from the R700 family, with a shader unit at version 4.1. RAM should be at least 512 MB." Many claims are focused on the new controller, which will allegedly feature dual analog sticks, a standard D-pad, two bumpers, two triggers and "possibly more". IGN compared the functionality of the new controller to a Nintendo GameCube controller. 01net claims the controller is "a touch tablet controller, with moderate graphic output," comparing the controller to an iPad with buttons. They also added that there is a front-facing camera on the controller. Supposedly, the controller will also feature six-axis motion controls that outperform a PlayStation Move motion controller (in terms of fidelity), as well as a built-in sensor bar. Many sources[who?] agree that the new controller features a 6-inch touchscreen. 01net took the rumor a step further and claimed that the touchscreen would be single-touch. Sources from CVG claimed that the controller featured a high-resolution screen. IGN claims that the controller will allow players to stream entire games to the controller from the console, and that the console itself "is likely to resemble a modernized version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)." According to Edge, THQ president Brian Farrell allegedly told investors: "We don't expect new hardware any time soon from either Microsoft or Sony. It's different on Nintendo – we'll let them announce their new hardware". Nintendo has not commented on the claims, saying only that "Nintendo does not comment on rumors or speculation". In a recent interview with Gameblog.fr, when asked about the existence of Project Café, Shigeru Miyamoto expressed that readers should not believe everything they read and that Nintendo is always working on new hardware, some of which will never be seen. Since they never know what direction they will go for their next console or when they will release it, they do not disclose that information publicly. On April 25, 2011, Nintendo released a statement officially announcing a system to succeed the Wii. They simultaneously announced that it would be released during 2012, and that playable console units would be present at E3 2011 (June 7–9). Speaking at a investor's conference, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata stated the Wii successor "will offer something new for home game systems." Iwata also confirmed that the successor to Wii will not launch in FY2012, meaning that it will release after April 2012.

May 2011

On May 3, 2011, Kotaku reported that Project Café will have 8 GB of flash-based memory on-board, with the assumed purpose of storing game saves, and will use 25 GB game discs (a Blu-ray-like Nintendo proprietary) as a media format.