Wii U Release Date: Console Will Fail to Represent Next-Gen Gaming

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Wii U, the follow up console to Nintendo’s Wii, will not be a proper representation of the next generation of gaming, according to Wedbush analyst, Michael Pachter.

“Nintendo’s upcoming game console, the Wii U, is not really a “next-generation” platform,” he said in an interview published yesterday with industry games.

Instead, Nintendo will use it as a temporary cure to the decline in sales of the original Wii system.

“The Wii U is a pretty ambiguous undertaking,” Pachter added. “It’s a new console, with new controls and architecture, but it’s not quite next generation. Developers have to contend with differences between the Wii U and current generation consoles, then have to figure out what to do with the controls.”

The Wii U will be released sometime next year.

Nintendo is undoubtedly attempting to capitalize on the fact that its major competitors, Sony and Microsoft are waiting until 2014 to release new hardware.

Pachter also stated that the Wii U will not be home to any significant third party exclusives.

It will mostly port games from the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.

Nintendo chose to utilize movement rather than power and graphics for its Wii system leaving it slightly behind in terms of capabilities.

Due to that, the company now must release something that is on par graphically with what Sony and Microsoft have been offering since the middle of the last decade.

The Wii U will have high definition graphics much like the PS3 and Xbox 360.

It will also sport an innovative controller which resembles an iPad.

The Wii has suffered a decline in sales over the past few years.

In 2008 Nintendo sold 10 million Wii units in the U.S. alone.

That number had dropped down to 7 million in 2010 and continues to decline.