Wii U Designed To Make Gamers ?Realize What Has Been Impossible,? Nintendo President Says

At an investor briefing in Tokyo at the end of April, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said the company will be taking a different approach when creating games for the Wii U. Nintendo seeks to target the traditional hard-core audience rather than casual gamers, and Iwata said that the upcoming console will break new boundaries.

We have not designed [Nintendo 3DS and Wii U] to be more improved versions of their predecessors, Iwata said, according to Wired. We have designed them so that they can realize what has been impossible.

The company said it hopes to carry on the same success it did with previous Wii titles, referred to as evergreens, essentially meaning that they stand the test of time. Games such as Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii have continued to push out copies years after their release. According to Gamasutra, Nintendo received criticism for releasing the 3DS with a weak arsenal of titles, with heavy names such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Mario Kart 7 hitting stores months after the portable gaming device was released. But Iwata assured that this shouldn't be the case with the Wii U.

We have learned the lesson that we have to make that kind of preparation for the Wii U, or the Wii U will not gain enough momentum to expand its sales, he said, as Gamasutra reported. At the E3 show this June, you will be able to experience not only Nintendo's Wii U software but also the titles being prepared by the third-party publishers.

But the Nintendo CEO also added that preparing these titles in time for the launch could be a challenge, as the company juggles various daunting tasks.

There is always a limit to our internal resources, Iwata said. The company now has to develop software for the Nintendo 3DS, has to prepare for the Wii U launch and has to finalize the hardware functionalities.

With the release of the 3DS last year, the company began to take a shift in their target audience and focus heavily on the hardcore gaming community. This was an intentional and deliberate strategy, as Iwata admits that the Wii might not have appealed to all gaming fans.

Regrettably, what we prioritized in order to reach out to the new audience on [Wii and DS] was a bit too far from what we prioritized for those who play games as their hobby. Consequently, we presume some people felt that the Wii was not a game system for them or they were not willing to play with the Wii even though some compelling games has been released, he said.

But, fans must wait until they see Nintendo's new ventures firsthand to truly understand what the Wii U has in store, as Wired reports.

It's not easy for us to convince many people by explaining what kind of new experiences we are developing now, Iwata said. He further added that not so many people were able to comprehend the potential of its predecessor's and the original DS' apps and features before their release.

The Wii U is expected to launch in November 2012, and the new gaming system is rumored to feature an IBM Power-based multi-core microprocessor CPU, and a custom version of AMD Radeon RV770 for its GPU, according to WiiUSpecs.com. Nintendo's next-generation console will also support up to 1080p video output and internal flash memory said to be 8 GB in size. But the most noticeable addition to the next-in-line system is its completely overhauled controller, which will feature a 6.2-inch touch screen with an estimated resolution of 854X480.