The final press conference of E3 2011 featured Nintendo hyping up past successes, highlighting upcoming games for the 3DS and, most importantly, unveiling the system formerly known as “Project Cafe” — the Wii U. More specifically, the Wii U controller. The controller features dual-analog sticks, a d-pad, a/b/x/y buttons, L/R bumpers, and L/R triggers. Oh, and it has a 5” touch screen that appears to be in HD. The controller is capable of streaming games from the Wii U console onto it’s screen, allowing people to play the system while the TV is still in use. Graphically, the Wii U seems to be on-par with the Xbox 360 and the PS3 and will feature “hardcore” games developed by major third-party companies. Games announced include: Batman Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed, Ninja Gaiden 3, Ghost Recon Online, Dirt, Tekken and Darksiders 2.

When the rumors were flying around the internet about “Project Cafe”, I was getting the impression that Nintendo would be moving away from “family friendly” gaming and cater their games to a more hardcore audience. Well, like I described above, Nintendo is doing that … kind of. Most of what was show of the Wii U was all of the family oriented, safe games that make up most of the Wii game library. Furthermore, the Wii U will still use the Wii motion controllers in conjunction with the new Wii U controller for certain games. For example, when playing a golf game on the Wii U the gamer will use the Wii Remote as the club and the Wii U controller will be used as the tee. The effect is kind of cool, but it still serves as a turn-off to most hardcore gamers. I’m hoping that Nintendo is able to blend casual and hardcore gameplay, and feature just as many hardcore titles as family titles.

There are other concerns, as well. What will the battery life be like with the Wii U controller? If this thing is capable of playing graphically intensive, HD games one would have to assume that it’s going to use a lot of juice rather quickly. Also, the controller itself is rather large. Will it feel right in gamers’ hands? Will playing these hardcore games feel comfortable? One of the things that kept popping into my head as they showed footage of people using the controller was my experience with the Atari Jaguar. The Jaguar controller was large, clunky and very uncomfortable — the Wii U controller has the potential to be just like that. However, the controller does appear to be streamlined with grooves around the edges and back to fit nicely into ones hand. We shall see.

All in all, Nintendo’s press conference was pretty impressive. Nintendo announced some great looking games for the 3DS (Smash Bros., Mario Kart 3D, Super Mario 3D, Kid Icarus Uprising, Luigi’s Mansion 2) that even included some games from third-party developers, including Resident Evil. The 3DS hasn’t been a failure for Nintendo, but it hasn’t been a rousing success either. Part of the problem has been the game library, and with some franchise classics coming out for it and decent third-party support coming out this year and into the next I’m sure the 3DS will start picking up in sales. Anyway, Nintendo put on a helluva show and came very close to beating out Sony for the best press conference.

I’ll be writing a more detailed E3 conclusion at the end of the week.