It's a bit of a strange on this. With all the rumours and hype surrounding Nintendo's successor to the Wii in the run up to the gaming expo, E3, we can understand some people being disappointed that the machine didn't quite live up to some of the crazy rumours that were being batted around - but enough to wipe 10% off the value of Nintendo's shares? That just seems silly.
The Wii U - more than just a fancy controller. It's a whole new machine.
This time last week, Nintendo were getting ready to reveal the Wii U to the world - a brand new console, which is intended to be a follow up console to the hugely successful Wii. With a lot more power, new games, and an entirely new controller that features a 6.2 inch touch screen, there was, admittedly, a lot of confusion around the way the console was presented, as Nintendo didn't actually show the console itself during their presentation, instead focusing on the controller, which led many to believe the new system was infact a tablet PC, or an add-on for the current Wii - but they couldn't have been further from the truth. Even Nintendo have admitted to making a mistake in the way they revealed their new console. Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata told the London Evening Standard: "Because we put so much emphasis on the controller, there appeared to be some misunderstandings. We should have made more effort to explain how it works. We haven't made any kind of blunder, but I should have shown a single picture of the new console, then started talking about the controller. The console is not drastically different, and Wii U is about the controller. The console itself will be almost invisible."Either way, what Nintendo showed was incredibly interesting - with a new console, new controller, and an entirely new, exclusive LEGO game, in the form of LEGO City Stories - and it's not every day you get that.
Sadly, it seems investors, being the fickle beasts that they are, weren't as excited as us, and the same mass hysteria hit, which led to a flurry of shares being sold over the space of two days, knocking a tenth off the price of Nintendo's shares, and taking them to a five year low - a huge drop, by any standards. According to Nintendo, though, all will become clear to investors when they see the machine, and actually get to have a play with it.
Five player games - now possible thanks to the Wii U
Iwata, in an interview with Reuters, said "The reaction to [the] presentation and what I heard from people I met and the mood of the convention did not chime at all with what happened in the stock market. It's strange. People who came to the presentation and tried it out have understood very well that it opens up a lot of new possibilities. But people who have not tried it will find it hard to believe that this controller will change things"
Of course, that's not entirely true. We haven't played it, yet we still completely understand how it's going to change the way we play games. If you want to see for yourself, take a look at the footage below that Nintendo first showed at last week's conference. The Wii U looks set to change everything. Again.
