Wii U: New console launches in a sea of gadgets
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photos
NEW YORK (AP) - In the six years since the last major video game system launched, Apple unveiled the iPhone and the iPad, Angry Birds invaded smartphones and Facebook reached a billion users. In the process, scores of video game consoles were left to languish in living rooms alongside dusty VCRs and disc players.
On Sunday, Nintendo is launching the Wii U, a game machine designed to appeal both to the original Wii's casual audience and the hardcore gamers who skip work to be among the first to play the latest Call Of Duty release.
Just like the Wii U's predecessor, the Wii, which has sold nearly 100 million units worldwide since 2006, the new console's intended audience "truly is 5 to 95," says Reggie Fils-Aime, the president of Nintendo of America, the Japanese company's United States (US) arm.
But the Wii U arrives in a new world. Video game console sales have been falling, largely because it's been so long since a new system has launched.
