14 DAY TRIAL // Maybe the biggest announcement coming from the E3 2011 trade show has been the reveal of the Wii U home console from Nintendo, the device that has been rumored for some time and is now reality, but at least one major video game company says that it had the same idea as Nintendo and actually built a device around it earlier.
Speaking with CVG Martin Good, who is an executive working at THQ, has stated, “None of this is a surprise. As you know, we thought of it 18 months ago and released it last season. We think we’re really on the front for it and well poised to exploit this because we’ve already been playing with the drawing mechanic and we’ve got a lot of game designs in the pipe. It’s only going to get better with that experience.”
He added, “That other thing that’s really interesting is that THQ never really went about being a peripheral manufacturer – that wasn’t our intent. But we had to do so to exploit this new gameplay opportunity and that broader market.”
The uDraw tablet is already available for those who own a Nintendo Wii home console since November of 2010 and there are a number of games, mostly aimed at kids, that have been launched for it.
The THQ made device links to the Wii via the remote and allows gamers to use a pressure sensitive stylus to draw on it while also maintaining some elements of motion tracking.
Versions of the tablet for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 will be launched in the fall of this year and THQ plans to also release more video games that use it, aimed at a more mature audience.
At the moment the Wii U does not have a clear launch date, but most people believe that it will arrive at some point during 2012 for a price below 300 dollars.