Project Cafe

Nintendo had announced earlier today that their upcoming console, code named Project Cafe will be unveiled and playable at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.  This mystery console, the successor to the Wii is scheduled to be released sometime in 2012.

There are currently not many information regarding this console other than it will be considerably more powerful than the current PlayStation 3 and XBox 360, and that it will be able to output in 1080P.  The other interesting tidbit is the fact that this console will not be equipped with a similar controller like the Wii, but rather, a tablet like controller with a six inch touchscreen.  Supposedly, the system will be able to stream the images on the television screen to the controller.

Nintendo have not revealed who they will partner with for the construction of this new console but according to IGN, AMD will supply the graphics chipset.  IBM will supply a custom version of their PowerPC chip for the CPU.  Also of note, this console will be manufactured by Foxconn of Taiwan, who is also the manufacturer of Apple's products.  AMD and IBM had been long time partners with Nintendo and have supplied the Big N with chipsets to their Gamecube and Wii consoles.

It will be interesting to see how the competition will react to this announcement when both Sony and Microsoft have said many times that they expect their respective consoles to have a ten year life cycle, rather than the usual five.  Last year, both console makers released their own versions of motion controllers in order to prolong the life if their systems.  Sony's version, called the PlayStation Move looked to have exactly copied the Wii controller.  Microsoft on the other hand, spent many millions to develop the Kinect to allow users to use their whole body's movements to control the game.

As a long time Nintendo fan, the buzz surrounding the impending launch of a new system is always a magical time.  I am anticipating what Nintendo will be able to offer their long time users.  As for the Wii, I had purchased the system on launch day but have sat mainly unused, and I have taken most of my attention to the 360, and to a lesser extent, the PS3.  I am a long time gamer, so the fact that I have to be actively moving my arms to control the action really did not appeal to me and quickly went to the competition for a more traditional method.

Stay tuned for more as the the upcoming weeks leading up to E3 will be full of surprises.