Excitement for gamers as Nintendo launches its new Wii

NINTENDO’S new console has been released and families are ready to duke it out in the lounge room all over again.

Tweed City Kmart general merchandise manager Randy Hays with the new WiiU. Picture: John Gass

NINTENDO'S new console has been released and families are ready to duke it out in the lounge room all over again.

Successor to the Wii, the WiiU is hoping to capitalise on the popularity of the original console and assert Nintendo's dominance of the entertainment industry.

Built with the hardcore gamer in mind, the WiiU includes high definition graphics, greatly improved network capabilities and a growing game collection that doesn't ignore mature titles.

It also comes complete with a strange controller that resembles a tablet crossed with a portable gaming device, scattered with buttons and topped off with a touch screen.

Industry pundits are unsure if the Wii will be profitable unless it can gather momentum to fight against Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PS3, which have been out for years and have a strongly defined user base.

Tweed Heads gamer Jess McAuliffe said he wasn't too sure about Nintendo's latest offering and he thought it looked just a little too comparable to a PSP or similar handheld device.

"Really don't know if I'd buy one, they look pretty much like a bigger PSP," he said.

Mr McAucliffe liked the look of the arcade shooters and light-gun games, but was still unimpressed with the WiiU and thought it was targeted at a family demographic.

"I have an original Wii, and this also looks interesting, but there's just so much better stuff out there," he said.

"For a family it looks great, not so much a teen or younger adult."

Despite the worry from gamers and critics that the system isn't up to scratch, launch units sold out in some stores and others were requesting pre-orders to sure up stock supply.

The original Wii was intelligently targeted at families and 'casual' gamers, selling countless consoles to those who usually wouldn't have bothered picking up a video game system.