Nintendo Wii U will launch next year

JAPANESE GAMING LEGEND Nintendo has revealed that it will launch its Wii U next year and hopes to get its earnings back on track with 3DS changes.

The follow-up to the firm's popular Wii console, called the Wii U, will be launched in the next fiscal year which starts in April 2012. It will also be shown off, again, at next year's E3 gaming conference in its final version.

Nintendo said, "We are also planning to launch the Wii U, which is the successor to the Wii, during the next fiscal year. We would like to show the final format of the Wii U at the E3 show next year. As we learned a bitter lesson with the launch of the Nintendo 3DS, we are trying to take every possible measure so that the Wii U will have a successful launch."

After suffering from numerous problems, price cuts and poor sales, the Nintendo 3DS will get some new titles this Christmas period, such as Mario Kart 7, and a system update at the end of November. The update will add media brought to the Nintendo eshop such as additional content for existing software titles and demo versions of games.

Nintendo also announced that it plans to make the eshop accessible on the web via PCs and smartphones in the future. It is hoping that these changes will turn its fortunes back around.

The company has made a big change to its financial forecast, which was originally set at a 20 billion Yen profit for the fiscal year ending in March 2012. Nintendo now forecasts a loss of 20 billion Yen, a difference of 40 billion Yen (£327.5 million).

Nintendo said, "The earnings forecast has been modified to reflect the trends of stronger-than-expected yen appreciation and the current sales performance, and the sales outlook for the holiday season."

"With all of these efforts and plans... we are trying to get back to our previous profit level." µ