The Wii U and its touchscreen controller

Nintendo took the wraps off its new Wii U console at E3 today, sporting a controller as unique as we’ve come to expect from the company that brought us the Wii and the DS. With a 6.2" touchscreen, dual-analog sticks, D-pad, four face buttons, four triggers, front-facing camera, microphone, and motion controls (gyroscope and accelerometer), it’s safe to say we’ll see some innovative game mechanics invented to make full use of this thing.

The graphics capabilities appear to be on par with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Games can be played with or without a TV, which will likely save countless domestic arguments across the globe, and the Wii U is backwards compatible with Wii software and accessories.

Confirmed titles include Smash Bros., New Super Mario Bros. Me, Lego City Stories, Tekken, Assassin’s Creed, Darksiders 2, Batman: Arkham City, Dirt, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Metro, Battlefield 3 and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge.

The Wii U controller with stylus

The Wii U console

Suppose you just love the sage green color of your new desk blotter, and think "If only I could instantly make my whole office this color." Well, now you can … sort of. The designers over at ThinkGeek have created a gizmo called Huey the Color Copying Chameleon Lamp, that automatically "reads" any color that it’s placed upon, then glows in that color.

Huey goes about his business by first illuminating the surface beneath him with two white LED lights. A built-in optical sensor determines the correct color, then an electronics package adjusts the hue of multiple color-changing LEDs to reproduce that color, which is emitted through Huey’s soft vinyl skin.

If users want to light one area with the color of a surface located in another, they just need to take Huey to that surface, then squeeze him when he matches its color – this causes him to hold that color until further notice. Like the Philips LivingColors LED lamp, Huey can also be set on a cycling program, in which he continuously fades from one color to another. If users see a color they’d like him to stay at, they give him a squeeze.

Even just five years ago, according to the designers, Huey’s color-sensing technology was too expensive for use in consumer products. Now, it’s incorporated into a toy lizard.

Huey the Color Copying Chameleon Lamp runs off an AC adapter or three AAA batteries, and is available on the ThinkGeek website for US$29.99.

The Solar Pegasus Flying Horse comes with a solar panel to draw power from the sun or a lamp

Hunting round for batteries to power "batteries not included" toys is a common problem on Christmas morning. If there are none to be found then you’d better hope junior likes playing with the box because that new whizz-bang gadget can be decidedly underwhelming without any juice. The Solar Pegasus Flying Horse solves this problem by incorporating a solar panel in the mythological winged horse’s carriage to harness energy from the sun, or nearest available lamp, to power its batteries and keep the kids entertained long after traditional batteries have run flat.

The Solar Pegasus comes in kit form – which should help keep the kids, or more likely Dad, busy for around two hours – and can be arranged in three different configurations: Pegasus flying above the carriage, Pegasus riding around the carriage in circles, and Pegasus drawing the carriage along in a straight line. The toy could be the perfect gift for any child looking to get their Perseus on and do their own remake of Clash of the Titans without the time-consuming Harryhousen stop animation technique used in the classic 1981 film.

When outside, the mythological creature’s movement will vary according to the sunlight conditions, while inside a 60w bulb at a distance of around 10 cm (3.9 in) will be enough to keep the horse prancing.

The Solar Pegasus measures approx. 96 x 235 x 172 mm (3.8 x 9.3 x 6.8 in) and is available from Japan Trend Shop for US$56 with an additional $19 worldwide shipping cost.

Sony NGP

Sony unveiled the successor to the PSP at its PlayStation Meeting in Tokyo today. While Sony spokespeople continually referred to the device by its codename of Next Generation Portable (NGP), it’s not yet clear whether this will be the name of the device when it is brought to market.

Here’s what we know so far:

• Quad-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU with an SGX543MP4+ GPU
• 5" OLED touchscreen (960 x 544)
• 5" touch pad on the rear of the device
• Two "real" analog joysticks (unlike the "nubs" on the PSP)
• Front and rear cameras
• 3G, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and GPS
• Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
• A new physical media format to replace the aging UMD
• It’s "as powerful as the PS3"

An app called Near allows you to see what people nearby are playing, and purchase the title from the PlayStation Store. A very cool feature – I’ve been dreaming of technology like this making it into music players for over ten years.

Games have been confirmed from franchises including Call of Duty, Lost Planet, Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, WipEout, Killzone, Resistance, Hot Shots Golf and Hustle Kings.

Toshihiro Nagoshi from Sega showed a demo of Yakuza 4 running on the device, and claimed that it was ported in a very short period of time, so expect strong software support from the third parties.

Later, Hideo Kojima from Konami told the audience that his demo of Metal Gear Solid 4 was using data from the PS3 version of the game exported directly to the NGP. He said his dream is to be able to use the same game on the PS3 and the NGP – and that "this dream is going to come true in the near future".

The PSP2 will be available this holiday season, and while we can’t confirm the price just yet, we’re guessing it’ll be at least US$299.