Hands-on Wii points to future of gaming

The Wii U looks as wacky as its name, as if Fisher Price had been asked to make an iPad for children.

It's surprisingly large and bulky, and certainly not something you will take out of the living room.

In fact, it's one of the oddest devices I've ever seen - which is part of its appeal.

The new console really isn't like anything else on the market. The Evening Standard was able to play eight games that showed off its abilities.

In one game, the person with the controller can see an entire maze and move their character around on the screen. Other players, using a TV and normal Nintendo Wii controllers, can only see their view from within the maze, and must work together to chase and catch the main character.

Another demo sees the controller being moved around in mid-air to shoot at other players who appear on the TV screen.

It's a odd idea, but works very well, giving Nintendo a unique edge. The demos we saw show that Nintendo is planning to make the Wii U games work in a very different way from any other console.

Players can use their finger or a pen on the screen, or manipulate the buttons on the device.

The high-definition graphics are excellent, although Nintendo stressed the games we played were still at a very early stage. At first glance it seems Nintendo has taken a huge risk, but it has again reinvented the games console in a way everyone will love once they try it.