Nintendo confirm tablet redesign, show off Miiverse and Wii U Pro Controller

In a recent pre-E3 Nintendo webcast, Nintendo has provided us with a splurge of new information regarding the upcoming Wii U. Firstly, the heavily rumoured tablet redesign has been confirmed, with clicky sticks replacing the original 'circle pads', as seen on the 3DS. The tablet controller is officially named the 'gamepad', and includes NFC functionality for use with games such as Skylanders.

As well as this, Nintendo have unveiled a social networking feature for the Wii U called the Miiverse, a service which allows gamers to post questions and comments regarding gaming difficulties or for simply conversational purposes. Miiverse users will be able to access their feed on their PCs and smartphones as well as the Wii U itself, and use the the gamepad's front-facing camera for video chat. All of these features are shown off in this absolutely bizzare video released by Nintendo involving a lonely nerd, a zombie game and an old man with mad gaming skills.

Finally, there was the announcement of the Wii U Pro Controller. Providing a similar function to the Wii Classic Controller, the Pro Controller is a more traditional-looking pad which can be used as an alternative to the standard Wii U gamepad. Influences from the Xbox 360 controller are clear, and it looks ergonomic enough aside from some strange button placement decisions.

 It was quite a big surprise to hear Nintendo make such large announcements about their unreleased console before E3 has even begun, so it will be interesting to see what surprises they still have in store at their imminent E3 conference.