I will say the same thing I said above: what more do you want from it? Motion controls have already been done, 3D has been done; what "original" things can they do?

I'll grant you that it's a terrible name, but that's a silly thing to base the "originality" of a console off of . I mean, we also have the Playstation 3

The Wii sold the most consoles because a lot of people who don't normally buy consoles bought one. But those people also didn't buy very many games. The attach rates are by far the lowest in the industry.

I actually found this E3 to be one of the most boring of any E3 I've looked forward to, and it failed to deliver anything of any real "oomph".

While the Wii U was interesting, Nintendo are failing to learn from their past mistakes.  When you have something new, come out and and actually say "Here are the games to get excited about."  While I love my 3DS, they shot themselves in the foot by showing off dozens of titles and failing to deliver basically all of them.  And they're doing it again.  What games are you making?  However, I like the idea of the tablet controller - far more interesting than anything else on show, even though it's basically an iPad, only good.

Microsoft continued its downward spiral into Kinect hell, and offered nothing to look forward to.  If you want me to buy a Kinect, show me a game that uses it and isn't a fucking dance game.  Forza 4 is the only Kinect game that looks decent - and Kinect is optional.  I want an indepth game, not a three hour wave-fest.  I want something I can get into and enjoy, not something I have to wait for my friends to want to play to get my monies worth.  This is the second year in a row where Microsoft have failed to deliver.  Halo 4?  You lost me with the jetpack - and considering that it was a teaser trailer, that's not a good sign.  Gears of War 3?  Sure, but I knew I was buying that when I bought Gears of War 2.  Where were the first party titles that make me glad to own an Xbox 360?  Where was something new?  Alan Wake 2 would've excited.  Instead, we got child actors and bad dialogue.  You get more one try next year Microsoft, then I'm jumping ship.

Sony delivered the sombre tone everyone expected, and yet it still disappointed.  A new handheld?  Ok, sweet - what can it do?  Oh, it's a pocket PS3.  If I wanted a PS3, I'd have bought one back when they didn't have a two hour battery life.  Touch screen controls?  They were sweet when I bought my DS.  Two analogue sticks?  That's how your competing with the established dominance of Nintendo?  At least it doesn't support a whole new disc format designed to fuck you for AU$400.00.  Oh, and please give up on 3D Gaming.  Seriously, it's over.  The issue isn't the price guys, and the fact that you think it is, is sad.  Get rid of the glasses and headaches and you've got a shot at something.  Until then, my 3DS is the only 3D I'm tolerating.

If anything, this E3 proved one thing: consoles are creatively bankrupt.  PC Gaming is back where it belongs: being home to all of the games that make you go "fuck yes."  For a a good half-dozen years, consoles had the upper hand.  What did they do with that position?  Waggle controls, $15.00 map packs, 11 Call of Duty titles, literally dozens of useless plastic accessories and an endless cycle of brown and bloom.

E3 2011 is the year console gaming was buried, and PC Gaming crawled from it's grave and yawned.

I have to disagree.  The iPhone 4 costs AU$800.00, has horrendous controls for anything that remotely resembles an actual game and is more concerned with micro-transactions than gameplay.  While there are some terrific mini-games on there, the iPhone is for people who aren't actually gamers.  I'll take a remake of the Ocarina of Time and my free copy of Excitebike over anything the iPhone has to offer.  Shit, I'll take Chains of Olympus and Peace Walker over anything the iPhone has to offer.  The iPhone is for people who buy into Apple "You buy our stuff because your better" marketing, and pretend to be a gamer.  Your high score on Flight Control is worthless.  Your experience in Hyrule lasts a life time.

Finally, an actual controller to replace the Wii Remote and the other pathetic excuses for controllers its got right now.

Wasn't the wii just a gamecube with a fancy controller?

I think ninty have made a smart move. Hardware is plateauing and the Wii U will be powerful enough to last a good long time. Motion control will clearly never be precise enough for anything but gimmicks. The DS has demonstrated clearly that a personal touchscreen can have tons of uses.

The Wii & Kinect only sell to people who don't like video games and want an expensive, more flashy looking version of kerplunck for "family occassions" that sound nice in theory but which no one enjoys. If those people enjoyed games they would have bought stuff like deadspace extraction, okami, boom box... but they didn't.

Wii U will be able to handle any of that audience whilst doing everything technically ninty needs it to do. With better online support and integration of other features it is a strong candidate for the first attempt at a "home media system" that integrates big screen gaming, small screen gaming, web browsing, purchasing, online play, films, TV into one family sized system. the success of apple's walled garden where everything "just works" has shown that this is what people really want.

i'm not saying i like it, but i think it will be a big success.

Exactly, that's why they're trying to make a more general, integrated entertainment system that can do that AND everything else in an integrated way. I think it's a very smart idea.