Nintendo to include NFC in its next games console

The Wii U, expected to ship during the second half of 2012, is to come with NFC functionality built into its next-generation controller, allowing players to interact with NFC-enabled figures and cards as well as to pay for games and other items.

Nintendo Wii U
WII U: Tablet-like controller has NFC

The Wii U, Nintendo‘s next games console, will come with NFC, the games giant’s president Satoru Iwata has announced during an investors’ briefing in Tokyo.

NFC will be built into the Wii U’s controller, a next generation device with a 6.2-inch screen that can be used independently of the console, allowing it to be used for a wide range of innovative new functions as well as acting as a traditional games controller.

The NFC functionality will allow players to interact with games-related figures and cards as well as to make payments, Iwata told analysts earlier today.

“Wii U redefines the structure of home entertainment by fundamentally changing how the TV, the game console and the internet function and interact together,” Iwata explained during the launch of the new device at the E3 games industry event in June 2011. “The experience enabled by Wii U and the new controller takes players deeper into their games, while reaching out wider than ever before to be inviting to all kinds of gamers.”

A promotional trailer produced by Nintendo for E3 shows how the company sees the controller being used:

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