Miyamoto announces Wii U Pikmin

Shigeru Miyamoto has at last confirmed that a third entry in the Pikmin series is on the way - and it will be released for Nintendo's new console, Wii U.

Speaking during a roundtable session following Nintendo's E3 press conference yesterday, Miyamoto said that development of Pikmin 3 was at an advanced stage, and it was originally set for a Wii release this year to mark the first GameCube game's tenth anniversary.

"As we've been working on the Wii U I've gotten a look at the fancy new graphics and the controller," he said. "I got the feeling it's the perfect game for that system, so we're going to make it on that." As it has been in development for some time, he added, "maybe it won't be too long before it's ready for Wii U."

"There are two sides to me today," he explained. "The corporate side that wants to follow the precedent we set for E3 of not announcing any titles, and the creative side of me that wants to tell you we're working on Pikmin."

This is the first firstparty game announcement for Nintendo's new console, which features a 6.2 inch touchscreen on the controller, accelerometers, a gyroscope, rumble and front-facing camera as well as dual analogue pads, and face and shoulder buttons.

While thirdparties have rushed to back the new console, Nintendo itself has only shown tech demos and prototypes on the show floor. It is this lack of game announcements, according to analysts, that partly drove a slump in Nintendo's stock, with its share price falling to a five-year low today.