NINTENDO stalwart Shigeru Miyamoto has been dubbed "the father of video games".

He's the man behind all-time classics like Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong, and now he's launching the new Wii U.

The Nintendo senior managing director found a quiet spot amongst the madness of the E3 games expo to talk to Switched On in his only Australian interview at the event.

In it, he explained the wacky new games console that involves a tablet-shaped controller.

Q: What difference will having a high-definition game console make for Nintendo? For example, the demo of Zelda on the new console looks completely different to what it has looked like for the past 25 years.

It will be more difficult to create it (laughs).

The question of whether or not to use HD was something that we debated back when we were developing the original Wii and for a variety of reasons including cost of the system and also power consumption on a system we hoped people would have turned on all the time, we opted not to go with HD graphics at that point.

Since then HD TVs have become much more common in a lot of people's homes so it was a natural decision for us to use the HD option.

Up until now people have looked at Wii in comparison to some of the other systems and thought that from a graphical perspective it looked a little bit weaker. Now with Wii U being an HD system that's going to go away.

On top of that it has the enhanced functionality of the controller offering unique possibilities for gameplay. So we really think this is going to be a great new way to play.

Q: The concept behind this games console is very unusual. How did the concept come up?

Up until now, really in the last 20-plus years, the home games machine has been something that's been entirely dependent on the TV, meaning that if the TV is not there the system doesn't work.

We wanted to this time to try and resolve this issue of the system being something that wasn't easy to use because the TV took too long to come on or because someone else was watching it. The second screen is so you would be able to pick that up and see what's on the system or what new information might have come in.

Q: Is it designed to be a mobile games machine as well?

The objective is completely different to a portable device you would take with you when you go. When we're looking at this new controller, it's the difference between one-foot communication and 10-foot communication.

What we mean by that is the way you interact with things that you have in your lap or in your palm is very different than the way you interact with things that are across the room.

By combining those two different styles together, you now have control over what's happening on the TV in the palm of your hand and that's bound to bring new opportunities to TV and to the entertainment in your living room. The system itself is really geared around having an experience in your hands while you're connected to the system.

Q: Will players use two touchscreen controllers or will they use just one new controller and the original Wii controls with the new console?

Our basic premise is that you can use one with a system. If we got to an idea of having multiple (controllers) it might be just more convenient for people to use their Nintendo 3DS and have a way to connect that.

That being said, we are doing research about if someone brings their controller to their friends house and they want to play together on Wii U to whether or not something like that would be possible.

Q: Will its internet connectivity be different to that on the last Wii?

We are designing it so you can connect it to the internet and it will have a lot more possibilities — it will be a lot more fun.

People do a lot of their web browsing individually, or they may look at their photos individually, but there are times when you'll be browsing and you want to show someone what you're looking at or you'll want to share your pictures with someone and I think this system will be handy for things like that and you'll be able to show people what you've been looking at and send that up to the TV screen. While they're looking at that you can continue searching and find the next thing you want to share with them.

Q: When the Wii came out with motion-sensitive controls, it was a game-changer and major rivals copied. Will the Wii U be harder to copy?

It might be more convenient for people if companies did do that because this system is going to make it easier for people to interact with game systems. Because of the way we've designed the game system, where the controller is really just that — it does have a screen but it doesn't have a processor inside it. All of the processing is happening inside the hardware itself, and then the hardware is sending the information to the controller with incredibly low latency because of the wireless beam we're using. It would be very difficult for the other hardware systems to be able to implement this at this stage.