New Wii U hardware for devs in June/July

The next generation of Wii U prototype hardware will be sent to developers in June or July, Eurogamer can reveal.

When those kits arrive, there will be "more information" about unknown aspects such as raw machine power and online capabilities, Sega Europe MD of development Gary Dunn explained.

"It's still a little early. There's another generation of prototype hardware coming out in June or July that's going to give us more information," Dunn told us, adding that he "better not say" how old the current Wii U hardware Sega has is.

Sega's initial, "very early doors" reaction to Wii U is that "we're finding it to be quite powerful".

Whether that means more powerful than PS3 and 360 - the billion dollar question - Dunn wouldn't specify. "It's too early to call," he said. "It's different."

The signs, however, are encouraging. Dunn said initial experimentation revealed the Wii U to be "a good platform to develop for".

"We've certainly found it easier to get prototypes up and running on next-gen definition visuals, so we're quite pleased with it," said Dunn.

"Given the fact that one of our graphics engineers ported something across very quickly I would say the answer to [having easily understandable architecture] has got to be yes."

Sega and Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines was shown on an E3 show reel for Wii U. The project hasn't 100 per cent been confirmed for Wii U yet, but having that game on Nintendo's new console is Sega's "intent", Dunn said.

All of which bodes well for more Sega games on Wii U, although Dunn wouldn't "want to make a blanket statement" about future Sega games being on Wii U as well as PS3 and Xbox 360.

"We would certainly consider Wii U in the mix," he said, "but every single game is green lit on an individual platform by platform consideration."

However, Dunn did dismiss the notion that Sega will port PS3 and 360 to Wii U in standard, basic form.

"No, no we wouldn't [do that]," reacted Dunn. "Clearly the new control mechanic allows some asymmetrical gameplay which we're quite excited about - to leverage that when we're looking to put any game on that system."

Gary Dunn couldn't tell Eurogamer what other Wii U games, if any, Sega is working on.