Nintendo Wii U will arrive after April 1, better start saving now

Seriously, this thing is will not be cheap. During an interview with Forbes, Nintendo of America COO Reggie Fils-Aime said that its much-awaited Wii U console will not arrive until after April 1 of next year.

When asked about how Nintendo plans to market both the new console and its existing Wii at the same time, Fils-Aime said, "This is a device that will launch in 2012, after April 1st, so we will deal with that situation at the appropriate time."

The exec went on to further deny any rumors that the Wii U controller, a slate with several buttons surrounding a 6.2-inch touch screen, is a tablet. (Well, you kind of had to expect these questions, guys.) But more importantly, Fils-Aime revealed some interesting potential in the Wii U. When asked about whether the system can stream other content than games to the tiny screen wirelessly, specifically Netflix, he replied, "Theoretically, that's possible."

Nintendo recently revealed that it has big plans for the Wii U's approach to online gaming, namely social features. But in this interview, the company stated that it will largely leave online gaming up to its third party publishers with a platform that will change from game to game. Regardless of this loose end among others (like whether its price will scare casual gamers away), that little screen just became even more impossible to wait for.

Study: In the year 2013, we'll have over 73 million U.S. social gamers

Every time one of these studies comes in, it feels like we're all at the World's Fair, doesn't it? (And we'll play them while being driven in our hover cars!) A study by eMarketer released today reveals the projection that, by 2013, there will be 73.6 million social gamers in the U.S. of A. This number will explode from today's estimated 61.9 million Facebook gamers in the country, which already sounds a bit low to us. And because of these growing numbers, eMarketer thinks it's thanks to shifting demographics.

"Gone are the days when only males ages 18 to 34 were hardcore gamers or only moms were pelting their Facebook friends with requests for hens or heifers in social games like FarmVille," eMarketer senior analyst Lisa E. Phillips--and author of this very report, "Online Gaming Audience: Lines Blur as the Market Grows--said. "Today's core gamers are also playing casual games. More women are using game consoles beyond the Nintendo Wii, and their game choices include many genres."

And, you know what, she might be right. Just recently, it was estimated that by the same time, 2013, hardcore social games will grow five-fold. Not to mention that there already are nearly 80 million strategy gamers on the platform. While the casual, FarmVille-loving sector will certainly continue to grow, this is hardly the last we've heard from the "hardcore" gaming crowd on Facebook. Check out even more about these rapid yet expected demographic shifts right here.