Peter Moore says he is "very optimistic" when it comes to Wii U

EA Sports head Peter Moore has said he believes Nintendo's "intentions are good," when it comes to building an HD console with online capabilities.

Speaking in an interview with IGN during E3, Moore said he thinks Nintendo has finally recognized that the future is "connected."

"We're a long way away from [Wii U] going live, but their intentions are good," he said. "They recognize they fell behind a little bit with the Wii at the same time Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are accelerating by the tens of millions of users. You weren't getting that level of interaction and engagement from Wii consumers.

"Nintendo has recognized the future is connected. The future is online. The future is about building powerful communities. They know they have to do that, and certainly with the conversations I've been in with them I'm very optimistic. We all need to help them, which we're all willing to do. When I say "we" I mean developers and publishers bringing their best practices.

"I think it would be great to have three, powerful online game networks going at it with each other."

Moore also said he is fine with Nintendo catering to both the hardcore and casual audiences, because in the end, it makes people from all walks of life and tastes purchase games.

"You'd like to think they'll continue to bring in a broader audience," he offered. "What the Wii did was create a whole new class of gamers. Whether it was through interactive fitness with the Wii balance board or Wii Fit, it created a bunch of people that have never seen themselves as a console owner before. With the intuitiveness of the device, people from 9 to 90 started to play video games. That helped democratized gaming on top of the core.

"You'd like to think that whatever they do more people play games because of them rather than the same number of people that play games and have to make hard choices between a Wii U, PlayStation 3 or 4, and Xbox 360 or 'Xbox 720.'

"I would rather that we continue to grow our business horizontally than deepen our business vertically. I'll take both, though."

Wii U is slated for release sometime after April 2012.