There’s clearly more to Wii U than what Nintendo has shown so far, as evidenced by last week’s surprise announcement of the tablet-esque controller featuring near-field communication technology.
Nintendo has also been seriously thinking about the idea of a controller with a screen attached for some time, based on comments by the company in its recent Q&A session with investors.
Genyo Takeda, Nintendo’s senior managing director and general manager of the integrated research and development division (!), responded to a question about differentiating Wii U from other hardware manufacturers, and dropped this tidbit.
“So, how to differentiate the Wii U in terms of brand-new uniqueness with other video game systems is important,” he said, “and regarding this point, all I can say today is, we now have the new controller which revolves around the original concept of the Wii Remote, and the developers can take advantage of multiple screens, which enable them to leverage upon the unique combination of a big TV screen and a smaller screen in player’s hands.”
Even though Wii U is coming many years after Wii, if Takeda isn’t just messing with us, what we’re seeing with Wii U is simply fulfilling part of an idea Nintendo has been kicking around for a while.
The Wii remote and nunchuck will both be compatible with Wii U. A Nintendo patent was discovered last year detailing a version of the Wii remote with a touchpad display, essentially bringing the whole thing full circle.
You should read the whole Q&A, which also includes extensive comments from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and designer Shigeru Miyamoto. There are no startling revelations--that will come at E3--but it’s all interesting.
I'm too embarrased to try this.
Interesting
Anybody excited by this?
Cool! I still don't know what to make of the WiiU, but I'm interested to hear more.
Always interesting to hear anything about the WiiU. Next gen is gonna be weeeeird.
The drawing of the idea looks weirdly cool, like a Star Trek apparatus.
"an question"
Interesting, and also not altogether unusual. A lot of such ideas are born from previously scrapped incarnations.
Dreamcast did it first though. NEVER FORGET THE VMU!
E3 will be very interesting to say the least.
Nintendo, keep on keepin' on man.
@MooseyMcMan said:
Nevar forget.
If I recall correctly, didn't they also once say that their idea of having motion controls dated back to the NES?
The WiiU is definetly interesting, more interesting than any regular motion controls as far as I'm concerned, and it's what I'm currently most looking forward to hearing about at this years E3. Then again, that was also true of last year's E3 and that didn't turn out...great.
wtf
@RockmanBionics said:
I'm not sure about motion controls, but Miyamoto has stated in the past that the idea behind the Mii extends that far back. As far as this year's E3 is concerned, I imagine that Nintendo will have a better showing now that the 3DS is exiting the post-launch game drought and the Wii U will have more substance behind it than a few controller tech demos.
I want Gungirl for WiiU, with.....touch options on the tablet. Also just imagine all the extra "toys" you can put on the tablet with NFC chips in them
@MooseyMcMan said:
Sonic Adventure was an inside job! THE GOVERNMENT IS LYING TO YOU!!!
Inspired by the Dreamcast, you mean.
Nintendo's been tinkering with separate screens since the connectivity days between Gamecube and the Gameboy Advance (Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles) You could even say the DS was the natural progression of Nintendo's interest in two screen gaming. Knowing this history, I wasn't too surprised by the look of the Wii U myself.