Thoughts?
I have to read more about it, but it sounds neat. Not sure about the name, though. Very weird name.
The concept seems pretty interesting to me. I guess there’s still a year or so to wait while they actually get some full games up and running on the thing, so no need to decide one way or the other yet. Even without the touchscreen business on the new controller, it’s a HD Wii, so it’s interesting from just an updated hardware perspective. Plus the new controller is actually more traditional than the Wiimote in some ways, since it’s dual analog and so on.
Wii U is a weird name, but I’ve given up worrying about the names of these things now. People made fun of “Wii” and “iPad” too.
So, it looks like you can keep your Wii remotes and use those, too.
That’s a nice idea.
It’s a fantastic idea - but I’m afraid of a few things:
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The cost of those controllers. They have to be more than $100 each. There’s a big giant “sync” button on the front of the console, which suggests (to me) that people are going to bring their own over to play with you, because they’re prohibitively expensive. (Or it could just be a mock up, since demos like this interchange parts all the time.)
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The controller looks really uncomfortable. Until I feel it in my hands, my default reaction is that it’s an ergonomic nightmare.
As far as my feelings go, the exact same for the current Wii, unless I hear otherwise. There’s really nothing for me there.
Yeah, the new controller looks bulky and unwieldy. I don’t see a reason yet to upgrade from the Wii. (I also own a PS3, PC, and iPhone for gaming.)
Reports from the show are that the controller is actually quite comfortable, although I agree that it certainly doesn’t look it. Apparently it’s lighter than it looks, which I guess makes sense since it doesn’t have as much internal components as a similar-sized tablet.
All the demo videos show only one new controller, sometimes along with a number of other Wiimotes. Maybe the intention is that you only use one?
Maybe only using one new controller makes sense. All the rendering is still happening in the console, right? So to use (say) 4 of the new controllers, the console would need to be able to render and stream 4 instances, along with the main HD display.
The Wii and 360 both have sync buttons on the front too (I don’t own a PS3). I think it’s just a standard fact of life when wi-fi devices like that occasionally need to be re-initialized.
Engadget implied that you’d be able to play the games on the controller without the TV. Essentially making the controller a handheld gaming device like the PSP. Whether all or any of the processing occurs on the controller of if it’s all happening on the console and piped to the screen is a question. Presumably if it was happening on the controller then you could play games on the go, which would then allow you to sync your results back to the console later. That’d be a cool trick, but it’d also probably be prohibitively expensive.
Engadget also inferred that it’s a resistive touchscreen and not capacitive, which means no multi-touch I think.
Nintendo showcased this trick during their E3 press conference. The system can push the image to the controller and the game can be completely played on the controller while someone else watches TV.
I believe it’s all the console doing the processing as Nintendo cautioned the Wii U controller is not a handheld (though it does do simple games like Othello away from the console).
The PS3 uses Bluetooth and makes the connection to the controllers (but not the remote) by making a physical USB connection for the initial pairing. I haven’t lost the pairing yet. That said, I agree just having a sync button doesn’t mean it’d have to be used very often.
For those who haven’t seen it yet, here’s a preview video:
Maybe they’ll get Akon (from the Gwen Stefani Escape song) to do the advertising.
Wiiiiii-uuuuuuu… WIIIIIII-UUUUUUUUU!!
PS3 controllers have a sync button on them. You only need to make a hard connection when formating the hard drive (and even then there’s a workaround).
No, I understand the need for a sync button. I just think making the sync button so amazingly obvious and noticeable (as opposed to hiding behind a flap on the back of the console, like the Wii) suggests that syncing is going to be MUCH more common, what with everyone bringing their own controllers to people’s houses (rather than just investing in an extra controller or two).
Again - it could just be because it’s a demo version. When you have 8 displays (and 8 remotes), it’s easy to mix them up, and you want to be able to easily re-sync them.
No one is going to bring their controllers over since it lamely only supports one tablet controller per console.
Weird. I’m assuming it does not have Gamecube controller ports? Is that right?
Correct. The Wii U isn’t backwards compatible with the Cube.
But I don’t believe Nintendo has confirmed the idea of one Wii U controller per Wii U system. That’s how it’s worked in every demonstration so far but the console is over a year away. So who knows what will happen.
I thought they were releasing it in May.
I think it is one of those things that may take time for developers to truly figure out innovative ways to take advantage of it. I would certiany hope you could use two controlers so when playing something like Madden you each could use the controller for your playbook.