Being an employee of the company that is putting this out, i can honestly say you wont believe it until you actually play it.
You can go from single player games on one big screen, or have a friend jump in seamlessly onto a second controller, and put the map, etc, on the big screen, and you each play from your own controller screen, or you can split screen.
The only issue i had when i held one, is battery life might be a problem, but was informed they are working on making sure it has 15-20 hours per full charge, but can also be played while plugged in.
The graphics on the controller screen are beautiful, and is a perfect size so it doesn't hurt your hands and in fact is exceedingly comfortable, much like the Snes controllers.. From the mock tester i had my hands on, they did take advice that was going around on moving the buttons closer upwards, but didn't center the bottom buttons which was a huge thing i had a problem with personally. I do expect one more change to curve the tops much like the Snes controller was to make the buttons easier.
The graphic potential and cost of these is actually around the ps3 price point, but i have not heard on individual costs for controllers, and what accessory's there are. or, what is back-wards compatible from the wii's line up. i wouldn't expect extra controllers to go past the 99$ price point though.
The time my office had with is was only in the 2-4 hour range, but i am beyond excited for it, the potential is just unmatched on what they can do with it. And from first hand experiance, i think they will go above and beyond
You don't care so much that you can't stop posting about what a failure it will be. You had the first reply in this thread, which really shows how much you don't care at all.
Actually, it shows that college has ended and summer employment hasn't started.
It's bad enough that current controllers are in the neighborhood of ~$30-40, but these Nintendo controllers have some serious HW in them, as well as that LCD.
The rest of the system just sounds like a Wii, done in HD.
I believe there will only be the on LCD screen controller for each WiiU. All other players would use a Wii remote. Not sure if I'm totally wrong here or not.
I believe there will only be the on LCD screen controller for each WiiU. All other players would use a Wii remote. Not sure if I'm totally wrong here or not.
That really is the impression it gives. The way you can turn the TV to something else and still stream the game to the controller, I believe they did so you could do this on only one at a time. Also the demo games they showcased all featured a single 'WiiU' controller surrounded by multiple wii-mote/nunchuk controllers. Also considering the name of the console, adding 'U' to the 'Wii', seems to indicate it's singular, and they did say they still want to keep the Wii peripherals and controllers in use.
The real question will be if the traditional multiplayer friendly game like Smashbros or Mariokart will have specific features added when used with the new controller, to the point that you'd want/need 2-4 of the expensive things around a single unit, or if they'll discard the features for multiplayer and just use the usual collection of controllers.
Personally, while I'm excited on one hand I'm a little disappointed on the other. I'm one of the few gamers that actually liked the wii-mote+nunchuk setup (Sony's move would count as well), loved playing Metroid Prime with it and am eagerly looking forward to Skyward Sword. I really don't want to lose this control setup for these games in favour of what would be a glorified inventory screen on a traditional controller.
Anyways, there's two things I'm left wondering on this thing. First, since they're not ditching the Wii-mote will they make the motion+ a standard? It's not a consumer friendly move but would be a gamer friendly one. Then second, considering the nature of the new controller and the ability to play the console directly on the controller, will they be adding the portable game libraries to the virtual console?
I was pretty disappointed when I watched that first video, but it got more interesting with the other videos. I think that the uses in that first video were more about demonstrating possible uses, not actual representations of how the features will be used in games. I imagine that the actual game developers will come up with much more interesting uses.
The thing about this design is that there appear to be so many different possibilities. It's almost like it does so much that it's hard to really understand what it does. I'm sure that it'll be much more clear when we actually get to play with them in real games.
One cool thing that I gleaned from one of the videos is that it sounds like you can play the Wii with the TV off and using just the controller. For example, if others want to watch TV or a movie and you'd rather play Zelda, they could have the TV and you could play on the controller with some headphones. That's pretty neat.
Hopefully, we'll get a better idea of what the console is really about as it gets closer. It may have me scratching my head a bit, but I have faith in Nintendo's ability to consistently hit home runs, so I believe that we'll like it when we finally use it, like the original Wii.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanta Yo
I believe there will only be the on LCD screen controller for each WiiU. All other players would use a Wii remote. Not sure if I'm totally wrong here or not.
Yes, that's what I took from it, as well. Every Wii U will come with one LCD controller and can be used either by a solo gamer, handed to players when it's their turn or by one player who intends to be the "game master" or something. In fact, the stats in the first post mention that only one LCD controller can talk to the Wii U at a time, so that kind of rules out having more than one, I would think. Maybe, eventually, Nintendo will be able to have more than one communicate, games will be written to take advantage of it and, by then, the LCD controllers will be affordable enough to make purchasing of extras practical. Until then, though, it's likely not something that we need to worry about.
Also, it's worth pointing out that the Engadget article says that you don't even have to use the LCD controller at all. That's nice if it's optional. That means that casual "non-gamers" like our parents and those in senior citizen homes won't have to bother learning to use it, making the Wii U just as simple to play as the original Wii, if that's what they want.
Here's the announcement trailer, which I think does a better job than most videos of showing the uses for the new controller. SK13, if you agree, this would make for a better first embedded video in the first post, IMO.
I think it's pretty awesome. I like the concept of using it with Zelda where you have an item screen on the controller and gameplay on the TV. Also, that trailer showed some pretty cool things. I'm kind of worried about the price of the controller though. It's basically a handheld on its own.
I predict they'll sell millions of them, and 3-5 years later Sony and MS will both come out with their own touchscreen controllers.
Pfft please, Nintendo never innovates. Its not like MS and Sony started doing wireless controllers, rumble controllers, internet gaming, motion gaming, joystick controllers, portable devices, etc etc etc after Nintendo.
I already mentioned the DC. The guys that are super duper excited for this thing don't seem to want to talk about that though.
The DC did have it first, but the screen was so so SO vastly different its tough to compare. The VMU wasnt really used in any game....at all. I had a DC, and the biggest thing I can remember the VMU being used for was a Tamagotchi like game that accompanied Sonic. It wasnt used to view gameplay (ie a scope on a gun) like this is, wasnt touch, wasnt colour, was under an inch. It was a great idea, but wasnt possible at the time.
This controller is expensive: Just looking at the 6.2-inch touchscreen on the controller is enough to know that the Wii U controller will likely be the most expensive default controller ever released for a home console. If it were to retail as an accessory, we expect it would be priced far higher than the $40-$50 price tag of current generation controllers. Possibly a great deal higher, like $100-$200 or more.
I'm sorry but it personally looks horrible to me. The controller cannot be comfortable in any way, having more to do with it doesn't make it better. Same deal with Vita's analog, buttons, touch screen and back screen.
Also just holding it up to the screen to aim something, that boggles my mind how anyone would want this as a feature. You want to see what you're looking at so you change your line of sight by looking at 2 screens?
Wow, I see a guy I want to shoot, let me fire this giant screen in front of my face first line it up and boom, I'm already dead.
When the demonstration first started and the guy walked in the room as the roommate was playing Mario and he's all "Baseball is on" and the Wii graphics turned into something that looked like real life I was like "OK, here we go, next gen"
I'm a huge Nintendo fan and I can't wait to play an HD Zelda with next gen(or rather current gen ) graphics, but I'm not quite feeling the Wii U.
I was hoping that Nintendo would drop the Wii name (worst console name ever IMO) and the Wiimotes, but they kept both. Add to that the rumour that only one Wii U tablet controller can be connected to the console at a time(so only one player can use that tablet controller in multiplayer) makes this a really disappointing console unveiling.
The controller is interesting. Not sold on it yet but until I get a chance to play a game with it I won't say anything negative. The real key is how good the specs are for the console. Unless its a solid upgrade over the PS3 and Xbox 360 then I'm not sure this will gain any of the hardcore console gamers market.
Also, when it comes to working out on the Wii fit, it was already pretty brutal. Now you have a tablet in your hands? What kind of workout is this? Stand and weigh yourself on the Fit balance board, get the results on screen.
Or pay 11 dollars at Zellers for an instant weight checker called a scale.
It's likely that you'll only need one controller, which will come with the console. Considering that they're spec'ing the console itself to be somewhere around par with the current 360/PS3, this should mean the console itself alone can't be worth more than $300. That should mean about $200-300 for the console, $100-200 for the tablet controller, and I can't imagine the overall package being anymore than $400. That's a bit high for a Nintendo console, as they usually like sticking at a $300 starting point, but considering the cost of a new Sony/MS console it wouldn't be that bad.
The concern would be if you needed to buy 2-4 of those things to play games multiplayer, but that doesn't seem like it will be the case at the moment.
