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What on earth is this, Nintendo? Am I supposed to stand on it? Sit on it? Play badminton with it or ride it down a hill like a go-kart? It’s the latest image showing a redesigned Wii U controller, hinting rather clearly that Nintendo’s going to lose a whole lot more money over the next few years thanks to this abomination.
The above photo was rather ill-advisedly placed on Twitter by a developer working for UK-based team Traveller’s Tales, who was a bit too excited to see new Nintendo hardware arriving in the office. The key change here over what we’ve seen before is the addition of the two analogue sticks in the top left and right corners of Nintendo’s digital hostess trolley, which replace the weird old flat control sticks early versions of the controller featured.
The redesign doesn’t help make the Wii U appear any more user-friendly. Surely in releasing the most complex, bewildering, dog’s dinner of a controller the world has yet seen, Nintendo’s going to instantly dump all those casual gamers it’s worked so hard to win in? [Gizmodo Australia]
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It’s an odd strategy by Nintendo but I hope that it works. It’s good to have three big game console manufacturers, don’t want a duopoly of near identical consoles.
Has the writer actually held the controller?
I feel I can comment as I have at least held a version of the thing while on a visit to a customer of mine. It’s not much bigger than something like a PSP and weighs considerably less, sitting perfectly ergonomically in the hand, instead of the usual practice of having to affect a kind of claw-grip for handheld consoles. It feels a little like holding an N64 controller by the left and right prongs, but with a slight lip in the palm. That’s the level of comfort we’re talking about (and it looks like they’ve improved the bumpers since I had a feel.)
As somebody who gets cramp after extended play with a DualShock, I could absolutely imagine playing for hours and hours with this thing without feeling any discomfort…
It seems like a really odd place for the joysticks but I guess it would rest better in the palm.
I’ve always found xbox controllers to be the most comfotable, even the chunky ones.
Imagine holding two Wii nunchuck controllers side by side at about the width of a PSP/VITA, It felt like that, and not much heavier. It’s massively lighter than a tablet or even an Xbox controller.
I think the old design looked better, but this seems more usable. Did you get to play anything? What’s your opinions? I had no idea it was so small, too – I imagined it was verging on iPad size…
I didn’t get to play anything. It wasn’t even a working unit, it was a studio-built mock-up made to match the dimensions/weight of the actual unit. From what I was told, the developer hadn’t even received their Dev-kit by the time that I went to see them at the beginning of the year. It looks like these have now shipped which is good news.
aha, that’s pretty sick. it’s the next-gen console I’m most excited to see, as I was with the Wii. hopefully it delivers some decent games, too.
They had some concepts up on a screen running in a form of emulation on a VM given resources supposedly equivalent to what the Wii U’s final specs are (Don’t quote me on the specifics, I was getting shown around by the IT Manager).
It all looked pretty impressive to me, even though this developer’s titles are graphically very cartoon-y (so I can’t comment on realism etc.) I wish I’d had some time to have a proper poke around, but I was only really there to tell them to buy more Microsoft Licensing and to steal some of their money.
Realism in a game is pure gimmick. When they can process the individual atoms of an object in 50 years time, then we can talk realism, but until then I can’t see why it’s something developers strive for so hard. So long as it looks good, it doesn’t have to drive a trillion polygons.
When you see them again to renew licensing or whatever, add a clause to their contract which requires you to see all their games. :>
I agree with you entirely.
I also look after some aspects of the licensing and SAM for two F1 Teams. Let’s call them McBaron and Fort Syria. I’m constantly trying to think of reasons to have meetings with those two.
lmao wow. sounds like you have an interesting job. ever see any cars or just pass in and out of shitty office blocks?
Not really an interesting job. For every Game Developer or Car Company, there’s an Insurance Group in a featureless office or a Sheet Metal Fabrication Plant!
You always see the cars. McBaron are particularly good at flaunting their wares and their facility is amazing. They know that they work in cool environments and so they pretty much give every visitor a full tour if they have time.
The best thing I ever saw at a meeting was during a visit to Bentley in Crewe. They drove a Continental GT (about £150k worth of car) into a concrete wall as part of a Crash Test while I was there. And then they had the cheek to moan about the price of my quotes!
Ahaha, but I’m sure the McBarons and game devs of the world make up for that, no?
It’s good that they let you have a peak, but holy shit that’s insane. There’s nothing to get the blood going better than watching something so beautiful (and expensive) get destroyed so violently.
I think it’s unfair to say they’re gonna lose all the casuals over this. Essentially a casual gamer has no brand loyalty, and they usually go for what their more knowledgeable friends suggest in the first place, hence both the Wii and DS didn’t sell too well until later on (which is hopefully what’s happening with the 3DS).
Actually it kinda looks ok really. The button layout is pretty much exactly the same as any standard controller on the 360/PS3, other than the analogue sticks (thank goodness they’re not nubs anymore!) being above the buttons, and, of course, the honking great big screen in the middle of the thing.
Overall the tweaks are minor but make sense in the context of what existed previously; the analogue sticks look a lot better to use, the start/select buttons have been moved to the right (which makes them much easier to reach) and a few other bits and bobs are pretty much logical, really.
Although… what are those squares? To the left of the power button and bottom of the directional pad?