It looks cumbersome as a controller is a thought which knocks around in my head like AiAi in a monkey ball. It looks cumbersome. I don't think I could sit with that in my hands for ages playing a game. But I like what Nintendo's onto with their WiiPad, and it makes immediate sense to me. Much more so than the Wii remote did when Nintendo first unveiled it to worrying gasps, mutterings of "What the fuck is that?" and dropped jaws.
The WiiPad is a great looking piece of kit. Right off of the bat it trumps the Wii remote, because Nintendo are packing in a controller with their system which features 4 face buttons, 2 shoulder buttons, 2 triggers and 2 analog sticks (or circle pads, whatever the hell Nintendo are calling them now). So third parties can release what the hell they like for the system and know that everybody will have a suitable controller to play it with. The Wii remote was wonderful and all...for about 10 minutes. It was a game changer for sure, but a flipped bird to third parties, as Nintendo's controllers have often been. Is a third party really going to risk developing a game for Wii and insist that gamers buy a Classic controller to play it? And are third parties really going to want to go multi format with a release and then spend extra money and time re-jigging parts of the game to cater to a remote? Hell no! WiiPad remedies this. All of the buttons and analogs are there on the controller which comes packed in with the system. If developers want to throw in some cool screen integration. Great! If not, fine. The option for gamers to stream the game to the WiiPad and play it portably still applies.
The WiiPad may not immediately make your panties wet or give you a stiffy. But when you think of the potential impact this could have on games, the juices and the blood begin to flow.
The WiiPad opens up a wealth of possibilities because it ties in several several generations worth of Nintendo's control schemes all into one system. It's almost as though everything Nintendo had been experimenting with for their other systems was building up to the WiiPad. The ill-fated GBA to GameCube connectivity, the DS, the Wii remote - all geared towards this moment. Nintendo have really taken all of these elements, honed them and seem to have made it work for the WiiPad.
Lots of little ingenious ways of using the controller were shown. But on a really basic level, the screen could potentially harbour in-game HUD's, leaving the screen free for the action. Just imagine how simple, yet effective it could be if Mass effect's power wheel HUD was dropped to the WiiPad and allowed you to use and map a power at the touch of the screen. A Legend of Zelda game enabled you to access your inventory on the fly. L.A Noire could enable you to have your notebook be displayed on the WiiPad at all times. And do not get me started on how a Shenmue game could SO be worked wonders with on the WiiU with the WiiPad. Think about that whilst you watch this...
You may now go and change your underwears.
For all of the complex ways the screen could be used, it's the simplest of uses which could make the biggest impact on games. And this isn't even factoring in the camera, the microphone, and the home entertainment implications of streaming a game to the WiiPad for portable play, streaming a film for portable viewing, and lots more!
Wow. That last sentence really came off like a piece of product copy didn't it? Nintendo aren't paying me for these blog posts, I can assure you. Although I wish they were.
Wonderful swept statements of future potential now made, we have to ask the question: How much is the WiiPad going to cost? A Nintendo rep (who I sure got a swift regulating after their words hit the web) has said that the WiiPad would not be sold separately from the system. This sounds silly initially, but it would make sense if it were to be the case. The E3 trailer for the WiiPad seemed to insinuate that the Wii U will only cater to the use of just one WiiPad. Plus the cost of mass manufacturing WiiPad's for the sake of seperate retailing from the console itself would be expensive. Not to mention retailers may be wary of stocking so many of them, because the sales turnover for a WiiPad is not going to be as high as it would for a standard controller, purely because the price point would be so much higher. And when sat within a glass cabinet behind the till of your local GAME or Gamestop, it would look like another Nintendo handheld. Confusion I'm sure Nintendo would want to avoid at retail, especially after the amount it caused at E3 when everybody wondered if Nintendo's new console was indeed a console, or just a new iPad with buttons.
The way I see it, the WiiPad is a bold step in the right direction. And if third parties can come up with ingenois little ways in implement the screen, then Wii U ports of multi format games could really have the edge over their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 counterparts. Providing Wii U's port can hold up graphically of course. But more on that in part 3.
Thoughts on the Wii U: 1. My initial thoughts as shit unfolded
The WiiPad is a great looking piece of kit. Right off of the bat it trumps the Wii remote, because Nintendo are packing in a controller with their system which features 4 face buttons, 2 shoulder buttons, 2 triggers and 2 analog sticks (or circle pads, whatever the hell Nintendo are calling them now). So third parties can release what the hell they like for the system and know that everybody will have a suitable controller to play it with. The Wii remote was wonderful and all...for about 10 minutes. It was a game changer for sure, but a flipped bird to third parties, as Nintendo's controllers have often been. Is a third party really going to risk developing a game for Wii and insist that gamers buy a Classic controller to play it? And are third parties really going to want to go multi format with a release and then spend extra money and time re-jigging parts of the game to cater to a remote? Hell no! WiiPad remedies this. All of the buttons and analogs are there on the controller which comes packed in with the system. If developers want to throw in some cool screen integration. Great! If not, fine. The option for gamers to stream the game to the WiiPad and play it portably still applies.
The WiiPad may not immediately make your panties wet or give you a stiffy. But when you think of the potential impact this could have on games, the juices and the blood begin to flow.
The WiiPad opens up a wealth of possibilities because it ties in several several generations worth of Nintendo's control schemes all into one system. It's almost as though everything Nintendo had been experimenting with for their other systems was building up to the WiiPad. The ill-fated GBA to GameCube connectivity, the DS, the Wii remote - all geared towards this moment. Nintendo have really taken all of these elements, honed them and seem to have made it work for the WiiPad.
Lots of little ingenious ways of using the controller were shown. But on a really basic level, the screen could potentially harbour in-game HUD's, leaving the screen free for the action. Just imagine how simple, yet effective it could be if Mass effect's power wheel HUD was dropped to the WiiPad and allowed you to use and map a power at the touch of the screen. A Legend of Zelda game enabled you to access your inventory on the fly. L.A Noire could enable you to have your notebook be displayed on the WiiPad at all times. And do not get me started on how a Shenmue game could SO be worked wonders with on the WiiU with the WiiPad. Think about that whilst you watch this...
You may now go and change your underwears.
For all of the complex ways the screen could be used, it's the simplest of uses which could make the biggest impact on games. And this isn't even factoring in the camera, the microphone, and the home entertainment implications of streaming a game to the WiiPad for portable play, streaming a film for portable viewing, and lots more!
Wow. That last sentence really came off like a piece of product copy didn't it? Nintendo aren't paying me for these blog posts, I can assure you. Although I wish they were.
Wonderful swept statements of future potential now made, we have to ask the question: How much is the WiiPad going to cost? A Nintendo rep (who I sure got a swift regulating after their words hit the web) has said that the WiiPad would not be sold separately from the system. This sounds silly initially, but it would make sense if it were to be the case. The E3 trailer for the WiiPad seemed to insinuate that the Wii U will only cater to the use of just one WiiPad. Plus the cost of mass manufacturing WiiPad's for the sake of seperate retailing from the console itself would be expensive. Not to mention retailers may be wary of stocking so many of them, because the sales turnover for a WiiPad is not going to be as high as it would for a standard controller, purely because the price point would be so much higher. And when sat within a glass cabinet behind the till of your local GAME or Gamestop, it would look like another Nintendo handheld. Confusion I'm sure Nintendo would want to avoid at retail, especially after the amount it caused at E3 when everybody wondered if Nintendo's new console was indeed a console, or just a new iPad with buttons.
The way I see it, the WiiPad is a bold step in the right direction. And if third parties can come up with ingenois little ways in implement the screen, then Wii U ports of multi format games could really have the edge over their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 counterparts. Providing Wii U's port can hold up graphically of course. But more on that in part 3.
Thoughts on the Wii U: 1. My initial thoughts as shit unfolded
I've been hearing that the PS Vita will have a lot of the same connectivity features with the PS3. Of course, that's just what I've been hearing.
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't surprise me. Sony have been on the whole 'PSP to console' connectivity for a while now, and they've made a much better job of it than Nintendo have thus far.
ReplyDeleteNintendo hinted that there'd be all kinds of amazing connectivity between the DS and the Wii - and we've gotten pretty much nothing *side eyes Wii and DS*