Iwata Swears Nintendo Isn't Copying Apple's iPad

[John Funk]

Iwata Swears Nintendo Isn't Copying Apple's iPad

The Wii U was long in development before Apple revealed its iPad, says Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata.

When Nintendo unveiled its new console [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110750-E3-Nintendos-New-Console-Is-The-Wii-U] yesterday at E3, some people were quick to call it as they saw it - as the hypothetical love-child of the Nintendo Wii and the Apple iPad. After all, it did look like the Big N had just plunked a tablet PC down and turned it into a controller, didn't it?

That isn't the case at all, said Nintendo's CEO Satoru Iwata in the E3 edition of Iwata Asks [http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/e32011/newhw/0/0]. According to Iwata, development on the Wii U had started three years ago in the distant era of 2008 - long before the iPad and the recent tablet PC boom. It just so happened that between the first Wii U meetings and its reveal, the iPad and other tablets really took off.

"[Because] people outside the company do not have an insight into our development process," said Iwata, "when people see this for the first time in 2011 when this is revealed, they might think, 'Oh, Nintendo is going to add a tablet to their console.' I think that's how people may see it." He isn't wrong - that is how people may see it.

Iwata said that something similar had also occurred with the 3DS launching amidst the 3D "fad." "We release something after much internal debate and development, and that release timing happens to be when something like that is extremely popular. I feel like that has been our trend lately."

Shigeru Miyamoto noted that while holding the controller vertically made it feel more like a tablet, holding it horizontally made it feel more like a giant DS, where the TV was the top screen. "It's more about the value of having a screen in your hands for a video game," said Iwata, "and we were focusing on how you are able to do quite a few things without turning the TV on."

I don't think Iwata is wrong here - the Wii U clearly had a long development time, and while tablets were around back in 2008 it wasn't until the iPad that they really became part of the public consciousness. I also think that no matter what he says - no matter if he's right or not - that people are just going to look at the Wii U's controller and think "Oh, that's a tablet."

(Iwata Asks [http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/e32011/newhw/0/0])

Permalink

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I hope they're not copying Apple, because Apple are shit at making tablets.

Besides, even if the controller has other applications, it's main purpose to be used as a user interface, so it's not even aiming at the tablet market.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

And what's wrong with that? It *is* a tablet on a controller. Whether Nintendo stole the tablet idea or not, it doesn't make a lick of sense to put a negative light on the controller solely for having a tablet. I mean, that is the idea behind the controller, isn't it?

 

[Zukhramm]

Because Apple invented the tablet.

 

[Eri]

It doesn't remind me of the tablet, AT ALL. My first thought was it looks like an old GBA combined with a hint of iPod Touch.

 

[Emergent]

Translation: "We have been copying fads for some time now, yes."

 

[mjc0961]

I believe him, because I'm not a drooling idiot who looks at a giant touch screen and goes "iPAD LOLOLOL" without even trying to learn anything else about it. If anyone would bother to do even the slightest bit or research beyond looking at a picture, they'd know that it's nowhere close to being a tablet. The controller really is nothing but a controller. All its internals are just regular controller internals. The Wii U is processing all the video and everything else, and the controller is just an input device like on every other console. The only remotely tablet-like feature is when the Wii U can use the controller's screen to play the game so other people can watch TV, but even then it has already kicked a tablet's ass because it has actual circle pads and buttons instead of that sloppy touch screen crap.

 

[Dorkmaster Flek]

I totally believe him, because Nintendo generally has long development periods internally, but I also think it doesn't matter. People will definitely equate it with the iPad, and it doesn't matter because I still think it's a great idea in general. It remains to be seen how well they use it.

 

[DEAD34345]

Oh wow, the boss of Nintendo "swears" he didn't copy Apple, that means it must be true...

To be honest I don't care whether he copied Apple or not, companies do this all the time. If he is taking something that is good, and using it in his own product then good for him, that's how progress is made. It isn't a crime to realise certain features work well, and use them in your own products.

Also, am I the only one who can't see the image in this thread?

 

[gring]

Oh I guess people all of a sudden forgot what a nintendo DS is, and how much earlier that came out before the iphone.

You know, that thing with a screen for viewing and another screen for touching, with a d-pad and some buttons? Kinda like the WiiU... OH DID I JUST BLOW YOUR MIND?! If I did then please do humanity a favor and never speak on the internet ever again, good day.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Well, obviously. Just because it has a touchscreen doesn't mean they're ripping off Apple's no-flash-and-no-multitasking thing that sells perplexingly well despite its glaring shortcomings. Besides, Nintendo only creates the things other rip off anyway...

I'm actually quite impressed with Nintendo's new design. I obviously have no idea how well it works, but it definitely is promising. I'm even more curious how Sony and Microsoft will rip this thing off, and how Apple will likely do the same.

 

[Pingieking]

You know, that thing with a screen for viewing and another screen for touching, with a d-pad and some buttons? Kinda like the WiiU... OH DID I JUST BLOW YOUR MIND?! If I did then please do humanity a favor and never speak on the internet ever again, good day.

But the Wii U has two sticks. TWO STICKS!
The power of the two sticks can never be overestimated. I think the two sticks could probably cure cancer.

Yeah, we believe you, Iwata-san. But it's still an small iPad with buttons.

 

[Mr. Omega]

I hope they're not copying Apple, because Apple are shit at making tablets.

Besides, even if the controller has other applications, it's main purpose to be used as a user interface, so it's not even aiming at the tablet market.

That's pretty much what I was going to say. Thanks, oh mind-reader!

on a side note: Wow. Even Nintendo seems to forget that Nintendo was doing touch-screens before touch-screens were cool...

 

[Marudas]

I hope they're not copying Apple, because Apple are shit at making tablets.
Snip

Thats...a really, really, really misleading image.

What about the 3 hour battery life (if your lucky) of the tablet, the fact that the storage is a typical Hard-disk drive, rather than flash memory, the device's touchscreen isn't exactly anything to brag about, it weighs 4 pounds, and is pretty much just a laptop with a touchscreen. (The chipset is also not dual core and the chip in the iPad was designed to be low power usage, to support the point of the tablet as they saw it)

Look, the device was cool, and was a neat tablet PC, especially for the time it came out, but that's some mad misleading information.


In other, more relevant news, It really doesn't matter who or what they're ripping off, or if they are at all, they're not in competing markets. All of these looks at the Console don't do much for me because it doesn't show any of the actual execution. I'd like to see the gameplay that they envisioned on these controllers.

 

[Aeshi]

I didn't even notice the similarities until this actually pointed them out.

Of course if it is ripping off Apple then it seems to have inherited the "APPLE/WIIU USERS MUST BE GASSED FOR THE GLORY OF " crowd as well.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I hope they're not copying Apple, because Apple are shit at making tablets.

Besides, even if the controller has other applications, it's main purpose to be used as a user interface, so it's not even aiming at the tablet market.

That's pretty much what I was going to say. Thanks, oh mind-reader!

on a side note: Wow. Even Nintendo seems to forget that Nintendo was doing touch-screens before touch-screens were cool...

No problem citizen!

I hope they're not copying Apple, because Apple are shit at making tablets.
Snip

Thats...a really, really, really misleading image.

What about the 3 hour battery life (if your lucky) of the tablet, the fact that the storage is a typical Hard-disk drive, rather than flash memory, the device's touchscreen isn't exactly anything to brag about, it weighs 4 pounds, and is pretty much just a laptop with a touchscreen.

Look, the device was cool, and was a neat tablet PC, especially for the time it came out, but that's some mad misleading information.


In other, more relevant news, It really doesn't matter who or what they're ripping off, or if they are at all, they're not in competing markets. All of these looks at the Console don't do much for me because it doesn't show any of the actual execution. I'd like to see the gameplay that's envisioned on these controllers.

Even if that's the case, it still doesn't change the fact that Apple are charging a ridiculous amount of money for something I could probably make with a milk carton and a pack of mints.

 

[Marudas]

Even if that's the case, it still doesn't change the fact that Apple are charging a ridiculous amount of money for something I could probably make with a milk carton and a pack of mints.

I would actually...really like to see that.

Overall though, thats how the market works. People vote with their dollars. They've shown that they're willing to pay that premium for the iPad, so Apple isn't likely to change that.

Its just like how I've genuinely been shocked about every new DS since the DS lite, and wondering why anyone would ever want one, but people still buy them. I don't get mad at Nintendo for it, I wonder why people would fork out the money for those devices.

 

[aesondaandryk]

I hope they're not copying Apple, because Apple are shit at making tablets.

Besides, even if the controller has other applications, it's main purpose to be used as a user interface, so it's not even aiming at the tablet market.

Hah, I appreciated that.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Even if that's the case, it still doesn't change the fact that Apple are charging a ridiculous amount of money for something I could probably make with a milk carton and a pack of mints.

I would actually...really like to see that.

Overall though, thats how the market works. People vote with their dollars. They've shown that they're willing to pay that premium for the iPad, so Apple isn't likely to change that.

Stand back people, I'm about preform science.