Wii U Might Support Two Tablet Controllers After All

[Mike Kayatta]

Wii U Might Support Two Tablet Controllers After All

Report says Nintendo redesigning hardware to compensate.

Last year, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto impressed gamers with an inspiring tech demo of the company's latest console, the Wii U. The Wii's successor showed greatly improved hardware, a stylish design, and finally, a new high-tech controller that combined the gyroscopic abilities of a Wii Remote with the HD touch screen of a tablet computer. The only problem was that the system could apparently only support one of them, forcing other players to make do with any Wii Remotes and 3DSs they may happen to have around. Now, according to a "trusted game development executive," that limitation may be changing.

"Nintendo now know they absolutely need to support two tablets," the anonymous executive explained. "At E3 they didn't commit to this, but they know how important it is to make it technically feasible to support two screens."

The initial reason for the one-tablet limit was cost and capability; reportedly, in order to support a second controller, the Wii U would need to be built with much more RAM and processor speed than originally planned. As we're still in unconfirmed-rumor-land, there's been no announcement of how Nintendo would hope to overcome this problem, but the company's interest in correcting this issue seems perfectly feasible. According to the source, Nintendo wouldn't just be addressing the concerns of players, but developers as well.

"Even if [allowing a second tablet] affects framerate, as a developer and player, I don't care. It needs to work. Developers will design appropriate games for this. If you're building a quiz game you're not going to give a shit about the framerate."

The source also confirmed that engineers are currently at work adding the capability to Nintendo's current iteration of the Wii U, and that if they're successful in their efforts, two tablet controllers will definitely be the console's upper limit. Until this whole thing is sorted out, the Wii U's ultimate RAM count and processing power won't be finalized either.

As long as a second controller doesn't drag the Wii U's graphical capabilities back below contemporary systems, I think this is a great, if not necessary step for Nintendo. After all, it's sort of hard to imagine a company renowned for its local multiplayer not allowing its newest technology to be part of the fun. Hopefully, if this anonymous source is legit, Nintendo's engineering team can find a way to make it happen. According to official Nintendo sources, we're going to see the Wii U in its final form at E3 2012 either way.

Source: Develop-Online.net [http://www.develop-online.net/news/39077/Nintendo-working-on-Wii-U-support-for-two-tablets]



Permalink

 

[uppitycracker]

Yep, I still see this as being the biggest joke of a console since the Wii. Yep. I just went there. Gimmicks abound.

 

[mrm5561]

im still wondering why they are still calling it a wii u. if its touch screen why not call it the touch u

 

[Baresark]

This looks promising. I think it would just be hard to tackle a game that uses it and not have it be local MP. All the hate they get aside, this seems like it will be their first competitive (in technological terms) console in a while. I do worry about the price point though.

 

[CrystalShadow]

im still wondering why they are still calling it a wii u. if its touch screen why not call it the touch u

Firstly, that's even worse than their name.

Secondly, I think they want to emphasise it's relation to the Wii. The touchscreen aside it's backwards compatible, AND supports all the Wii's accessories as well.

As to the story itself... Considering how many people have complained about there only being one screen, I can see why they're doing their best to see if they can improve on that at all.

 

[Frizzle]

im still wondering why they are still calling it a wii u. if its touch screen why not call it the touch u

Firstly, that's even worse than their name.

Secondly, I think they want to emphasise it's relation to the Wii. The touchscreen aside it's backwards compatible, AND supports all the Wii's accessories as well.

As to the story itself... Considering how many people have complained about there only being one screen, I can see why they're doing their best to see if they can improve on that at all.

someone forgot their /sarcasm tag

 

[Solid Reece]

Now they just need to add two more and they'll be able to do what the Vita and the Ps3 can do.

Two player multiplayer? Seriously, what is this, 1993?

No but I really never see any new games support more than 2-player if its for offline

 

[Solid Reece]

sorry same post. Please Ignore

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Yep, I still see this as being the biggest joke of a console since the Wii. Yep. I just went there. Gimmicks abound.

I wonder how long it's going to take before Nintendo releases a home console with a standard control pad as the default pad. Other than that...at least the tablet has the right looking buttons. I'd like to see them make games where you waggle the thing.

 

[Callate]

*Le sigh.*

I'm don't doubt there will be some neat things to be done with the new hardware, big N, whether it's one touchpad or two. But you seem to be in real danger of missing the point again. What are we going to do with the new hardware? What makes this so much better than the Kinect or the Move? What revolutionary game experiences are we going to have with this touchscreen? Why is this the must-have console of 2012?

And I'd really like to suggest you find an answer that doesn't headline with the words "Mario", "Zelda", "Starfox", "Donkey Kong", "Smash Bros.", etc. Remember that you were going to do it right this time, and that includes bringing your third-party developers into the fold. Explain how an Assassin's Creed game or a Resident Evil game or a Tomb Raider game would be better on this console than the 360.

If you're going to do the whole "networking" thing right, I could imagine a new renaissance in Real-Time Strategy games with the hardware, with a common screen where all players can see what's going on in the field while the generals work out what they're actually planning in secret. Or a First Person Shooter where four players played on split-screen while one player acted as their "gamemaster" on the touchscreen. Or an old-school, side-scrolling shooter where the touchscreen player got to control the boss.

Just... Get to work on the ideas, guys. Because if the last generation should have taught you anything, it's that hardware alone doesn't sell the system.

 

[Rad Party God]

More added Ram and a beefier CPU could only mean good things for developers that aren't necessarily making a game that uses two tablets, good for Nintendo.

 

[JokerboyJordan]

Gimmicks Gimmicks everywhere...and not a hardcore game in sight...

Basically this whole thing is Nintendo capitalising on the success of the DS and saying

"Hey people liked that whole two/touch screen thing, why don't we take that concept?... and make it bigger!"

The whole 'controller' is probably going to be unwieldy, and if they don't take ergonomics into account, will just be too cumbersome for lengthy play sessions.
Unless you play for 3+ hours on a tablet straight, then I guess you're used to it (and are also sad).

 

[laryri]

Now they just need to add two more and they'll be able to do what the Vita and the Ps3 can do.

Two player multiplayer? Seriously, what is this, 1993?

It could support more than one player, they would just have to use a Wii remote. It says that in the article.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

"Nintendo now know they absolutely need to support two tablets,"

This statement makes me wonder what type of market research Nintendo actually does. Surely if your making new revolutionary controller for a home console that supports multiple players, if would make perfect sense for each player to use their own controller, otherwise what is the point of having a new revolutionary controller in the first place?

Well on the plus side they have listened to the criticism.

 

[Vie]

Nintento High Up "So we need to get two of these WiiPads working at the same time with the new console?"

WiiU Designer "Thats right sir! The customers demand it, like I told you before we even got to product planning..."

NHU "But we would need to make the CPU faster and add more RAM."

WUD "And yes that would cost more sir, but we are after all the only console makers who make money on hardware, I think we could affo.."

NHU "That'll never do, hey what if we cut the resolution the WiiU sends out to each WiiPad when it's got two running? Cut it in half for two."

WUD "Er sir, we are selling this thing on improved graphp.."

NHU "Oh who cares about graphics! We could even support FOUR by quartering the resolution."

WUD "Well its more complicated than that, game designers would need a whole new UI for each reduc.."

NHU "Oh just whip them harder! Now hurry! Fill my Mid Day bath with hundred dollar bills, I need to exfoliate!"

 

[ryo02]

im still wondering why they are still calling it a wii u. if its touch screen why not call it the touch u

no they should name it the wii touch u

how about no gimmicky controller at all and just normal wired/wireless controllers?