Wii U Pro Controller Boasts 80-Hour Battery Life

[MikeWehner]

Wii U Pro Controller Boasts 80-Hour Battery Life

The Wii U's most traditional controller will last a while, but don't expect to use it on Wii titles.

With three controller options available from launch, we expect to be charging Wii U accessories left and right from day one. The Wii U Pro Controller, for its part, will make things a bit easier with a remarkably long 80-hour battery life on a single charge. Compared to current generation controllers which top out at around the 25 to 30-hour mark, that's quite an improvement.

The new Pro Controller takes after the Xbox 360 controller in a number of ways, including shape and much of its button layout. It features a rechargeable battery pack - as opposed to AA batteries that Wii owners will be very familiar with replacing - which is recharged via a cord that plugs into the system.

Of course, you didn't expect all the new details on an upcoming accessory to be positive, did you? Oh, silly you. It seems that despite being nearly identical in function to the Wii's Classic Controller Pro, you won't be able to use the Wii U's Pro Controller to play any of the backwards compatible Wii software.

The Wii U Pro Controller will launch alongside the console on November 18th, though it won't be included in any bundles out of the gate. You'll have to shell out an extra $49.99 for one if you want to put its crazy battery life claim to the test.

Source: Nintendo Life [http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/10/wii_u_pro_controller_lasts_80_hours_on_a_single_charge_not_backwards_compatible]

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[Daystar Clarion]

Looks like a very comfy controller to play stupidly excessive hours of the new Monster Hunter title...


Assuming it gets a UK release, anyway...

 

[Fappy]

The right analog stick is in such a goofy place!

 

[TeletubbiesGolfGun]

The right analog stick is in such a goofy place!

the problem i am going to have with it, is they are probably still going to make "A , B" both the primary/secondary buttons to hit, even though they are in horrendously goofy spots compared to past control schemes made by any company ever. i guarantee more than once if playing with this controller i'll accidentally press A when pressing the joystick down.

i can't quite see the back of it from this image, but i do pray those are triggers and not fucking convex buttons like the ps3 controller has. dear god if companies haven't learned that by now.

 

[Snow Fire]

Why does Nintendo always have to mess up their controllers. I see this on the homepage and think "Finally, Nintendo is doing something intelligent" and BAM! Move to a different screen and see that the four buttons are on the bottom. Who would want to hold it like that?

Nintendo: Ruining good ideas since... well, the Gamecube.

Oh no, you'll have to move your thumb down to push the buttons instead of up.

The thumb placement looks a bit more cozy, finally my my left thumb and right thumb will be on equal ground, yay equality! :3

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Why does Nintendo always have to mess up their controllers. I see this on the homepage and think "Finally, Nintendo is doing something intelligent" and BAM! Move to a different screen and see that the four buttons are on the bottom. Who would want to hold it like that?

Nintendo: Ruining good ideas since... well, the Gamecube.

First of all it's not in a bad position. You move your thumb a bit and that's it.

Second, the controller was designed with FPS games in mind. Both analog sticks have greater priority in such games than face buttons. That's why the right analog is in the primary place.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

This is further putting me off of the WiiU to be honest. $50 for a controller? One that I will personally need more than any other controller? And it doesn't come with the console? Nintendo aren't getting my money. I think I'll wait and see what Microsoft and Sony cook up.

 

[VinLAURiA]

This is further putting me off of the WiiU to be honest. $50 for a controller? One that I will personally need more than any other controller? And it doesn't come with the console? Nintendo aren't getting my money. I think I'll wait and see what Microsoft and Sony cook up.

I don't see the problem, considering that the GamePad can do everything the Pro can do and comes with the console. And from what people are saying, the GamePad's light and ergonomic and the size only means your hands are spaced further apart.

And I'd use a GamePad anyway. If the Pro feels as much like a 360 controller as it looks, it's gonna be bulky as @#$! I seriously do not get the hype about that damn thing. It feels like I'm holding a damn bar of soap. Give me a GameCube controller or DualShock any day.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

This is further putting me off of the WiiU to be honest. $50 for a controller? One that I will personally need more than any other controller? And it doesn't come with the console? Nintendo aren't getting my money. I think I'll wait and see what Microsoft and Sony cook up.

I don't see the problem, considering that the GamePad can do everything the Pro can do and comes with the console. And from what people are saying, the GamePad's light and ergonomic and the size only means your hands are spaced further apart.

And I'd use a GamePad anyway. If the Pro feels as much like a 360 controller as it looks, it's gonna be bulky as @#$! I seriously do not get the hype about that damn thing. It feels like I'm holding a damn bar of soap. Give me a GameCube controller or DualShock any day.

I personally favour the 360 controller, so the "pro" gamepad would be best for me. And the fact that it costs an extra $50 just seems ridiculous. And even then the right analogue stick is in a different place to what I'm used to.

It's nice that they will give people the option to use different controllers but only including one of them in the bundles is stupid.

 

[ShockValue]

The placement of everything on this thing looks odd...

Looks like a very comfy controller to play stupidly excessive hours of the new Monster Hunter title...


Assuming it gets a UK release, anyway...

There's going to be a Monster Hunter on the Wii U? Nice.

 

[Gatx]

I still don't quite get how the Wii U works. There for sure is one tablet controller, and I had thought everyone else just used old Wii controllers like the remotes, gamecube and classic controllers, but now there's this Pro Controller that only works with Wii U games?

 

[VinLAURiA]

I still don't quite get how the Wii U works. There for sure is one tablet controller, and I had thought everyone else just used old Wii controllers like the remotes, gamecube and classic controllers, but now there's this Pro Controller that only works with Wii U games?

At the moment, the console supports two GamePads (the tablet controllers), but for the moment the rest of the players either have to use Wiimotes (and their various peripherals like Nunchuks and Classic Controllers) or Pro controllers. Pro controllers are Wii U-specific controllers that are essentially GamePads without screens and shaped like 360 controllers, but you can have up to four of them.

And there are no GameCube controllers; Wii U does away with GameCube BC (likely to be replaced with a GameCube section on Virtual Console) and therefore doesn't have any controller/memory card ports.

 

[Guffe]

The right analog stick is in such a goofy place!

They both are!

you are goofy
Suppose it has something with copyright to do since the controller already looks like a xbox controller?
Otherwise you just have to move your thumb down to rpess button instead of up... big deal?

 

[BrotherRool]

I'd have to hold it first. I prefer PS thumbsticks to 360 ones, so I don't know how I'll feel with both thumbsticks high

This might be a bit of a fail state as far as the Wii U hardcore gamers are concerned, if it turns out games are best with this controller and it becomes standard to buy them, then it's going to lose out to the other systems because of the processing power.

Still it might make some of the core games more enjoyable