Wii U Controller Limitations to Save on Costs, Says Nintendo

[Scabadus]

With Sony wheeling out the ability for two players to both use the full screen on a Sony TV during a split-screen battle, Nintendo deliberatly not giving each player their own screen seems like a rather hard kick in the balls.... their own balls.

Why not just do what everyone else is doing these days and have three or four different editions, want 4 WiiU controlers? OK. Don't want a DVD player? Fair enough, don't spend the money. Want a decent console made by competant designers? Just buy a damn xbox (OK, OK or a Playstation! Please don't burn my house down...).

 

[MercurySteam]

Another shitty design decision. Well done Nintendo.

 

[Pingieking]

Am I the only one who thinks that the controller looks like a crime against humanity? I mean Penny-Arcade once did a comic about how big the original XBox controllers were. But this one just takes the cake. PS3 and 360 controllers are light weight, but I bet this thing weighs a couple pounds. Is there really a need for a touch screen in the controller? I can see it being useful in very few games.

To be fair this Wii U one isn't the biggest controller sold.

That is awesome... unwieldy as hell, but awesome

Me. Want. Where can I buy that beast of an input device? If it's stable on a table, I'm going to use that for my PC/PS3 setup (I have the two of them on the same monitor). I can get one of those little num pads for my laptop anyway.

OT: Not exactly surprising. I actually don't care that much, since I rarely game local multiplayer. However, until they change the Wii U controller so that it has TWO FUCKING ANALOG STICKS (right now it uses two of those little nubs on the 3DS), I will not be playing.

Also, the captcha I got was "umbrella corporation"

 

[Saltyk]

Am I the only one who thinks that the controller looks like a crime against humanity? I mean Penny-Arcade once did a comic about how big the original XBox controllers were. But this one just takes the cake. PS3 and 360 controllers are light weight, but I bet this thing weighs a couple pounds. Is there really a need for a touch screen in the controller? I can see it being useful in very few games.

To be fair this Wii U one isn't the biggest controller sold.

Touche, my friend.

But I doubt Sony ever expected you to play every game with that behemoth. Looks like it was intended for certain types of games. If that was the original controller for the PS3, I'd be eating my words right now.

 

[GiantRaven]

Personally I'm just curious at how developers are going to approach multiplayer and singlepayer on the WiiU, since singleplayer has the option of being focused around this controller whilst the multiplayer doesn't.

 

[Buizel91]

Not having to buy 4 controllers at what will probably be $100+ price point each and eat through battery life more than any controller to date?
Cutting the cost of a console by not letting it render and broadcast 4+ wireless video streams while doing everything else a high-end console is supposed to do?
Nintendo wants to deliver a next-gen gaming console at a reasonable price?
Nintendo wants to make a marginal profit off of technology that costs an absurd amount of money to develop, distribute, and support so that they can continue to do business in the future?

I really don't see a problem with any of this.
At all.

^100% this

Eventually the controllers will go down in price anyway, meaning that in the future they will probably sell the console with the standard 2 controllers.

Seriously guys, they are saving us money, why should we complain? Just ask your friends to bring their controllers over, problem solved. (Assuming they have the WiiU...)

 

[WanderingFool]

Am I the only one who thinks that the controller looks like a crime against humanity? I mean Penny-Arcade once did a comic about how big the original XBox controllers were. But this one just takes the cake. PS3 and 360 controllers are light weight, but I bet this thing weighs a couple pounds. Is there really a need for a touch screen in the controller? I can see it being useful in very few games.

To be fair this Wii U one isn't the biggest controller sold.

Touche, my friend.

But I doubt Sony ever expected you to play every game with that behemoth. Looks like it was intended for certain types of games. If that was the original controller for the PS3, I'd be eating my words right now.

Spoiler: I believe this was the original design..

 

[WanderingFool]

First off, apologize for two posts in a row (if someone doesnt post before me).

Not having to buy 4 controllers at what will probably be $100+ price point each and eat through battery life more than any controller to date?
Cutting the cost of a console by not letting it render and broadcast 4+ wireless video streams while doing everything else a high-end console is supposed to do?
Nintendo wants to deliver a next-gen gaming console at a reasonable price?
Nintendo wants to make a marginal profit off of technology that costs an absurd amount of money to develop, distribute, and support so that they can continue to do business in the future?

I really don't see a problem with any of this.
At all.

^100% this

Eventually the controllers will go down in price anyway, meaning that in the future they will probably sell the console with the standard 2 controllers.

Seriously guys, they are saving us money, why should we complain? Just ask your friends to bring their controllers over, problem solved. (Assuming they have the WiiU...)

From what I read, they are making it so only one of thos touch screen controllers are able to be use on one console. This is not them only selling one contoller per console, this is one controller per console, PERIOD.

Also, did they say how much the WiiU was going to cost? I might have missed that...

 

[KarmicToast]

Not having to buy 4 controllers at what will probably be $100+ price point each and eat through battery life more than any controller to date?
Cutting the cost of a console by not letting it render and broadcast 4+ wireless video streams while doing everything else a high-end console is supposed to do?
Nintendo wants to deliver a next-gen gaming console at a reasonable price?
Nintendo wants to make a marginal profit off of technology that costs an absurd amount of money to develop, distribute, and support so that they can continue to do business in the future?

I really don't see a problem with any of this.
At all.

^100% this

Eventually the controllers will go down in price anyway, meaning that in the future they will probably sell the console with the standard 2 controllers.

Seriously guys, they are saving us money, why should we complain? Just ask your friends to bring their controllers over, problem solved. (Assuming they have the WiiU...)

Here is the problem with this this.
1. You still have to buy wii-motes plus nunchucks plus wii-motion plus.
2. Your second point isn't a point: Not letting it do something it should because it does everything else it should? And anyway, no, it doesn't. There is no substantive multiplayer network (see XBL or PSN), and it only supports ONE controller that isn't a motion wand.
3. They aren't delivering a next-gen console. They are delivering a current gen console five years late -- WITH a truckload of limitations and a stable of games that are equally old and remakes.
4. Traditionally, Nintendo has been the only system that makes profit off of it's hardware from the beginning. That worked great until the N64. Ever since, in order to keep that dated business model, they've released half-ass consoles.

Of course this is an issue! They are re-selling the wii with graphical and processing powers that should have been there five years ago, along with only one new peripheral device, of which, there can only be one attached at any given point. I mean, come on guys. Nintendo is a day late and a dollar short every year when it comes to being a competitive console developer for actual gamers. They haven't even launched a new successful franchise in years ... they just leech off of the oldies and remake them over and over and over again. They are the freaking Disneyworld of video games.

Also Arc: no, they mean it can only SUPPORT one controller. Even if you owned 4.

 

[Xanthious]

Of course, this won't be the first time that Nintendo has made gajillions of dollars doing things that its rivals aren't - or vice versa - so perhaps it will all pay off.

Nintendo got lucky . . . once. Around the time just before the Wii was released they were basically fighting to even remain relevant. I don't get where this contrived notion that Nintendo has a history of printing money doing off the wall things comes from. They have a history of making stupid ass gimmicks that end up failing miserably. Hell dating all the way back 21 years ago to that stupid ass robot for the NES the Wii, yeah the Wii, was the first truly successful gimmick they were able to get to stick. R.O.B. was a train wreck, the Power Pad failed, the Power Glove was simply atrocious, the Super Scope never took off, words can't say just how bad the Virtual Boy was, the N64 microphone failed, those stupid congas for the Wii were a joke, Wii speak has been all but abandoned, the 3DS is skipping down the path o' mediocrity currently and there's more I know I'm not remembering right now.

 

[Lanhavoc]

Nintendo appears to be shooting themselves in the foot, but who knows? There's no limit to what kids will ask for and what parents will buy them most times.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Not having to buy 4 controllers at what will probably be $100+ price point each and eat through battery life more than any controller to date?
Cutting the cost of a console by not letting it render and broadcast 4+ wireless video streams while doing everything else a high-end console is supposed to do?
Nintendo wants to deliver a next-gen gaming console at a reasonable price?
Nintendo wants to make a marginal profit off of technology that costs an absurd amount of money to develop, distribute, and support so that they can continue to do business in the future?

I really don't see a problem with any of this.
At all.

^100% this

Eventually the controllers will go down in price anyway, meaning that in the future they will probably sell the console with the standard 2 controllers.

Seriously guys, they are saving us money, why should we complain? Just ask your friends to bring their controllers over, problem solved. (Assuming they have the WiiU...)

One controller per console, period. That is one of the reasons a lot of people are mad.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

There are times and places to cut cost on a product. Nintendo selecting not to support DVD/Blu-Ray on the WiiU because everyone already devices capable of that and to save money not paying royalties to patent owners which saving can then be passed on to paying customers makes sense. However limiting the console on how many of the new controllers to save cost is a dubious decision one that I think might come back and bite Nintendo because I think that limits the potential uses for the controller needlessly. For example the first game I could think of that would make use of multiple WiiU controllers would be a remake of the Zelda Four Swords using the WiiU controllers much like the old GBA link up on the Gamecube, but this looks like would not be possible with the WiiU controller limit.

 

[GeorgW]

I have a solution. How about making a classic controller that isn't impossible to hold, and doesn't have to be hooked up to the damn Wii controller. That, or bring back GC controllers.
I can understand that the screen is unnecessary, but like hell if I'm gonna play Smash bros. on Wiimotes.

Also, what happened to the local multiplayer with each player having their own screen that they promised us?

 

[KarmicToast]

...like hell if I'm gonna play Smash bros. on Wiimotes.

Damn skippy.

 

[ShadowKatt]

I hadn't heard this before. This is just fantastic. I could almost agree with nintendo about leaving out the dvd/blu-ray since they have a point there, but only one wii-u controller per console? Yeah, they're right, it's ABSOLUTELY motivated by price. If you want to play 2 player with wii-u controllers then you can buy two consoles. That's a genius plan.

This console is going to go down in flames so hot I can't wait to see it take the rest of the company with it. Sony has their entire electronics division, Microsoft has Windows, Nintendo fucks up their console and their whole business model collapses like a house of cards.

*grabs a bowl of popcorn* This is going to be AWESOME!

 

[Gaderael]

Nintendo wasn't planning to ask its customers to ask customers to buy more than one controller anyway, Iwata added.

That's good. I wasn't going to ask random fellow customers to buy another controller regardless.

OT: This shouldn't be too bad if the other four players can use classic controllers.

That's what I was thinking. Being able to use the Classic Pro, or a gamecube controller.

I bought a Classic Pro to play NHL 2k11 (not so good), but if I can use it to play NHL 12 or 13, or whatever number is out when the WiiU debuts, I'll be happy.

 

[Plinglebob]

Personally I'm split over this. The controller is obviously going to be expensive to produce and I think its good that limiting how many the console can support will stop companies making games that assume you have 4 of them thus encouraging people to shell out more money. On the other hand, I'm a big fan of both 4 Swords and Crystal Chronicles and the thought of playing new versions with this tech made me a happy bunny.

 

[DoctorPhil]

Who knows, pherhaps if they made the WiiU compatible with 2 WiiU controllers, it might end up costing FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE US DOLLARS.
And as we have seen, that's not good for business.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

that is disappointing

in fact unless they allow at least 2 touchscreen inputs I'm not going to get the console

without multiple touchscreens you can't do fun stuff like four swords style gameplay, or culdcept or even poker where each player has his own hand

I think this is a huge design mistake. It really doesn't fit the Nintendo MO of being the console you play with your real life friends rather than your internet friends.