Firstly, let me state - this is not a Wii U doom thread.

So, I recently became a Wii U owners, and I'm looking forward to seeing the Zelda series in HD, and have been playing a good chunk of ZombiU, which is great.

Yet, one question I couldn't answer was - why go back to thumb controls? I've really been trying to figure this out - why Nintendo would revert back to thumb controls after turning the industry on it's head with motion controls with pointer ability. It's not like the Wii controls were bad, or that they weren't well-received. It just made little sense to me, and it was cumbersome to retrain myself in the old method.

Last gen i was a Wii and PC gamer, so either way, I had a better control system than thumb sticks (IMO , of course). So to have a thumbstick controller in my hands again just felt very confining and restricting. Granted, there are still motion abilities with the WiiU, but if I could just control the games with a Wii remote, what's the point of even making the touch pad?

The only conclusion I can make of it, is that Nintendo is training people to get used to handhelds. The controls on the gamepad remind me of the GBA to some degree as is. Maybe this is a sign that Nintendo is going to empahsise more on their handheld systems in future generations.

Any other ideas, as to why Nintendo would revert to an older input method for games, or if you can think of any other things pointing to Nintendo trying to bring console gamers into the portable market?

Sounds like an interesting theory, I suspect after this gen is over, Nintendo will completely switch over to handheld gaming. Its a great thing for them to do imo. Maybe there will be better Wii U functionality such as being able to play HD graphics off tv on a bus or something over wifi. Or they could make a super powerful handheld, and forget consoles all together

Nintendo started training me to love handhelds when I got a gameboy color with pokemon in 97 (I believe) until then I had played only 2600/NES/SNES/GEN/N64 and since I have never missed an iteration of handheld gaming (even though I missed the 6th gen of console gaming).

But to your actual point :) I think that you are overthinking things maybe just a little. I believe Nintendo realized that the Wii remote (motion/IR) was played out as the main control scheme (I am glad that they kept them compatible with the Wii U as I plan to enjoy quite a few games with it in the future) so they went with another attempt to change things up (utilizing a large touchscreen making the controller into a gamepad).

I for one picked it right back up (the Wii Remote/Nunchuck provided an analog stick, buttons and dpad, and I played many games on my Wii with the classic controller so no biggie).

Anyways I am rambling TLDR version: Nintendo isn't trying to push you to the 3DS (or next handheld) they just tried to add in the same revolution they added to their handhelds last gen (touch) and it didn't make sense to put that on a motion controller.

I respect your theory but it doesn't make any sense to me, it's a ''different'' controller, usual thing for nintendo, they just have an idea that think could be cool and implement it, if previous ideas are not compatible it's a shame but they have to be scrapped - it's like the SkywardSword case, when most people who liked the game said that the controls where so refined and it felt so good and fun playing that way that they couldn't see themselves going back to regular controllers, the problem is that nintendo just moves forward onto the next idea and that is the gamepad and the new games will work for it, around it - other companies (and not just console makers but a lot of different companies) like to keep building on an idea and that's fine, they have this piece of paper with a painting on it and they just keep adding thing to the painting to make it cooler, that's good, nintendo takes a transparent paper put's it over the other and paints something new and i think that's what makes people have so many opinions and things to say about nintendo every gen, i like to say unpredictable...

You have the Virtual Boy and the Nintendo DS, two devices born from the same way of thinking with different results, maybe the next console will be brain controlled, maybe the next handheld will have five screens (ok, no) but that's just how they are, lest make some shit we think is cool and leave luck to heaven.

To me it doesn't make any sense (you theory) but you could be right, that's exactly the point, u'll never know what will be their next surprise that's why speculating about nintendo is very unhealthy and has been proven to cause dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, fluid retention, painful rectal product, hallucinations, dementia, psychosis, coma, death, and halitosis, it's a little dangerous so i like to play it safe and wait.

I'm guessing this means that Pachter has been involved in all of these things. The question is, why isn't he dead yet?

Maybe he hasn't said many th... yeah i wonder... matter of time i suppose.

It's part of the "attract third parties" (failed) strategy.

One of the most used excuses from third parties last gen was that they didn't know what to do with the wiimote, so Nintendo came up with a new controller that encompassed the dual analog setup.

Well, they did state that they are planning to create games that work for handhelds and home consoles in future generations to prevent game droughts. I'd say Wii U definitely is a step in that direction.


Also, what Player2 said.

Nintendo recently combined their console and handheld hardware development teams. So it's plausible. Also with streaming tech their next handheld could display itself on tv making it a console too.

And what THE1 said

You can play your 3DS when the power is off and the internets is down.