Mandalore76 said:
Gamerace said:
Basic motion control is a standard in all devices now. Phones, tablets, game controllers. PS3 had it, 3DS has it, Vita. I fully expect all next gen controllers will have it and some touch functionality as standard features, so the fact that it's in the gamepad is practically irrelevant. The wiimote and nunchuk allowed a range of movement that the gamepad (which is more tilt) can't match. You can't swing the gamepad like a tennis rack, sword or baseball bat for example. You can't drum with it like you did with Wiimote/nunchuk. You can't aim it like a gun. Etc, etc. It's taken away that viseralness which sold so many Wii's (and Kinect and Moves).
As for using wiimotes, WiiU does allow use of them but unless the game is multiplayer where it's forced, most games will not support the use of wiimote/nunchuk. If they all did, I'd be thrilled. IR aiming on Mass Effect would be great, and the possiblilities with Assassin's Creed sword fighting from the guys who made Red Steel 2! Or ZombiiU! But alas - no wiimote compatibility. CoD and Pikmin 3 do but that's the only ones I know of (with single player). So yes, for all effect and purposes, it has been kicked aside. Wii also had support for the gamecube controller but how many games actually supported it? A few, but not many.
Why revolutionize an industry and then go backwards? It's equivelant to Apple introducing a iPhone with a keypad. Yes, some people would be thrilled to have a iPhone with keypad, just as some are to see the dual analog return on WiiU, but it's still a step backwards. In my opinion, a touch surface and/or screen could have been incorporated in a modified wiimote design. In fact a touch surface on a wiimote / nunchuk would eliminate some buttons and add greater immersion. A small screen could be on a wiiUmote or it could be seperate altogether allow you to still swing freely. Yes, I know, you can do that with WiiU but the gamepad isn't designed for it and very few games will be designed for the required use of two seperate controllers (Possibly Tiger Woods PGA tour since the wiimote was so beneficial and the gamepad could be used as a tee - but really, that would add very little, I doubt most people would bother with the gamepad for a tee. WiiU Fit will probably alternate). Games will be designed around the gamepad, not the wiimote. Largely because WiiU will get PS3/360 ports (poss PS4/720) which are all based on dual analog. It's easier to port to the gamepad and slap a map or such on the gamepad screen. We're already seeing that in some games now.
Where Wii had poorer graphics but often superior (and more fun) controls, WiiU will not have that distinction. It'll be the same controls, with maybe some tacked on use of the gamepad screen - which in most cases will be very minor and skipable. Maybe some great uses of the gamepad will come along for Madden or such, we'll see. But more likely WiiU will have the same controls but still poorer graphics (to PS4/720).
Oh the other hand, Nintendo could have made the gamepad a full-on tablet, with multi-touch and Android operating system. Then games could be streamed from WiiU to gamepad via internet and you could take it anywhere. That would be a huge incentive for people to get a WiiU! Best of both worlds! But no, they didn't go there either.
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The gamepad was not an idea that was discarded 6 years ago. It was something that was conceived of as an add-on for the Wii. Realizing that not everyone purchases add-on's for their systems, they decided to build their next system around it, because they wanted to create an experience that everyone who owned the console would share. This isn't the first time they did that. The Wii-mote was originally conceived as an add-on for the Gamecube. Knowing that not all Gamecube owners or future Gamecube purchasers would buy the Wii-mote as an accessory, they built the Wii around it. So, it's not a 6 year old idea that was discarded and then later dusted off as you claim. It's something that evolved over time. Evolving since the Gamecube as a matter of fact. I had the cable that connected my Gameboy Advance to the Gamecube for playing Pacman Vs. which allowed the GBA to function in a similar fashion to one of the Gamepad's functions now. I thought that was extremely innovative when I played it, and I'm glad they continued to work on evolving that idea and seeing it through to fruition.
I don't think that just because they built the Wii around motion controls that EVERY console Nintendo now develops has to focus on that as the center experience of the console. Are you saying that if Playstation Move is not the default controller that comes packed-in with the PS4, then Sony is taking a step-backwards?
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I'm not making that up. It's a well established fact.
"The Nintendo DS is said to have influenced the Wii's design. Designer Ken'ichiro Ashida noted, "We had the DS on our minds as we worked on the Wii. We thought about copying the DS's touch-panel interface and even came up with a prototype." The idea was eventually rejected because of the notion that the two gaming systems would be identical. Miyamoto also stated, "[...] if the DS had flopped, we might have taken the Wii back to the drawing board."["
The original design for dual screen (like DS) was rejected for three reasons: 1) As stated it would have made Wii too similar to DS. 2) They wanted to expand the audience and they realized the complexities of controllers disswayed any non-gamer from playing games. 3) The inventor of what would become the wiimote walked into their offices (after being rejected by MS and Sony) and Iwata realized that was what they were looking for. By early 2005 they had working wiimotes (but deemed they weren't ready to show at E3 that year). That means the original dual touch screen idea was disgarded in 2004.
So a full 8 years later, they are now parading it around as the next thing - despite having all the same problems as it did in 2004. In fact, far more now. That isn't innovation. That's called DESPERATION from a company that is bankrupt of ideas. Everything in WiiU is rehashed. All the Nintendoland games are rehashes of earlier games, NSMBU is the 4th kick of the game without any innovation behind it. It could just as easily be on Wii. Wii Fit U? Pikmin 3? Wario? Where's the Wii Sports/Fit/Music type innovation? It's not there. Where's the blue ocean strategy that made Wii hugely successful? Not there.
Nintendo has abandoned the very prinicipals that led to Wii's success and gone back to it's old behaviours. It's has since 2009 really. Sales will do likewise.
As for Sony....
Sony made it's mark with the PS1 by going after the mature gamer. That is their focus even today. They were much more family - friendly with the PS2 but this generation PS3 is the least family friendly console out. Family games (Lego, etc) sell far less on PS3 than Wii or 360. Even Sony's Move accessory was aimed more at the mature market. That market is very well entrenched in using the dual analog controller, for them to goto a Move only option would be disasterous. But since Move was only a half-hearted add-on, staying dual-analog wouldn't really be backwards for them.
Having said that. The next Xbox definitely has a much enhanced Kinect. Sony meanwhile has patented a hybrid Move/dual analog controller. No word yet on what PS4 will use but if they go with that then WiiU suddenly has the worse option for motion controls. That is going backwards.
