| Mandalore76 said: You and I disagree greatly on the concept of what innovation is. You can talk to me about touch screens on iphones, and ipads and tablets until you are blue in the face, but as far as I am concerned, they are not part of the conversation when it comes to console gaming. So, how long the technology has been out is irrelevant if the Wii U is the first console ever to adapt the technology for home console gaming. The people who buy an iphone didn't say to themselves, I'd like to go out and get myself the latest gaming device today. No, those people were in the market for the most advance cell phone they could buy, and one of the applications is that it can also play games. Much like the 3DS has a camera application (which I have made great use of on my trips), but Nintendo doesn't claim to have sold 23 million+ cameras in the past year and a half, and no bought a 3DS primarily to replace their digital camera (by the way, in bad indoor lighting the 3DS camera is indeed not good, but outdoors I have taken great pictures with it). Same with tablets. While 84% of people surveyed who own tablets might say they play games on it, I doubt they purchased the tablet with that as their primary use for it. At least, I don't know anyone who was in the market for a portable gaming device and said, I'd best purchase a tablet for that. Anyway, you can call the Gamepad a move of desperation if you wish. I prefer to see the "innovative" applications it offers the gamer to streamline their experience interfacing with the console. Having used the Gamepad in conjunction with the Wii U myself, I cannot imagine using a D-pad/Circle Pad to move a cursor/highlight tabs on the screen as opposed to the simplicity of swiping the Gamepad's touch screen with a stylus. If I have to do that in 2013/2014 on another system while accessing on-screen menus, I would consider that a step-backwards in time. |
Granted Nintendo is the first to put a touch screen on a home console. But it's such common tech, it's almost expected. It won't surprise me at all if a touch screen or at least touch surface is including on MS/Sony's next systems controller's too. It's already on DS/3DS/PSVita and Ouya will also have a touch surface on it's controller.
What's surprising is Nintendo is making that the centrepiece of the WiiU. This baffles me because this is the tech they rejected in 2004 and the reasons they rejected it then, are still here today. I've played several games on it now (don't own one, just at displays) and I'm still not sold that the touch screen in any way enhances the games I've played. Dont' get me wrong, it's nice. It's another option. It's cool to have a constant map without it sucking up screen space. The ability to take your game up to your bedroom or bathroom without interrupting gameplay is very cool. Wii TVii is a very nice feature. There's a lot to like. But at the end of the day, WiiU is just another HD console just one 6 years late to the party. The screen doesn't really change that. I've no problem with the screen, it's a nice enhancement.
But it's only an enhancement, not a revolution that the wiimote or Kinect was. That's would be in and of itself, just to enhance, but my problem is, instead of enhancing what Wii did - visercal, intuitive, accessible, family-friendly gameplay with motion controls - WiiU reverts back to the dual analog controller and loses a big chuck of what Wii did right.
As a casual player myself, there's still no reason for me to upgrade to a WiiU. My kids are core and mid-core players and they don't feel any reason to get a WiiU because they can play the same games on 360 now. If anything, I'm a little resentful NSMBU and Pikmin are on a new console. There's no reason for a new console to play those games. They'd play perfectly on Wii so why aren't they on Wii?
