Why does it seem that to be accepted by the Nintendo community, you need to be a hard core fan?

[NightDragon83]

Raze said:

NightDragon83 said:

Raze said:
Dunno, I like Nintendo's stuff most of the time, but I REALLY dislike their Wii U move to make a touchpad controller. I can't explain the absolute HATRED I have for thumbstick controls.

Hi Raze,

I agree with not liking the move to make a touchpad controller their mandatory controller for Wii U (much in the same way i dislike the fact that M$ is including Kinect 2.0 with every Xbone because it allegedly requires it or some bullshit), but could you clarify your second statement about the hatred you have for "thumbstick controls"?  Are you referring to the dual-analog setup that pretty much every system aside from the Wii has had as standard on their controllers for the past two generations?

Because it doesn't make much sense that you would dislike the touch controls AND the dual thumbstick setup, because these days it's one or the other... you're not going back to D-pad or even single analog stick controls unless your preferred setup is a Wiimote + Nunchuk, which tends to clash with the vast majority of "core" games released these days.

Happy to clarify - Nintendo brought a new method of gaming with the Wii remote, motion controls. Going back to thumbstick controls is regress, not progress. I wouldn't call myself a hardcore gamer, in the sense that I don't put a ton of weekly gametime in ( a negative side of being in your 30s and having many other responsibilites) , but the games I play would be "core" games or otherwise known as M rated games. Having played Resident Evil 4 on both the GameCube and the Wii,  the controls were so much easier and more playable on the Wii version. COD:WaW and MW:Reflex were also awesome to play with the Wii remotes.

Really, any hardcore game can be done very well on the Wii using the Wii Remote, but we were/are stuck in a generation of simple-minded developers that can't think outside of dual thumbstick controls. I played many core games on the Wii that you could tell the developer knew how to make use of the motion controls, and also played games where they didn't and just added waggle features.

So, when I was forced to play ZombiU with the gamepad, it really made me feel bleak about the Wii U (which i own). The game is excellent, but if I was able to aim with my wii remote, I'd be having a LOT more fun with it. Wiimote controls make more sense than thumbstick controls. I wish that Nintendo used the money to create an even stronger system - not that it's weak, but something to make multi-plat ports easier on developers (and thus get more games onto the Wii U) instead of giving us  thumbstick controls slapped on an iPad mini.

Hey thanks for clarifying.  I actually agree with some points you made about the Wiimote + Nunchuk setup for certain games... I have the GC version of RE4 and played the Wii edition at my buddy's, and there was a definite improvement with the aiming and overall feel of the game.  Personally my favorite use of the Wiimote + Nunchuk setup was Prime 3... the controls were so much more fluid and intuitive than the GC setup for Prime 1 & 2, and made it difficult to go back to them the same way that it's tough going back to the GC version of RE4.

And I think your'e spot on that Ninty should've improved upon the Wiimote and nunchuk controllers rather than jumping on the whole "tablet" trend with the touch screen controller, which does nothing to improve the gameplay experience IMHO.  They could've improved the button placement on the Wiimote, maybe even replace the tiny D-pad with a 2nd analog stick for a more intuitive setup that pleases people who like both the dual-stick and Wiimote+nunchuk setup.

The one thing I disagree on is when you say going back to thumbsticks is a regression and that developers are lazy for not thinking outside the "dual stick" box so to speak.  Most gamers and developers view the dual analog stick, four face button, and two sets of shoulder buttons / triggers as the industry standard for controller, much the same way the "QWERTY" keyboard is the standard for computers.  Sure there are alternatives to those setups that some people might prefer, but by and large most people who have been playing games or using computers for years don't want such drastic changes to things they are already familiar with.

In fact, many people viewed the introduction of motion controls this past gen as a regression, because while they might have brought in people who otherwise wouldn't play games on home consoles, they sometimes oversimplified things too much or made gameplay cumbersome.   For example, while I loved the addition of motion controls for games like RE4 Wii edition and Prime 3, I absolutely loathed them for games like NSMB Wii and DKC Returns where motion control "waggle" replaced simple button presses.  When I'm playing a game like a platformer that requires precise timing and pixel-perfect controls, I should not have to shake the controller violently in order to execute a simple spin jump or forward barrel roll like I was able to do way back in the 16-bit days at the press of a button.  And when you factor in the countless ports or other offerings on the Wii that tacked on motion controls and waggle over simple button presses, it turned alot of gamers off who prefered the more traditional method of controls.