| Soundwave said:
I tend to think the Fusion platform will something seperate though, something more in the $199.99-$249.99 price range. |
Speaking of fusing their hardware already.
The recent software based connection of the 3DS (old, even) to the WiiU as a controller may be a sign of things to come, I suspect they have only just started getting this to work cross system and the 3DS Smash may be the testing ground. The Pad (great and under appreciated as it is) is, in and of itself, probably ~100$ worth of the WiiU's pricetag in the cutting edge tech buried inside, but dropping it with the caveat that you need the 3DS to replace it and selling the WiiU+Pro bundle for <200$ would still run at a profit and possibly tap the 3DS market by removing a 100$ worth of entry barrier. You'd need either the (N)3DS or the Pad to play certain games or to have off-TV play but many games can run fine with the Pro-Controller.
Then sell the Pad at 100$ stand-alone. The only issue I see is that the 3DS (new or old) does not have the same hardware to accomodate long-range off-TV play or even accomodate it at all. The Pad uses a high-end 5GHz transceiver and that's never going to fit/work in a handheld. I wonder if the WiiU can run off-TV play without the 5GHz... obviously it can run off the 3DS inputs somehow. Standard controllers work off of Bluetooth, the Pad off the 5GHz, and the 3DS will likely also be over the wifi.
