lilbroex on 08 October 2012
Rejected Wii prototype controller had touchscreen similar to Wii U GamePad
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| Mock-up based on Nintendo DS design. There are no known photos of the prototype. |
During the development of the Wii, Nintendo created a number of different prototype controllers and eventually settled on the Wii Remote. Surprisingly, one of the rejected prototypes was inspired by the design of the DS and featured a touchscreen, much like the Wii U GamePad.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061116_750580_page_2.htm">In an interview with Kenji Hall of Business Week shortly before the launch of the Wii, Shigeru Miyamoto and designer Ken'ichiro Ashida were asked about the development of the console. Here is an excerpt about the GamePad-like controller:
Hall: The DS handheld gaming console, released in 2004, is now the hottest-selling portable video game machine. Did the success of the DS influence your design decisions?
Ashida: The DS had a huge impact on the Wii's design. 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. But then we rejected the idea, since the portable console and the living-room console would have been exactly the same.
There were no further details given about the prototype and there don't appear to be any known images of it online. It would be interesting to see how it looked in comparison to the Wii U GamePad.
For reference, here is a list of the Wii U GamePad's features. It seems unlikely the prototype would have had an accelerometer, gyroscope, or NFC, among other things.
Wii U GamePad Features
For reference, here is a list of the Wii U GamePad's features. It seems unlikely the prototype would have had an accelerometer, gyroscope, or NFC, among other things.
Wii U GamePad Features
●Built-in 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope
●Speakers and Microphone
●Front-facing camera
●IR Sensor strip
●6.2 inch (15.7 cm) 16:9 resistive touchscreen
●Two clickable analog sticks and one D-pad
●Stylus
●Select, Start, Home and Power buttons
●A/B/X/Y face buttons
●L/R bumper buttons
●ZL/ZR trigger buttons
●Rumble
●Controller sync button
●Bluetooth
●NFC
