Wii U Controller
In a prerecorded message, Nintendo showed off a secondary controller to it’s new Wii U, look familiar? It’s interesting when you see Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all follow each other in design and concepts. People usually call foul and such, but I see it as the others acknowledging good ideas from the other. I think that Nintendo is doing this so porting will be easier between the Wii U and the other consoles. They must realize they’re missing out on some great titles by not having a proper controller. Actually, now they have the new controller with the touch screen, this one and the standard Wii-mote for use on the Wii U. I think they have all the bases covered now.
Play Asia
June 3rd, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Creative sterility? Maybe,but that controller design makes sense. In fact,it’s a one-up on the 360 design. I can’t count how many times I accidentally pressed a button when my thumb slipped off the thumbstick while trying to switch targets in an intense game. With the Wii-U design,the risk still exists,but in a much less probable direction…Since you far less often have to look down and to the left.
I find this interesting. A system that sports motion senstitive controls,touch sensitive controls,and classic analog input. It certainly gives developers options,and it would be interesting to see how multiple input methods would be incorporated into Wii-U titles.
The system is now on my radar. I may not play consoles very much (my Xbox must be getting lonely),but depending on what gets made for this thing…Who knows. I gre up on PS1 and 2,moved to the Xbox when the PS3’s library looked like it wouldn’t be very good,and now I eschew the consoles entirely for the PC. But,who knows…Maybe the Wii-U will one-up everyone else.
June 5th, 2012 at 7:45 am
I never fully understood calling-foul or the charges of copy-cattery (is that a word?) on things like this. Ergonomics and functionality provide major limitations on what type of controller is going to be considered successful. If a controller happens to work better due to placement of buttons or whatnot, then of course other companies are going to adopt a similar layout. I remember the SNES controller being the first one that I used that had the four button pad on the right, with a left and right bumper. Seems like every controller (conventional) controller since then has had them. Recognizing that a design (or whatever) is good and copying it is not something to be ridiculed. Rather, it seems like the rational thing to do. I think it was Aristotle who said something like, “emulate the virtuous.” Seems like good advice to me.
What I find funny is how Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have all placed their analog sticks differently. Microsoft is the only one that has its analog sticks unsymmetrical (pardon the crude graphical representation):
[Ëš Ëš] – N
[ . . ] – S
[Ëš . ] – M
I wonder if it has something to do with the priority/importance that each company gives to certain types of inputs.