After selling 86 million Nintendo Wii gaming consoles, the Japanese company is set to up the ante with a new console controller that has a full HD touch screen that can be switched from operating via a TV screen to being used as a personal controller as other people watch the TV. Games Industry executives say that the device is “logical”.Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president, believes the Wii U, which adds a 6 inch colour touchscreen, a stylus and a camera to the controller, can have even wider appeal and uses when it is launched in Australia in the second half of 2012.
“We thought it was important for us to offer something that could not be done with the previous console system,” he said, in a Financial Times interview.
“We felt we had to offer something that could fundamentally change the structure of entertainment.”
The new controller works two ways. Users can switch from TV to controller or if a movie is being watched on the touchscreen it can be switched to the larger screen and vice versa.
The screen, which has been developed by Sharp, will also deliver 3D movies in the future without glasses, a Sharp executive said from Japan.
Iwata said: “We would like anybody to use our system, even though they may not want to use this as a game device. As long as they start touching it and have some interaction with this video game machine, there will be great potential for more people to eventually become game players.”
Nintendo does not only see the Wii U as offering new ways to tempt fresh audiences into gaming, it also thinks the Wii U could compete with new uses being exploited by other devices.
Mr Iwata says the idea for the controller with a touchscreen was conceived in 2007, long before tablet and smartphone games and apps came along and devices such as Google TV and Apple TV were introduced, allowing touchscreen handheld devices to link up with them and control the TV.
The Nintendo chief said such devices had helped educate consumers about possibilities and the Wii U could fulfil this potential.
“The biggest differentiator for Nintendo is that we are going to sell this as a set, rather than a tablet having some sort of a connection with a TV – most consumers want to see a complete set if they want to try something new.”
The Financial Times said that developers and publishers had the same attitude.
Iwata said that “the major publishers tell us that this really makes sense, because what Nintendo is offering appears to be what the future of TV looks like. While Google and Apple are offering something new, not everybody can afford to put together a compatible system at home.”
In interviews at E3 with the Financial Times John Riccitiello, Electronic Arts chief said: “The industry has had 20 years to perfect a controller, the first-generation Wii’s motion control had some success, but I don’t think it had the longevity. But I just love [the Wii U controller] – it’s got a touchscreen and it’s got the traditional controls.”
Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft chief, said he found the social aspects of the controller interesting – its screen can show a different perspective on a game, hidden from players using regular Wii remotes, therefore creating different interactions between players. He added: “I’ve been asking for new consoles for a year now .?.?.?it gives our developers the chance to create something new – what Nintendo is doing in coming in early is pushing [Microsoft and Sony] to follow them.”
Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard chief, said publishers could handle developing for the new HD graphics capabilities of the Wii U without huge investments, but developing for the new types of gameplay was more of a challenge: “I think you really do want to capitalise on the new capabilities of the interface and that will require investment.”
