Nintendo’s Wii U revolution will “Change the way you play”

Today Nintendo introduced their newest product, the Wii U.  While this is a 1-2 punch announcement that touts the next generation console, all the news is really about the console’s new revolutionary controller.  In light of Sony and Microsoft’s leap-frog innovations of the wii controller and nunchuk, the new controller integrates many of the hottest portable gaming system features + motion and more!

• A 6.2″ touchscreen display
• Gyroscopes
• Front-facing camera (supports video calls)
• Back-facing camera (supports Augmented Reality capabilities)
• Two thumb joysticks
• Classic D-pad
• Classic 4 buttons (A, B, X, Y to mix metaphors and throw in your Xbox controller buttons

Key features and benefits when using this innovative approach to gameplay includes:

1. NO MORE MULTI-PLAYER SPLIT SCREEN:  When playing Mario Brothers Kart (okay, for you FPS folks, we’ll say Gears of War), your television screen splits to accommodate multiple players on the same console and screen.  This view totally impedes me and frankly, makes me nauseous until I get used to it (this was the #1 hold back to me playing multi-player Halo with my nephews).  Using the new controller, although the television screen still shows a split screen (still useful for those losers who didn’t purchase the new controller), your controller screen only shows your section of the split screen allowing you to focus directly on the relevant gameplay – yours! 
2. SINGLE PLAYER SPLIT-SCREEN:  While split screen sucks when playing with multiple people, it can be an awesome advantage to the single player.  Those familiar with the Nintendo DS and 3DS, you know how the bottom portion of the screen displays other options that augment the top half of the screen’s gameplay.  Well that is exactly what this pad can do for you as well.  Nintendo took the functionality of the Nintendo DS – where the bottom of the screen made for more robust and detailed controls – and ported it to this Wii U.  So, while the big screen is all about your game, the smaller screen can be made to display additional touch “controls” that augment your thumbsticks and D-pad.  An example of this would be displaying your character’s portable inventory – rather than show this view on your precious screen.  So, where your 55″ television (I am NOT a size queen, although I have been drooling at the Sharp Aquos’ commercials for their new 70″ tv which were announced at CES 2011) is the top half of the device, the game controller becomes the second half., you can manage it in a more personal and up front manner on the device’s 6.2″ screen.  
3. AUGMENTED REALITY: While AR is not new it IS new for a gaming console.  Apps like “Google Sky Map” (point your cell phone’s camera to the sky and the app tells you what constellation you are viewing) have been out for a while, but the AR “craze” has not hit the mainstream yet.    Nintendo’s innovation is to allow a front-facing camera on the controller which then can be used to change user perspective with both a game environment as well as their native environment.  The game example showed the pirate on-screen trying to shoot arrows at the player.  The player, viewing the arrows as coming at them through the controller’s screen, could target the arrows to defend against by using the Wii U as a shield and then shake the arrows off by throwing them to the ground, with a downward motion.  Another neat example is your ability to customize your Avatar and onscreen characters in completely new ways.  So while looking at the back of Ryuu from Street Fighter, I can completely customize and draw using stencils or free hand, new designs to add to the back of his jacket.
4. PUSH/PULL DISPLAY:  I saw a recent study citing that the biggest threat to television commercials is not Tivo®, but actually smartphones that take consumers’ eyes off the television during commercials.  Marketers will have a lot more to fear with the Wii U as it allows me to turn the channel on the tv and continue playing my game right through the gamepad controller itself!  In this scenario, the controller because the primary screen, allowing me the ultimate in multi-tasking!  No doubt about it – when I want to be watching TV but don’t want to put stop playing my game, I know have the best of both worlds.  Instead of watching GAP with their latest clothing skit, I will now immediately pick up my controller and continue to wreak mortal zombie carnage during commercials and not miss a single beat of Criminal Minds!  The keynote also highlighted that as much as I can use the controller to display my console’s gaming view, the feature was bidirectional.  This means that I can actually use the Wii U to control what is displayed on my the TV.  So, if I had a picture on the console (displayed on the controller) that I wanted to share, I could simply point the controller at the tv and use a forward and up “swipe” gesture to push the picture displayed on the controller directly to the TV. 

 Although Nintendo’s CEO, Iwata-san was very clear to state that the new controller was not designed to be a portable gaming device, Nintendo is really bringing in some of the top gaming titles to launch with this new system!

• Darksiders II®
• Batman Arkham Asylum® (huge roar of approval from the crowd on this one)
• Assassin’s Creed®
• Tom Clancy – Ghost Recon® Online
• Metro Last Light®
• Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge®
• Lego City®
• Zelda®
• Mario Kart®

As you can see from this initial line up, top gaming houses have already signed up to develop on this platform.  EA‘s CEO even appeared on stage to announce their development partnership. So, how much for this nifty new controller you ask?  Well, the price tag is yet to be announced, but given that the controller is always pictured with the next generation Wii console, the price may be doubly expensive.  Currently, Nintendo only said that availability is targeted for release by December 2012.

While I love the Wii for its simplicity and as a great family gaming platform, its ability to keep me as a true gamer was entirely lost to serious Microsoft and their Xbox 360.  This controller finally brings a glimmer of promise to the hardcore gamer like me that Nintendo can actually deliver a more hard-core gaming experience.  It shoudl as the minimum requirement for this today is what they finally embedded in the next-gen console – true 1080P output and a native HDMI output.  I can’t believe it, but it is honestly true when I say that this new controller actually has me rethinking the possibilities of what this experience could be like and if it really could be that good.  Of course, there’s only one way to know for sure so rest assured, this reviewer will be first in line to find out! *HUGE GRIN*

Karin