Today Nintendo announced the Wii U at E3Expo. I think it is an exciting development in the world of gaming and centralized processing. I am a long-time Nintendo fan (my design career is rooted in my passion for gaming and Smash Bros.), and Nintendo has long held the role for pushing the industry forward: i.e. the Wii and DS.

This is the Wii U. The controller has a 6” screen built in, a front-facing camera, and couple sets of buttons as is the gaming norm. The system is in the back.

First, let me explain its existence a little more in context. The Wii was a huge market success, but with casual gamers. Nintendo has long been held afloat by hardcore gamers, and the Wii began to isolate them. The Wii U, I believe, is trying to get them back. Many of the titles they showed off today, compared to the Wii’s unveiling, is evidence for that. The Wii also lacked graphical processing power, and its controller soon became outstripped by PS Move’s 1:1 tracking, and XBox Kinect’s controller-less experience. Tablets have also started to become more accepted and understood by the market. The Wii U takes all of that into consideration, and pushes it further.

What it means for gaming

The Wii U is able to combine a social and personalized gaming experience into one. In a game where you may have personal information that you wouldn’t want ‘screen-watched’? Your location in an FPS? Your items in Mario Kart? Voila. 

It also provides opportunity for more… different styles of gameplay. Many call it gimmicky, but I think it’s cool and pushes the envelope. Some may work, but some may not. You can put the Wii U controller on the ground, and use a Wiimote to play golf (the golfball is on the ‘ground’). Cool? You betcha. Unwieldy? We’ll see.

Sidenote on gimmicks

Alright, fine. The Wii U is kind of gimmicky. However, I believe that the Wii U can sustain itself past gimmicky games. The Wii could not: beyond motion controls, there was nothing special. The graphics blew (the Wii U’s do not), motions weren’t always accurate, and the controller was annoying to use for serious games.

The Wii U has an oncoming library of “serious” games. Developers can still tap into the potentials of the handheld screen, be it radar or a rear view mirror, and enhance the large screen experience.. The Wii U’s controller has a normal button experience, with a high resolution screen is capable of things like augmented reality.

Want to enjoy a Wii U game while someone else is using the TV? It can be played without a TV. I’m not exactly sure what games are compatible like this, or how it would work with multiplayer games.

What it means for centralized computing

The most exciting part of this is the potential for future use of this technology. The Wii U has a main console that does the processing and is the hub for all the controllers. It can push latency-free visuals to the Wii U controller, at a 720p resolution. Imagine a home in the future where there is no computer. Everyone in the house has a controller or tablet, and all the data is processed through a centralized system. This means: less power strain on batteries, and lighter, more compact devices. Same with phones: what if there were city-wide processors or if data plans became fast enough to support this kind of latency-free experience? 

And…?

I haven’t had much time to really process this. I just wanted to get some thoughts out there. To the skeptics: why be negative when you can be positive and wait until you try it out? The potentials seem limitless, and there is serious potential for the system to outlast gimmicks. I’m excited. you should be, too.

1. syntaxofthings liked this
2. donaldwhat said: I don’t know… I wouldn’t feel in total control wielding that tablet or the wiimotes while playing action games or shooters. But it really seems like a gimmick until the reviews come out. The Kinect has been doing much better with gaming IMO.
3. tarngerine posted this