Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has confessed that the company spent too much time focusing on the Wii U controller, which left quite a few consumers bewildered about whether the Wii U is a handheld or if there is a console powering the device. Were you initially confused about the Wii U?
“Because we put so much emphasis on the controller, there appeared to be some misunderstandings,” he said. “We should have made more effort to explain how it works.”
“We haven’t made any kind of blunder, but I should have shown a single picture of the new console, then started talking about the controller,” he continued. “The console is not drastically different, and Wii U is about the controller. The console itself will be almost invisible.”
Iwata said that the press was also to blame, noting that it’s not possible to see how important the Wii U console is unless you’ve actually given it a try.
“There have been two groups of people writing about our announcement – those who have been able to experience the Wii U, and those who have not, and are simply writing about it from wire stories and pictures,” he mused.
“They cannot see how this can be a game changer. It reminds me of 2006, when we introduced the Wii for the first time. Here in LA, people enjoyed it, but in Japan, the atmosphere was very different. It seems to be the same this year.”
“What Wii U will offer is very different, but I believe we have the strong potential to change the entire format of videogames and of entertainment.”
– Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata
Don’t be so hard on yourself Nintendo. You guys said it yourselves. It’s about the controller. Even so, I’m sure everyone knows it’s a home console! (You guys showed a picture with the x-box looking thing sided down anyways)
my thoughts exactly, it looks like the wii and xbox had a love child lol, I’m not fussed though, it’s better simple :)
I knew some people who thought we had to play sd games for the coming years….yeah…ignorance is bliss huh?
Personally I thought it was a new controller for the Wii. It took about 20 minutes before me and my friend realised it was ‘Project Cafe’
Personally I can’t wait to try it. But I can see why people aren’t so impressed.
– They haven’t had a go
– It still has the Wii logo. As I said I’m sure others mistook it simply as a new controller at first.
– No first party games (only tech demos)
HAH! I heard people arguing all day on whether it was a whole new system or an addon for the Wii
thats becasue ppl are retarded. they stated that its a new console at E3 noone just pays attention.
My Love for nintendo just grows strong and strong… prehaps it needed clearing for some, but i feel majority of people excluding Fan boys…. understand the concept and the main thing the freedom to developers to truely create new experiences.
People always seem to find an excuse to complain. We all knew there was a new console coming up, everyone had been talking about it. I guess Nintendo didn’t know they still had to dumb down they’re announcements.
Was pretty clear to me =) Maybe Ive got to much of keen eye, but the Wii-sandwich on the first Wii-u trailer was obviously placed and seen, I was ecstatic! Guess Nintendo thinks its audience is more intelligent than it is in practice, haha ;)
All and all, I do not listen to the big crowd, never ever done so never ever start doing that. Gaming is like flavours i.e. everyone has his own opinion/taste! Nintendo acts crazy, even when nobody likes it, they are crazy, make crazy ass games and dont just copy the world around them…..I love it :)
(Summary: Nintendo tries to keep itself NEW )
Cheers!
You had to be an idiot of you thought it was just a controller. I mean yes, they should have showed the console, I definitely agree there, but I knew it was a console and not just a controller, because I’m not a complete idiot.
“You had to be an idiot of you thought it was just a controller”
AKA *cough Ps3 & 360 fanboys cough*
Probably, yeah. I mean, I own all 3 consoles. Like all of them for different reasons. I just never got the whole “I like this one console and not the others” mentality. Don’t like the games on the other consoles? Odd, but okay, I can see that. But why hate on the ones you don’t play? Do they think that makes the one they DO play better somehow? Does it make them, as a person, feel better? Like, they’re trying to convince themselves that they “picked the right one” or something? I need someone to explain that to me, because it’s a concept I’ve never understood.
@ Obi-Wan Shinobi
don’t ask me. I own at least 2 current gen consoles the 360 & Ps3. The current Wii just don’t interest me. don’t ask why.
Can’t wait I read a news page on another site all about nintendo and they were talking to a developer (forget the name of the company tho) any i think he let the release date time frame slip he said “between spring/summer 2012”. Start saving up people. I’ll be trading-in my 360 & My Ps3 because once the WiiU comes out the 360 & Ps3 will be old news
It’s so stupid that people thought this was just a new controller. Nintendo talked about how it could output HD graphics, and how it was a more powerful system than the Wii.
They actually had the console visible in nearly every image and video that the showed during the conference. I immediately saw it in the first image displayed and got super excited because I knew it would look great in my room under an HD TV (that I still have to buy : / ).
Lastly, even all of the rumors said that the new console would have standard controls on the sides of the controller with a large, high resolution touch screen in the middle. It should have been extremely obvious that that was Cafe. Besides, Nintendo wouldn’t release something that similar to Vita or cannibalize 3DS sales, so it would have just been unintelligent to think it a handheld.
It’s just like the 3ds. Kind of hard to show without the experience. What this will do, what it can become…from the old to the young, this has truly become a game changer.
I knew that it was not a handheld. Anyone who didn’t was seriously just not paying attention. Sure they could’ve explained a bit about the Graphics engine & CPU, but that’s not my issue.
My issue is weather or not it can use more than one Wii U controller. If it can’t then seriously it’s a big singleplayer game changer, but not a big system game changer. Being able to say…play Madden with a friend and call plays & draw audibles from a Wii U screen is a HUGE innovation but if only one person can do it, it’s just a mild step. Nintendo would then pave the way for their competition to copy them. Hmmmm isn’t Sony working on a new System for 2013??? Why not just do what Wii did but be able to use 4 tablet screens at the same time? But no one’s ever copied Nintendo before so that won’t happen, right? :p
Smarten up Nintendo, do what you did with the Wii & build on your Multiplayer experience by giving Hardcore gamers a chance to have a multipule Wii U controllers. Seriously.
Good idea for madden, you are right, for multiplayer multiple tablets in the same room would he the best. I wonder though if you each player can use their own tablet when playing online. This would help the madden concept because like you said you can still diagram your own plays and such.
I am hoping some real time strategy games come to Wii U, like Age of Empires. It could work now that the system has a lot of power and has a screen that can be used similar to a mouse.
It’s not really their fault, I thought they explained it pretty well. But a quick read-through of youtube comments reveals that there are quite a few people who think it’s an iPad ripoff.
Personally, I think anybody who confused this for a new Wii remote is just plain dumb.
Its ok if you didn’t explain yourself fully Nintendo but that’s why there are game blogs that can do research and explain to us.
im still confused
i can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not, but Wii U is a new console.
yeah i did get confused at first but soon realised it was indeed a new console.
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It’s sad really that people thought thee wii U was just a controller when nintendo specifically stated early they were releasing a new “Home Console”. How stupid are people these days. Leading up to e3 everyone was talking about hoe the new wii will have a new controller as well. Then when they show it everyone thinks that’s the whole system even when they clearly showed the console next to the tv and even gave a short clip of an HD zelda, then went on to show all the new third party support. heck they even showed a tech demo(the one with the bird) to show the graphics of the Wii U. NIntendo did it right, people these days are just extremely stupid.
I agre with Iwata , they should have shown at least a single picture of it…I spent the whole day telling my friends and thinking it was a controller for the Wii and not a whole new console. I actually had to go into the e3 network nintendo site to actually see it was a console….
I actually thought it was just the controller at first. The white box in the background looked like a Wii. It also started using Wii accessories, so people got confused. Then I started thinking, : Even if it’s a Wii peripheral, the Wii does not have the tech to transmit a video signal to the controller.” As soon as I saw the demo for Zelda HD, everything became clear. They should’ve shown an image of the controller and the system together to make it clearer for people who didn’t get it.
Apparently there are many developers without a dev kit responding to it. With the complexity of games today, this new controller should make it easier to handle stuff. RPGs, MMOs, and games with complex controls shold work great on this.Also, it seems that the system is not using Bluetooth or wireless for the signals. It’s some kind of different tech, so it’s not likely that the PS3 and 360 are going to use it for now.
I used to be a huge nintendo fan …that is until the original wii was released. quite possibly the worst gaming console ever created. the games are horrible …as are those stupid wii controllers. I was given a wii for free …and after trying it out for a week I promptly gave it away. nintendo wii proved to be a colossal disappointment …and I’m officially finished with nintendo. it’s all about the playstation now. nintendo is done. so long story short …this new wii u …who cares.
I need this now!