There has been an interesting consensus from the media that we’ve met on the show floor this past week; their audiences are confused as to what exactly the Wii U is supposed to be. Is it about you or me? Sorry… In all seriousness though, there seemed to be a lot of confusion and scepticism regarding just what the new controller was supposed to do. Is it a handheld? Is it heavy? Is it comfortable? Just how good is the image on the touch screen? Will it do my homework? Well, following our hands on time, we can now provide you with some impressions of the controller and the seven tech demos and game concepts there were on offer.
The initial concept of the box itself.
Jeremy’s Impressions
Just being a part of the media isn’t going to guarantee you juicy scoops. Very little is known about the Wii U hardware. Just about all that we know about it is that it will be capable of display HD resolutions, that the console itself currently doesn’t look that much different from the Wii (purely in concept) and that it will be completely backwards compatible with both games and system controllers. However, we did have some extensive time with the crazy contraption being passed off as the system’s new controller. It seems to be an amalgamation of just about every single possible controller feature ever used on a past console or handheld, and they've all been implemented into this confusing device. Suffice to say, we did come out with some positive impressions.
For something that is pretty big and potentially awkward, it’s actually very comfortable and very light. Many were commenting that it’s lighter than an iPad. The groves and contours have been designed in such a way that it’s meant to sit comfortably in your hands and without being too much of a strain on your wrists. Ergonomically, it works quite well. Rather than analog sticks, the controller uses circle pads that are similar to those used on the 3DS. For the demos on offer, they worked quite well and the slightly rubbery feel helped them to absorb tension. The face buttons and d-pad worked well and again, felt similar to those found on the later versions of the DS and 3DS. However, for a controller of that size, both these felt a tad small.
Now of course, the two most potentially differentiating features of the controller – the cameras and touch screen. The cameras are supposed to be used for a wide variety of functions, and some of these will be explained in the tech demos below. The more pertinent feature, though, is the touch screen. Coming with a much larger stylus than the DS/3DS, it works just as well as you would expect it to. The impressive part though was the quality of the display. Despite some noticeable compression, the quality of the image on screen was incredibly impressive. Furthermore, the images worked very well in conjunction the main TV screen to give a really good idea of some of the potential ideas for this system, which are further discussed below.
What hasn't been included with the controller?
Adam's Impressions
The Wii U - is it a revolution or an evolution? It's certainly not a coffee machine, somewhat disappointingly. What it is, however, is a HD Wii that supports all your old peripherals and games, and adds a big new one of its own - the Wii U New Controller (that's the working name for now, apparently), and that's where all the focus has been for Nintendo this E3. The controller is big - just as big as you imagine it to be after seeing the press images and videos, but it feels surprisingly light. A ridge at the back of the controller makes it comfortable to hold as well, so while it may be huge and not necessarily moulded to your hands, it's certainly not going to cause discomfort by any measure.
Further inspection of the Wii U reveals a lack of analogue sticks, replaced now by circle pads - similar to what we see on the 3DS but with a little more of a textured feel. There are also two bumpers and triggers at the top, as well as the classic X, Y, A, B buttons on the side. The huge touch screen that dominates most of the device does not appear to be capacitive, as it comes with a plastic stylus that can be used quite easily. However, the touch screen responded readily and without issue to the demands of our grubby fingers. The screen is quite bright, colourful, and is quite high resolution, although we did notice the image had a small amount of compression or distortion at this early stage, especially when playing New Super Mario Bros. Mii.
In some ways, it feels like a cross between a huge version of a DS, mixed with a PSVita. You can have two screen possibilities, with the TV and the new Wii U controller, just like with a DS, while the controller itself looks like a giant version of the PSVita, especially with the dominating touch screen. Switching between the image on the TV and the image on the image on the Wii U controller was no problem at all, and worked extremely quickly, while the dual screen control was very fluid.
The concept has some intriguing possibilities, some of the best of which are explored in tech demos like Battle Mii and Chase Mii. Check out our thoughts on these games below.
It's surprisingly light and comfortable.
Tech demos
Japanese Garden Tech Demo
Anyone who watched the Nintendo press conference would have seen this. It’s a basic tech demo of a little bird flying across a large Japanese-themed garden, while showing off numerous lighting, weather and particle effects. The images playing on the TV were very high quality and suggest a major step up from the Wii. However, this wasn’t quite a simple video, as you could control the camera using the circle pads on the Wii U controller.
The controller itself was also used to display the demo from different perspectives. So you could not only use the controls to change the direction of the camera, but also for what’s showing on the screen. So physically moving the controller about, the touch screen would act like a camera of its own. As you turned around, you’d get to view the garden from different angles, just as if you were manually controlling the camera. There was noticeable compression from the touch screen during this demo though.
Measure Up
This was a simple set of mini-games that had players utilising the touch screen of the Wii U controller and the stylus. The basic premise was to draw the lines, shapes and figures as asked. For example, this could be a 3 centimetre line, or a triangle with 5 centimetre sides. The closer the player got to replicating the request perfectly, the better the score. The novelty of the concept came from drawing on the touch screen, then watching in anticipation as the computer dragged out your score calculation. It seemed like a fun tool for kids (that is, kids of all ages), which could also be played competitively, to see who got the better score. Whether such a concept translates well as a party game or educational tool remains to be seen.
Did any body bring a ruler?
Shield Pose
This demo seemed like an evolution on the formula started in Parappa the Rapper, though it took some time to get used to. Essentially, players had to use the Wii U controller as a shield, while on the TV screen, a band of undead pirates would fire suction cupped arrows. Arrows could come from four directions: centre, right, left and above. And players would have to hold the shield in the corresponding direction to block themselves from the arrows, which would show on the touch screen as they hit.
The demo was set up in such a way though that it wasn’t as simple as pointing in the right direction. You had to do so, in time with the beat – hence the Parappa the Rapper reference. And it took some time to get used to, particularly as players were put through their paces in a relatively lengthy tutorial. Still, it wasn’t too long before even the most serious Japanese Business Executive was rocking out the ‘jig’ that the game asked of players at the end. Now after dancing with the Wii U controller, waggling didn’t seem so silly… Another interesting part of the demo came when we put the controller on the floor - as the touch screen displayed the floor of the ship that you were on.
Chop, kick, block! Wait a sec...
Chase Mii
While a lot of competitive multiplayer is now played online, Chase Mii tries to show how split-screen competitive gameplay can still have innovation applied. This demo was played with four Wii remotes and one Wii U controller. The four Wii remote controlled players would all be displayed on the TV screen (via split-screen) while the one Wii U player would have the controller touch screen to see all the action on. In this demo, the four Wii remote players would be playing as Miis dressed as toadstools, with the other being a Mario/Luigi dressed Mii. The objective of the game was for the four toadstools to catch the Mario.
This demo was actually quite enjoyable and intense. The toadstools could only see their own screen, and peek at the view point of the three others. The Mario on the other hand, had a bird’s eye view of the map and could see where everyone else was. While this is an obvious advantage for Mario, the team work forced onto the others made for a fascinating dynamic – you had to shout out to your team mates and really work together in order to catch Mario, and prevent him from capturing the star that would sometimes appear. As a concept, Chase Mii is very solid, but also has pitfalls. These mainly concern the number of team mates or how willing they are to play nicely.
Catch that fat plumber!
Battle Mii
Similar to Chase Mii but played with two Wii remotes and one Wii U controller, Battle Mii had two players on foot from a third-person perspective and battle against one player in a spaceship. Again, the ground-based players would have the TV screen, while the spaceship player had the Wii U controller touch screen. The precision of Wii Motion Plus was on display, as the two ground based players could actually hold their own against a seemingly more powerful spaceship, though the control layout probably wouldn’t be used in a finalised game. The demo allowed the two ground players three hit points each, while the spaceship had six.
Again, fascinating dynamics emerged as players who utilised their team work properly could take on the spaceship quite proficiently. The player in the spaceship had to actually display a lot of skill to make sure they had both of the other players covered. Matches managed to get quite intense, but not quite to the level of a close Chase Mii match. Again though, the same problems are likely to emerge from such multiplayer set ups.
Two on one, redefined.
New Super Mario Bros. Mii
Haven’t we seen something like this before? Oh right, the 2009 game Wii hit, New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Except this time, you can play as your own Mii, and the graphics have been spruced up for HD resolutions. And in truth, it actually looks pretty good. There were five levels from five different worlds on display, which managed to feel both new and familiar at the same time – as a Mario title should. One aspect of the Wii U controller that was on display though, was the ability to play the game in its entirety on the Wii U controller. Essentially, you could change the channel on the TV or let someone else watch, but as long as the Wii U was running you could keep playing NSMBM. We didn’t get to test the range, but were informed that it’s not as if you could take the controller out of your house.
Become one with your inner fat plumber.
HD experience – Zelda
Another tech demo similar to the Japanese Garden, which showed a Twilight Princess Link (or someone quite similar) entering a temple and fighting a giant spider. One perspective of this demo was to show off the HD processing capabilities of the Wii U, and it showed off some impressive lighting, subtle details (e.g. torch reflections) and animations. At the press of a button, we could turn the scene from a day to a night time battle. Furthermore, the demo showed off the capabilities of the system for switching the view points and cameras on the TV and touch screen. One view point had the inventory and map on the touch screen, while another would have a series of different angle for viewing the battle. Neither the demo TV or touch screen came close to the visual fidelity of the press conference presentation, but it certainly opens up some potential gameplay ideas for future adventure titles.
Will this eventuate into an actual game?
At E3 2010, the 3DS was quite simple in what it was trying to achieve and Nintendo was obviously much better prepared with exactly what it wanted to show audiences. In the Wii U, the overriding impression from us is that there are still a number of concepts that have yet to be realised or implemented in a way that shows gamers exactly what this system is meant to be about. While there were a number of fascinating concepts, they remain just that. And it’s a shame that Nintendo was not as well prepared this year as they were last. While to some it may have made sense, Nintendo has some work ahead of them to show the players – be they the casual or the core – just what exactly they can expect and that this is all supposed to be about. In all, the parts of the picture we can see are interesting, but we're yet to see the full picture.
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