Wii U controller analogue sticks and buttons

I just read an article on IGN regarding the controller:

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/117/1175666p1.html

I quite agree with them. It's been the first time when I've actually read in detail about the controller. I could live with the silly circle pads but - not having trigger buttons is just nonsense.

How can the WiiU play games like COD or racing games, where analogue buttons and control sticks are essential? and I dont get how its going to attract me from the PS3 or Xbox360.

Those who play COD will know that the shoulder buttons/triggers and that pushing in the analogue stick is essential for the frantic gameplay.

Nintendo seems to have a strong case of stupiditis. It seems to have gotten worse since reggie fis aime was hired.

I read people referring to the back buttons as 'triggers' so assumed they were analogue, but I guess not. The PS3 and 360 pads also have more buttons by default because of the clicky analogue sticks.

I do find these decisions a little bit strange, and I can see it having an affect on some games which rely on them. Devs would have to compensate for these lacking features, so why not just make life easier by having what the other pads have?

It is still a prototype, like they say, so hopefully they will change a few things in the end.

( Edited 13.06.2011 03:17 by Azuardo )

Makes no sense to go backwards in tech. Analogue are supremely superior to the circle pad, its brilliant for a handheld, but for a home console? Thanks, but no thanks, I'll be sticking to a classic controller pro. I don't mind about the tactile shoulder buttons, its something that the gamecube released but is only used for 'serious' racers. Even the PS3 uses R1/R2 as its primary fire buttons compared to accelorometers so its not that bad. Just strange after the 360 and PS3 I guess.

Have we not all just accepted by now that Nintendo often make some ridiculous decisions when it comes to tech?

Though, that said, when everything else is finally setup for being third-party/cross-platform friendly, yes - it does seem pretty stupid that they choose to alienate themselves in fickle ways such as this.

Wouldn't there be a huge backlash from the developers if they can't/don't want to work with those things?

( Edited 13.06.2011 11:20 by SirLink )

Apparently according to the buffoon that is reggie fils aime, the controller shown at E3 is pretty much 'near final'.

Or maybe they are including a old skool controller in the WiiU package?

I'm losing my faith in Nintendo - they seem to be run by idiots who seem to now be interested in the bottom dollar and the casual games market.

Maybe it was too much to think we would relive the SNES/N64 gaming days again.

Yamauchi san (previous president/owner) will be wanting to make a comeback and whack these idiots, take their names and take them down.

It's bewildering how years of controller R&D and proven stuff gets thrown away. Whatever happened to the gamecube's perfect face button layout that everybody loved? It'll be so typical of Nintendo to fuck everything up with this arbitrary crap. It's annoying enough that every controller doesn't just clone the perfect Saturn D-pad, without having to put up with digital triggers and other shitty compromises.

Do they employ the same people who design fridges to design controllers?

( Edited 13.06.2011 13:39 by Raff )

Nintendo have sort of lost me on this one...

My interest in a new Nintendo console has never been so low. As I've said, maybe I just don't get it still. I want a comfortable small controller to hold though, that fits perfectly in my hands. Having a slider was fine for the 3DS, because it's portable and it needed to fit under the other screen, whilst it was folded down. Having them on a home console controller doesn't make sense to me.

The Classic Controller is not an option either, because I don't want the inconvenience of having to plug it into a Wii-mote to use it. Where do you put the Wii-mote whilst playing? It's never made sense to me, why can't they have just made it a wireless controller like the Xbox 360 or PS3.

The Wii provided two issues that Nintendo needed to address:

1) Conventional controller included with the hardware
2) Enough horsepower to play the latest games

Point 2's been looked at and it looks as if the Wii U will have enough meat to get by for a good few years, but 1 just baffles me. Control is SO important, especially for third party games - not everyone has a Classic Controller Pro or wants one for that matter.

I hope Nintendo are readying a "Wii U Controller" that's like a CC Pro but fully wireless, comes BUNDLED with the console and works with all previous Classic Controller games.

The new Wii U has to come with the following:

1) Wii U "Tablet" controller
2) Some form of Classic/regular controller
3) Wii Motion+ Remote & Nunchuck

as a standard, else you'l find developers shying away from the console again as it would be a pain in the arse to reconfigure imo.

On the whole analogue stick issue, it really baffles me - 3DS slider/circle pad are good but I find myself "sliding" off them quite often. Have been playing through OOT 3DS like crazy over the last five days and find that my finger tends to slip off when pushing the circle pad to the exteme (riding across Hyrule field for example).

Needs 2x analogue sticks positioned BELOW the Face buttons and D-pad - looks stupid otherwise. Nintendo need to stop trying to changing gaming conventions too much and actually listen to their audience for once.

I don't think Nintendo's every had clickable analogues, but it would be nice if they were included.

And if they did re-design it with analogues, they would have to be quite short in length because I could imagine them being quite unwieldy with a big controller like that.

I agree with the points on the analogue triggers as well, but they're not so necessary, I have been used to them since the DreamCast though.

I find it funny how we come up with better ideas than Nintendo.

Nintendo could probably employ anyone and they'll tell them they're doing it wrong.

Nintendo could employ us for free/ one free game a year, and we'd make far better decisions for them than their current runt of decision makers.

I'm also fed up of reggie.. fire the b*****d. He is totally arrogant, talks hot air and does not deliver. Ever since they hired him, things started to go wrong.

( Edited 13.06.2011 14:55 by Sherwiinator )

Guys, I urge you to please post comments on IGN's thread. It seems that IGN may have some power and may be able to lay some pressure on Nintendo.

Lets all do it.

For those that need the link:
http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/117/1175666p1.html

It's time we made Nintendo do what WE WANT. NO MORE COMPROMISES.

Nintendo have a habit of continually alienating third parties and other developers. Its stupid simple crap like this that makes them so unattractive to the third parties. They need to step up their game and at least include a 'propper' controller. A wireless gamecube controller with L3/R3 buttons, sixaxis and proper bumpers would be, in a word. Perfect.

( Edited 13.06.2011 15:49 by Echoes221 )

I'm also fed up of reggie.. fire the b*****d. He is totally arrogant, talks hot air and does not deliver. Ever since they hired him, things started to go wrong.

I wouldn't say it's Reggie's fault. I mean he's just the president of NoA and handles promotion and business strategy for the US. I would say Iwata is most likely to blame for Nintendo's U-turn in more recent years.

I doubt anyone in America, whether they work for Nintendo or Press, has any say in what Nintendo do with console design and stuff.

Plus, Reggie's not the bad guy, as Marzy said, he's practically the PR guy that's the face of Nintendo in America, and sometimes the heads of the company don't tell him everything, although he might have some say in what gets released from NOA.

I've always wondered... Where exactly do companies like Nintendo get their feedback from? All over the internet you see people like us ridiculing them for some stupid decisions because they somehow can't see it themselves, and always seem to have better ideas than what they come up with for certain things. But it's not as if Iwata is going to be reading this here site and saying "damn, the fans know what's best, let's change it".

Are they going to get the comments from IGN? Is it a case of IGN having to email Nintendo or something?

It's like game developers too. To use an example, Square are changing up FF13-2 a bit because there were a lot of negative comments about the first one from fans. But where do they hear these comments?

I'd love to know how we can get people like Nintendo listening to just regular fans like us.

( Edited 13.06.2011 16:29 by Azuardo )

Azuardo said:
I've always wondered... Where exactly do companies like Nintendo get their feedback from?

One thing that confuses me about that IGN article is a quote from a previous article here.

One of the more interesting alterations to conventional design is the system features two analog sliders at the top of the controller rather than traditional sticks. Don't make the mistake of thinking these sliders are like the 3DS "circle pad." The texture and top shape of the sliders are much more akin to Wii's nunchuk, meaning the grip and precision of movement are much better.

Yeah, I did mention somewhere (maybe in the podcast) that they look a lot chunkier than the 3DS circle pad, I wonder if they can make them click-able like the 360/PS ones?

Personally... It does not hurt to try. Give it a go guys. Maybe IGN can pull some strings and knock some sense into Nintendo.

I dont want the Wii to be the last Nintendo console I own

The new WII U comes with those new hardware controllers. Also the improved configuration help on playing high resolution games. Nintendo is working to win stake in market.
wii u

( Edited 05.07.2011 16:04 by macke )

Hi macke... how do you know that??