Fourth Storm
Member
I was thinking that it's an Android/iOS app, too. This means that Panasonic should be able to scale it down to even their cheap television sets, which could be an eventual danger to Nintendo's touting of the feature.
The way the Wii U does it, if my guessing is correct, is that swiping to the TV might use the IR transmitter to change the TV to its Wii U input while simultaneously having the console display the image. I mean, there has to be a reason why the DRC has a TV remote thingy embedded at the top.
I've always figured they put the IR transmitter on there for the same reason they put it on the 3DS: It's cheap, allows Wii U and 3DS to exchange data easily, and can even be used to add peripherals (like the Circle Pad Pro) to cover their bases if they screw something up. But obviously Universal Remote functionality is possible as well. It doesn't mean they're locked into one way of doing things, though.
It could end up being something like the Verizon Fios app for the 360 (which kinda sucks, btw, but it's a start). For the DRC to display information about the program, it would have to interact with the cable provider somehow, I would imagine. It seems Nintendo want to go beyond merely switching channels/inputs with the controller. Wasn't there a patent concerning this type of thing?