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[I Wanna Be The Guy]

The Wii U's controller should had been a improved Wiimote, not a traditional controller with a underutilized screen.

By going with the Gamepad, they effectually killed motion and pointing gaming (Say what you want about waggle, but can you seriously fucking happy for the loss of IR-pointing!?). It's a regress in almost all possible ways.

An improved Wiimote + Nunchaku would had maintained play-ability of a traditional controller, and a better button placement would had fixed the Wiimote's mistakes.

It was also extremely stupid to support Wiimote at Wii U games when it doesn't even come with the console. Games are supposed not supposed to be complicated to play. With the Wii U, the developer is forced to design with the Gamepad in mind, because the Wiimote is a optional controller and not everyone who is a Wii U user will have it.

The Wiimote should had been in Gamepad's place. Supporting two contradictory controllers has caused a clusterfuck.

The system you just described sounds like shit. A Wii U without off tv play? Do not want.

 

[AdanVC]

They didn't. The marketing was fucked up.

The Gamepad is awesome.

This pretty much. I'm in love with that controller. Doesn't look too attractive or slick as an actual tablet/iPad, etc. But it's truly comfortable to use and it gets the job done really well. Responsive and efficient. Too bad (like, really really bad) the marketing did terrible to give the message about the infinite possibilities of the Gamepad and because of that, 90% of population think of the Gamepad as an add-on for Wii that only works with certain games like the Wii Balance Board and those types of accesories during the Wii era.

 

[Quadraphonic]

The system you just described sounds like shit. A Wii U without off tv play? Do not want.

I think you just described literally every other video game console ever made.

 

[Sorcerer]

My ideal controller would be a classic controller "split in two", both with Remote+ functionality. That would be the best of both worlds: every button you need for classic controls, motion controls, pointing and the ability to have your hands far apart from each other. It would allow them to iterate and improve on the Wii remote without losing anything.

That sounds awesome, I would go one step further and have the ability to connect the two pieces together when one just wants a classic controller.

That would have been so perfect.

Nintendo dropping motion controls in favor of the gamepad was a huge mistake.

 

[purdobol]

I'm not calling digital analog. I'm saying that N64 offers analog controls in practice. You have near 360º precision in movement in Mario 64 for example, are you telling me these are digital controls? The technicality of using encoders rather than potentiometers doesn't make the end result digital in practice. Even if these small increments in the stick movement are being fed to the machine as digital signals, they are precise enough to allow analog controls in practice. You're basically clinging to semantics.

Grouping 60 buttons in a wheel would give same "analog controls" that you described. Yes technicality of using enconders make it digital in practice. Even if cleverly disguised as analog. Those ticks are very definition of digital. Furthermore I could argue that there's no such thing as analog controls at all. Because software is digital and introduces those ticks by default when engine waits for input. In the original post I just pointed out in brackets little known fact that N64 thumbstick wasn't really analog. That's it.

From what I've seen Mario Maker is the absolute perfect use of the Gamepad and a game that wouldn't be anywhere close to as intuitive without it. It's also my most anticipated game of the year so yeah.

Besides, I fail to see how the ability to play any console game away from the tv isn't improving the entire experience of playing games substantially.

It is improving experience. But I have doubts if it was worth additional cost of the console. Browsing the web is better, of TV is cool, painting is fun. Does it really improves game experience substantially? Having map or inventory on a gamepad is not must-have feature. Nintendoland is the only game that has some ideas not possible to replicate on a pro controller. That ninja game, asynchronous multiplayer etc. Where are those games that heavily relies on those new features. Zombi U used some, Rayman used some, Wonderful 101 thats it. And it all feels tacked on top just for the sake of beign there. Not build for it. Games should push for innovation (like Mario 64 pushed for that unlucky "analog stick" ). Meanwhile the gamepad is crammed with features that feel forced. Camera, ir thingy for amiibo's even that gamepad as tv remote feature. Cool but unnecessary.

I don't know. maybe I'm just wanting more asynchronous multiplayer action and feel bitter about it. Glad that Splatoon will have that mode...

 

[brinstar]

I love the gamepad. I use the thing pretty much every day if even just to stream video on my computer desk. I actually hope they somehow provide backwards compatibility for it and let you sync it to their next console so you can use Off-TV play on it if you want to.

 

[The Boat]

Grouping 60 buttons in a wheel would give same "analog controls" that you described. Yes technicality of using enconders make it digital in practice. Even if cleverly disguised as analog. Those ticks are very definition of digital. Furthermore I could argue that there's no such thing as analog controls at all. Because software is digital and introduces those ticks by default when engine waits for input. In the original post I just pointed out in brackets little known fact that N64 thumbstick wasn't really analog. That's it.

Precisely because there is no such thing as pure analog controls on a digital system, it makes no sense to be hung up on technical and semantic details and call N64 controls not analog.
Nintendo 64's joystick is, for all intents and purposes, analog: the input (the stick itself) and the practical output (in-game movement) have several degrees of freedom instead of having simply two states as in digital controls. To the user, everything in between that is a black box, which is why in my original response I said that both systems result in analog controls.

I get that we're arguing semantics and technicalities, because yes, 64's analog joystick movement (which is analog) is recorded as clicks on wheels and fed to the board as digital, it's a series of tiny digital signals that allow for analog control in practice. In the end, it's just converting to digital "one step" sooner (and with less precision, at least in this case) than controllers with potentiometers.

We're just talking on different wavelengths, which isn't to say this isn't worth discussing even if off-topic, personally I think it's interesting and educational.

 

[Brickhunt]

My ideal controller would be a classic controller "split in two", both with Remote+ functionality. That would be the best of both worlds: every button you need for classic controls, motion controls, pointing and the ability to have your hands far apart from each other. It would allow them to iterate and improve on the Wii remote without losing anything.

Yeah. That's exactly what I expected for the Wii's successor.

A splitted classic controller, between the wiimote and nunchaku, with all the advantages of a traditional controller + improved motion sensoring and a IR pointer. It shouldn't be hard at all.

It's a shame, because there is a console with better hardware " Wii U" , but won't take advantage of the Wiimote, because who the hell, in their sane mind, is going to design a AAA Wii U game entirely around an optional controller?

 

[My words exactly!]

Yeah. That's exactly what I expected for the Wii's successor.

A splitted classic controller, between the wiimote and nunchaku, with all the advantages of a traditional controller + improved motion sensoring and a IR pointer. It shouldn't be hard at all.

It's a shame, because there is a console with better hardware " Wii U" , but won't take advantage of the Wiimote, because who the hell, in their sane mind, is going to design a AAA Wii U game entirely around an optional controller?

QFMFT!

Really, all Nintendo had to do is improve the wiimote (standard M+ built in on all wiimotes) make 4 buttons (1,2,3 & 4 instead of just 1 & 2) on the wiimote in addition to the dpad and A,B already present. Also, add clickable analog on the nunchuck.

 

[Fudgepuppy]

I've got four games for my Wii U, Hyrule Warriors, Mario Kart, Smash and Rayman Legends.

I have three Wiimotes, Three gamecube-controllers, one Gamecube-Pro controller that you attach to the Wiimote, two Pro Controllers and one Wii U gamepad. Switching between all of these depending on the game is a nightmare.

I much prefer the Wii U gamepad for Legends and Warriors, but for Mario Kart I enjoy the Pro-controller, and for Smash I can only play with the Gamecube-controller because of the octagon.

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

I like Wiimote+Nunchuk. For some games like shooters it works very well, faster and more precise than old controller.

I like the Gamepad for almost all games too. It adds a new level of convenience to playing games.

 

[DizzyCrow]

I wouldn't mind something like that

 

[m.i.s.]

nm

 

[EDarkness]

Why did they lose the analog triggers?

This is the biggest thing for me. How the hell did they lose analog trigger? Having them was a no-brainer, yet they removed them from every controller that currently supported (well...except the GC controller). Racing games without analog is a travesty.