More unique, interesting, and emergent interactive concepts were explored with the Wii's split gyro plus IR pointer control scheme than the Wii U's overly safe touch screen. The tech went a long way to differentiate the Wii from its competitors, and for the first time in a long time peaked my curiosity towards application of non-standardised technology to interacting with virtual spaces. Even when it was rough and prototype in execution, I was at least intrigued as to how the game systems would explore the tech, in a way I wasn't getting anywhere else.
I openly welcome the return of a standardised split motion control scheme and hope as many developers utilise it as possible.
100% with you on this.
---
My worry with NX isn't the tech, which sounds great - especially with that extra tactile feedback through smarter rumble - but the device being a hybrid.
If the market (and especially the market in Japan) decides to generally use NX as a handheld device, I wonder how much time, programming effort and creative efforts developers will spend fine-tuning optional motion controls in their games.
Resi 4 Remastered might support them when the console is docked, but as soon as the player takes their NX out the house with them there is no use case for motion controls, and I worry that devs will see it as an afterthought unless the game is designed to *only* be used in a console-like setup, like Just Dance.
Then again, that illustration with the kickstand makes me think Nintendo's coming up with new ways to do local multiplayer. Think Spin the Bottle: Bumpies' Party on Wii U. That didn't need a TV screen, it was just the Wii U GamePad and your remotes. So maybe there will be a greater use for motion control outside of the TV, just put your NX on the table, detach the two controllers and play a new type of local multiplayer experience. And the haptic feedback of the controllers could somehow play into this.
---
As for pointer controls, I don't think Nintendo will do a sensor bar again, not even on the unit, if both controllers support gyro. Nintendo's done gyro-only pointer controls without IR before with Skyward Sword, it'd be nice if they finetuned those. But the point about NX supporting Wii Remotes might mean it goes the other way.