Gahiggidy
My aunt & uncle run a Mom & Pop store, "The Gamecube Hut", and sold 80k WiiU within minutes of opening.
The talk of the Haptics stuff reminded me of this post I made 6 years ago...
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99037
Turns out the last feature was the speaker. I really wish they did have that iFeel tech in the wiimote. Its surprisingly convincing. Imagine playing the harp in Skyward Sword and being able to feel the "plucks" of each string.
Six year's ago I got a mouse from Logitech which had something called "iFeel", which used Immersion Corporation's TouchWare technology. What the iFeel mouse did was give a series of very subtle force-feedback vibrations through the casing of the mouse. Not as powerful as the rumble you get with N64 or GameCube controllers, but it had the ability to create various tactile sensations. For example, "Squeaky-Clean" felt like dragging your finger across plate-glass, mimicking the slippage in friction. There was "Electric" which vaguely reminded you of a light electric shock. Then there was "Rocky Road" which felt like crunching something. These sensations were mapped to the Windows interface and common applications. Every time you scrolled the cursor over a window's border, menu area, or hyperlink in IE, you got a little tactile response. It was pretty neat to try out, but not very useful for operating your computer.
I believe there is a good chance similar force-feedback technology will be that secret Nintendo as alluded about the Wii controller. The direct-pointing-device seems a little small to house traditional rumble motors. The iFeel motor is about the size of a quarter in diameter and a dime in thickness. And what better way to add the interactivity of the Wii controller than letting players "feel" objects in the environment? You could send a "pluck" vibration when Link let's go of an arrow. As you move the Wii controller from side to side to make Mario wall jump, you could feel the thud of each kick. The there is more practical uses like giving a little pulsating feedback when the controller's position moves near the boundary of the play area.
Or, it could be a microphone.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99037
Turns out the last feature was the speaker. I really wish they did have that iFeel tech in the wiimote. Its surprisingly convincing. Imagine playing the harp in Skyward Sword and being able to feel the "plucks" of each string.