Nintendo has revealed that the tablet-style controller for its newly announced Wii U console will not be available to buy separately. Multiplayer games on the system will require other players to use Wii Remotes.
"Both the controller and the console will be sold as one unit," a Nintendo spokesperson told CVG during E3. "You won't be able to buy the controller alone."
No details are forthcoming as to whether more than one of the new controllers can be synced to a single Wii U - this would at least allow Wii U-owning friends to have their own screens, too.
If final, it's an odd decision that takes some of the sheen off of Nintendo's new hardware, especially after the company announced that The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords would be free to DSi owners.
Nintendo demonstrated its new console for the first time at its E3 conference yesterday. The decision to limit each console to one controller - and its likely impact on Nintendo's accessories business - may have been a factor in the company's stock price hitting a five-year low today.
Source: CVG
Comments
11No clue what Nintendo has been smoking, but i do not want to try it.
Completely unworkable. So you break your controller you have to buy a new console? Don't be silly...
This doesn't make sense.
The Wii U announcement restoked my Nintendo love, resulting in me digging out my SP for a trip down memory lane, but this is just madness.
The 3DS looks like being the next Virtual Boy and I genuinely think that the PSVita will turn it over. I'm now baffled by the Wii U as well.
I hope Nintendo come up with something as being at the top is their rightful place, but I'm growing more and more doubtful that they will.
Ha! Ha! And there's my 10% of 'love' I had left for Nintendo gone down the drain....
This is a mistake and a real missed opportunity by Nintendo.
And I believe the fact that the console uses yet another proprietary disc format (which means it'll probably not play CDs, DVDs or blu-rays) is another mistake by Nintendo.
Did Nintendo go completely bonkers when they developed this system?
The disc format makes perfect sense. They avoid paying licensing fees for something their target audience have no need for, and have increased disc space. It will also cut down on piracy.
Perhaps the Wii-U is simply not capable of streaming two seperate sets of images to two seperate controllers at once?
Yeah this is almost certainly the case. Also Nintendo probably didn't want everyone moaning about £129 controllers.
Has anyone seen official verification that Wii U only comes with 8 Gig flash memory or is that still a rumor? I can't imagine a modern console being so limited by HDD space. I guess Nintendo isn't that serious about selling downloadable games and DLC if that's really the case.
This controller looks suspiciously like one of those cheap LeapFrog kiddie game systems you find at Toys 'r' Us, Walmart and Best Buy.
Madness. But I'll buy it.
This is hardly confirmed.