Wii U supports two GamePads, but when can we see it implemented into games?
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/30752
First and third-party titles for the Wii U supporting two GamePads will not be available at the Wii U launch or in the launch window.
"Games need to be built that can take advantage of the two GamePad controllers," Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime explained. "It's going to be well after launch for those game experiences to come to life." Reggie continued by saying that Nintendo expects developers to first figure out the best way to utilize the second screen (TV and one GamePad) in gameplay experiences before figuring out how to incorporate a third (TV with two GamePads) – it could take a while to master.
"Asymmetric gameplay is going to be the next major step forward, just like active play was when we launched the Wii. We think that’s where developers will focus first, then there will be multiple experiences that have two GamePads."
That's odd reasoning. Any game with split-screen multiplayer is an immediate candidate for 2 GamePad support. This seems like a last minute addition which is strange since it's the 1st thing most people thought of.
Now wait, it sounds like the title of the article is a little different than its content.
Is it that some Wii U launch games use 2 tablets but that the machine won't be able to support it until a future patch, or is it simply that Wii U launch games don't happen to be ones that tried to use 2 tablets?
I interpreted this to mean the launch lineup merely doesn't have any games that use this. Nintendo knows what third parties have planned so they probably have some idea if third parties plan to use this or not. I never thought of the Wii U not even supporting it out-of-the-box. I just assumed Nintendo implemented it too late to have the launch lineup use it. They might not even have dev kits to support it out to third parties yet and thus they know no third party game will have it. It doesn't mean the system doesn't have it at all.
I remain pretty surprised that Nintendo never thought of this until last E3 when everyone suggested it. I wonder if Nintendo thought of it, figured it wasn't feasible and didn't plan to do it, and then changed their mind when it got brought up. As a programmer I've had times where we thought of something but felt that it was time consuming to include and was unnecessary, only to have our clients immediately suggest it the first time we reveal the product to them. Sometimes you take the risk that no one will care about something and it blows up in your face when they immediately notice it. Nintendo might have felt we wouldn't care about only having one Gamepad and then, oooops, looks like we did.
I interpreted this to mean the launch lineup merely doesn't have any games that use this.
Actually, Nintendo Land supports two GamePads for up to six players simultaneously. So the functionality will be there day one.
If you can come up with an idea that uses four gamepads that would work right with each of them only getting 15 frames a second I'd like to hear it.
If you can come up with an idea that uses four gamepads that would work right with each of them only getting 15 frames a second I'd like to hear it.
Poker.
If you can come up with an idea that uses four gamepads that would work right with each of them only getting 15 frames a second I'd like to hear it.
Poker.
That would be handy for all those times you've got four GamePads with you but can't scare up a deck of cards.
In the world of big screen tvs, it should be able to handle no less than four if they are wanting it to be a family/friend gathering place.
In the world of big screen tvs, it should be able to handle no less than four if they are wanting it to be a family/friend gathering place.
No less than 4 GamePads? You do know the Wii U hardware needs to process and send the info for every GamePad? That is less processing power for the actual games. As it stands, two GamePads will already drop games down to 30 FPS.
I would assume the reason for the drop to 30fps is because the gamepads alternate in which gets new information. Same amount of rendering being done, and same amount of data sent out, but each gamepad only gets new information every other frame. In this situation, they "could" support 3 and even 4 gamepads if they wished to drop the frame rate to 20 and 15 respectfully.
Or Poker?
Seriously, though... Diamond Trust of London. Look it up. Here on NWR. :D
They should sell a device 2 years down the line that plugs into the back of the GamePad that increases its functionality and doesn't get used more than once.
