Topic: Naming the WiiU Controller

[Chozo Ghost]

Knowing Nintendo, it won't have a clever name.

That's because decisions like that come from their corporate HQ in Japan where English isn't spoken much (if at all). Its difficult to give something a clever name when the name has to be in a language you don't speak very well.

[apdude]

UDraw+

[JasonMaivia]

This thing is going to be sold to the masses again, or at least attempted to be sold to them, so the name would probably be something that anyone can understand if all of the controllers were laid out in front of them.

It should have touch or screen in it, but nothing that non-gamers wouldn't understand.  This means no fancy names or old Nintendo-based names from older consoles (GameBoy).

It'll be something, like the Touch Controller.  I'll hate it of a minute, then start calling it the Screen Wiimote or something even dumber.

[Chozo Ghost]

This thing is going to be sold to the masses again, or at least attempted to be sold to them,

Looks like Nintendo is aiming for a one controller per console strategy, and since it comes bundled with the console everyone will have it when they purchase the console. So the controller doesn't need to be marketed as a separate product to be sold to the masses, and therefore probably doesn't really need a name. It will have one I'm sure, but its not a big deal if it does or doesn't.

[JasonMaivia]

I was also thinking of the when the next console is released, will the Wii U Touchscreen Tablet of Doom end up being replaced or allowed to work?  It'll then need a name of its own, and "New controller" isn't going to work anymore. (New Super Mario Bros. isn't so New anymore).

Right now, we don't know if the old Wii remotes, nunchucks, or any of the classic controllers will be bundled with the console or not.  If the new controller is ever to be sold in the future, what would it be called (these things will break), and i doubt that most of the consumer population will call Nintendo for every thing that needs to be repaired or replaced.


Anyway, for the games, there'll be instructions to how to play them, and they're gonna have to call the controller something, right?
You know when you start a Wii game that requires the Nunchuck, like Super Mario Galaxy or Metroid Prime Trilogy, it'll let you know.  Say that your tablet screen wasn't turned on, sync'd or wasn't charged up (dead battery), the game may ask that you please connect the "_____ controller" to the Wii.  "New Controller" shouldn't be it.  If the device doesn't have a name, then it'll only confuse some people, unless it's going to be the "System Name Controller", like the Gamecube, N64, SNES, and NES.  But the difference here is that, like the Wii, this new controller offers a unique way of playing on home consoles, and will be used with a bunch of other Wii controllers for multiplayer and Virtua Console gaming.



  Just because it comes with the console doesn't mean that it'll always be the controller that consumers will use as the default controller.  I'm sure that Nintendo will come up with something simple and easy for most consumers to understand.

[nickmitch]

Well, it obviously won't be the default controller for players 2-4. Hurr, hurr.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Well, it obviously won't be the default controller for players 2-4. Hurr, hurr.

But it should be.

[Lithium]

voted Upad since it's easier to say, but nintendo probably wont go for it since its just one letter away from Ipad

[Chozo Ghost]

The U name would kinda be more appropriate if the controller itself were actually U shaped somehow. Its not, though, its a Tablet.

U could work if the U stands for Uno which means One in Spanish. Since there is only one controller, calling it the Uno Pad or Uno Tablet kinda makes sense.

[BlackNMild2k1]

If you trace the path from the controls on the left down to the + home - on the bottom and then the buttons on the right while going around the screen, you have a U shape.

[Ceric]

I still vote ^uMote and U won't sway me.  Or Maybe Mote^U or Wiimote ^U...

[Sarail]

But it's not a remote....

[nickmitch]

It's more of a pad. . .

[BlackNMild2k1]

But it's not a remote....

until I download the universal remote app from the eShop.

[JasonMaivia]

Holy crap!  I forgot to ask...Does the New Controller have rumble?

[BlackNMild2k1]

yes it does.

[JasonMaivia]

Oh good.  I was having that Classic style controller with no rumble feeling again (Wii).

[UltimatePartyBear]

But it's not a remote....

until I download the universal remote app from the eShop.

Agreed so hard.  Nintendo's about to hook up a few million tablets to the world's entertainment centers, and they're the one company that I'm sure wouldn't even consider the applications beyond their own console.

[Ceric]

But it's not a remote....

until I download the universal remote app from the eShop.

Agreed so hard.  Nintendo's about to hook up a few million IR Enabled tablets to the world's entertainment centers, and they're the one company that I'm sure wouldn't even consider the applications beyond their own console.

Fixed for even more Irony.

[Caterkiller]

I like Utouch. TouchU just sounds sexual.

[TJ Spyke]

Why does it have to have a name? Controllers never used to have names. I think the only ones that do are the DualShocks, Wii Remote, and maybe the Xbox Controller S (and Wavebird). Wii U controller would be fine with me, so I go with that.

[JasonMaivia]

I think the reason it needs a name is, unlike most other consoles, the Wii has a standard set of controllers officially made for the console.  Wiimote was the center in the connectivity of other types needed for different media.

You need the Balance Board for Wii Fit.
The Classic Controller best fit games that uses the normal controller button layout (or to meet the minimal amount of buttons needed for Virtual Console games).
The Nunchuck gives analog movement and allows for both motion and pointer options to be used.

Some games requires the use of just a Wii Remote or a combination of controllers to be used for playing.  Giving them names only makes things easier.

Looking back at other systems, like the SNES and NES, there was no need for a controller with a name, unless a game requred something else, like the Super Scope games and games that uses the Zapper.
The Playstation, outside of lightguns, didn't need anything but a normal controller, until analog movement and the Dual Analod/Dual Shock controllers were introduced to those users.  For some games, analog was optional, but there are still a wealthy library of PSOne games that is analog-controller only.

When there is only one controller needed for 100% of a game console's library, then there would be a need for any special controller names.

[Mop it up]

For some games, analog was optional, but there are still a wealthy library of PSOne games that is analog-controller only.

Were there? Ape Escape is the only one I've ever heard of.

[JasonMaivia]

Sorry.
 I had a lot of PS2 games on my mind that required the uses of the analog stick for movement.
  Many of those games made the switch to being analog-exclusive once they've meddled with analog controls of the PSOne, with many of them using the either one to control the character/vehicle or for something else (example: items in Devil May Cry 3)


  Off the top of my head, PSone games, like Ace Combat 2 and 3, some racing games, and a few action games that has the analog mode on at default. The Ape Escape series, of course, used the analog sticks exclusively.


I shouldn't have used PSOne as an example.


For Wii U, there's going to be games that'll tell you to switch to or connect/disconnect the "XXX Controller", like you'd see with games, like Super Mario Galaxy, Virtual Console, and other games that does or doesn't want specific controllers to be connected.


Calling it the "Wii U Controller" would be fine, but Nintendo will probably start selling more Wii remotes, Classic Controllers, and Nunchucks.  As seen with a number of demostrations at E3 and other game shows, they've all been used with the majority of first and third party games.  No multiplayer game so far has been seen with more than one Wii U tablet controller.