I only went back one page, and I answered these from the bottom up, but let me know if I missed something.
I'm still quite confident that you're all kidding yourselves because you want to believe a local multi-player design could work, and not because you realistically think it will.
At this point, I expect this touch screen controller is going to be primarily, if not exclusively, for single player experiences (not counting online), and for giving you an option of playing away from the TV. It'll likely be an auxiliary controller, not the main controller-- which will most likely be another pointer-based controller (which works well for both single player experiences and multi-player parlor games anyway). This touch screen controller will appeal mainly to gamers. I don't see the casual crowd flocking to it, and I don't see Nintendo willing to lose them. Nintendo will be trying to lure in both. That's where this secondary controller comes in... It certainly won't be designed around multi-player.
So what happens if I want to play local multi and don't have the privilege of using the TV? SOL or Wiimotes on a 6" screen?
I think a second Café controller, that most certainly won't cost $100, would be a more reasonable solution.
I still think it's silly to think that the big new innovative features of this new system were built around using this streaming controller that you think will be relegated to secondary controller.... an auxiliary item.
I still say you're kidding yourselves if you think this is going to be the standard controller used for multiplayer. Wii was by far the most profitable system this generation, so they're not going to abandon the Wii remote-styled wand controls.
No one said they would abandon the wiimotes, just not use them as the main controller for this next system.
There could be a new Wiimote 2.0, but then again, maybe this new controller actually addresses the need for a separate controller as it is everything we need.
I think you are kidding yourself if you think the lazy 3rd parties are gonna program single player for one kind of controller and then multiplayer (for the same game?) exclusively for a different kind of controller.
They are gonna program the game to work with the primary controller in all modes, but that doesn't mean that they can't program the game to work in all modes with a secondary controller too.
Unless they do pack 2 separate controllers in the box or pack a game in with that secondary controller, no dev is gonna assume that any gamer has that controller available and will not pledge exclusive support to the non-standard controller.
Who says this touch screen thing is going to be the only input device included in the box? How do you know it's not going to come bundled with a new type of remote as well as this touch screen device? You don't.
Need I remind you that the touch-screen and dual analog controls weren't the only details that initially leaked about this system. Pretty consistent reports suggesting Wii-style motion controls were out there too that would use a new tracking system?
Actually the rumors suggested that it would motion tracking better than move. nothing was said about wii-style motion controls and a new tracking system.
The only thing said about Wii was that Café would be fully backwards compatible with Wii & GC.
This info largely seems to have gotten glossed over by the gaming press who've instead been focusing on the touch screen idea,
That's because you have your rumors mixed up
but it was still out there and shouldn't be ignored. Since it seems unlikely that both a 6" touch screen and a Wii-styled motion pointer (which pointer tracking pretty much guarantees) could be part of the same device, it's fairly reasonable to guess that there's more than one controller with this system.
Your argument has already fallen apart. But I do agree that there could be more than one controller in the box... if the Café controller doesn't already satisfy the need for a separate controller.
If both controllers come standard with the system, then how can only one of them be considered the 'Café controller'? This is exactly the kind of thinking I'm talking about-- You're thinking inside the box. Who says 'there can only be one real controller'? The DS uses SNES-style buttons and a touch screen, does that make the buttons any less of a DS aspect? No, SNES-styled buttons worked in the past so they reused them alongside a new touch screen, both of which make up a DS.
One controller is designed specifically for Café therefore making it the Café controller. The other would be what I will assume to be an upgraded Wiimote designed to improve motion sensing beyond wiimote+.... therefore would be known as a Wiimote2.0 not a Café controller.
You say it's kinda silly to assume what will definitely be the center point of the console won't be the main controller... That's assuming its intended purpose was to be a controller. I don't believe that to be the case. If its main intended function was for streaming and we just misinterpreted the leaked reports, then it's not silly at all. In fact, the idea that we'd be expected to have to likely pay $100 for each controller, is a lot sillier.
It was rumored to have a 6" touch screen and all the standard buttons and controls we would expect from a regular controller. Also has a camera and we assume ties into the better motion sensing that Move. How? we aren't sure yet, but there has been no indication of a second controller (wiimote or otherwise) in the box.
All rumors have pointed to one controller. The one with the touch screen. the one with all the buttons and dual analogs. the one with the camera and the one we assume to also have motion tech like gyros and accelerometer.