Do you guys know if the Wii U is motion plus MANDATORY?  Will non-motion-plus controllers work? 

In the Pikmin 3 trailer, they said it would be even more accurate with Wii MotionPlus. The way they worded it made me think the old ones might be. I hope not though, I want games that use them to be as accurate as possible.

I thought they meant more accurate with motionplus vs the tablet controller.  I mean 'gamepad'

For the record: I want motion plus to be mandatory.  It'll finally make some use of the peripheral outside of about 5 games.

I’ve thought this for a while: Wii Remote Plus will be packaged in with the Wii U hardware. Nintendo wants to make sure everyone has it day one. Only Nintendo can 100% confirm this. That’s the rule, if not everyone has it; you can’t develop games utilizing that technology, which is why Motion Plus wasn’t developed for. The same attitude for Smart Glass: you can’t develop a game that requires the consumer to own peripheral tech (especially a tablet). Building on that, Wii U will support 2 GamePads; so it will be interesting to see how Nintendo sells them separately, along with the Wii U Pro controller and how developers will make games around that (I think a lot of that functionality will be based on online multiplayer ).  My biggest question still remains: How will multiplayer-heavy games like Rayman Legends be played single player (one person can’t use the control stick, buttons, and the touchscreen simultaniously)?

Its sad but I went into E3 wanting to buy a wiiU but now post conference I dont think i will be buying one anytime soon.

I wholeheartedly agree. AND Nintendo needs to pack in the Wii U Pro controller, too. That way, third parties have NO excuses at all. NONE.

At the very least, they should offer a Pro console package that contains it.


Hearing Panzer Dragoon, I now want Sega to revive the franchise on Wii U.  Even better release Panzer Dragoon Saga on the Virtual Console, too.

Sounds expensive.

For a little plastic controller that doesn't have any gyros or accelerometers in it? Hardly.

It wouldn't hurt Nintendo AT ALL to include the Pro controller in the console package.

Why would they NEED to package the Wii U Pro Controller with the system? The Wii U GamePad already does everything it does plus more. Third parties have no excuse anyways since the Wii U GamePad has all the features. You are basically just asking for two controllers to be included with the system, which is not needed and adds a lot of cost (Rachtman, you do know the Wii U Pro Controller is not just an empty shell? It's as much of a controller as the DualShock 3 or Xbox 360 controllers are and has just as much tech in it).

As for the Wii Remote Plus, I don't think they need to. Every Wii for the last 2 or 3 years has come with one plus every new Wii Remote sold since then is a Wii Remote Plus. At this point, I think most people who own a Wii also own a Wii Remote Plus or Wii Remote with Wii MotionPlus.

Yeah, assuming the Wii U actually takes off, I don't see the Pro controller having so many issues finding a wide audience that it needs to be packed in with the console.  For one thing, if you want to play 4 player MP on the Wii U, you can only have 2 GamePads.  Sure, on some games you can probably fill the remaining slots with Wiimotes, but most people will probably just buy Pro controllers.

Also, the GamePad is probably going to be upwards of $70-$80, whereas the Pro controller is probably at most going to be in that $30-$40 range.  The price discrepancy alone will get people to buy Pro controllers.  This isn't like the Wiimote/Classic Controller situation where you had to have a Wiimote to use a Classic Controller.

Oh, excuse me for trying to appeal to developers - ya know, those guys who MAKE the games for us? Yeah, those guys.

And guess what? Not all of them are going to want to use the GamePad for their games. What if a dev wants to just bring a standard traditional game over to the Wii U without any mumbo jumbo extra screen features? Sure, use the Pro controller then, it's packed in with the console! Game on, dude.

Excluding it can hinder some devs. Not all.. but some. Options, man. Options. Isn't that what you guys have been crazily preaching about?! Sheesh.

The gamepad basically is a pro controller with a touch screen and IR port. It can do literally everything the pro does, plus more. If a dev is too lazy to stick a map and a menu on the screen their game almost certainly isn't worth playing. From my point of view it would be cool to have it bundled, because it'd be one less thing I had to buy, but it's not necessary that Nintendo bundle it for their own benefit.

No, for Nintendo's bottom line. Console manufacturers make a killing off selling controllers, which is why most SKUs make a point of only including one. Nintendo's not going to give away all that profit, especially not for a system where millions of households already own Wiimotes.