Mon, Sep 17, 2012 | 11:38 BST

Wii U GamePad ‘not a tablet, its a two-screen experience’ – Reggie

Wii U’s Gamepad is not a tablet, and is distinguishable in that it can do a lot of things that your average tablet cannot. That was the sentiment from Nintendo of America head Reggie Fils-Aime in a new interview with the NY Times.

Speaking with the NY Times, Fils-Aime explained, “The Wii U is not a tablet. It’s a two-screen experience. And so you have this unique GamePad that gives you a different way to have a gaming experience. We’ve got a range of different examples that we can show you.”

“It’s everything from the three of us can be playing the game,” he added, “and I’m using the GamePad to maybe try and attack you with a space ship. We’ve got an attraction called Metroid where literally I’m playing against the two of you, using a space ship trying to shoot you, you’re shooting up on the ground, so we’re playing the same game but having a fundamentally different experience and that all happens with the GamePad.”

“So it’s a controller with this screen built in that allows us to create content that shows different ways to play together but have fundamentally different experiences,” Fils-Aime stressed.

Fils-Aime was keen to point out the differences between tablets and the Wii U GamePad, and added, “Through our GamePad you’ll be able to surf the Internet — it comes with an Internet browser. You’ll be able to watch video content on it. So it will do many things that a stand-alone tablet can do, but in addition, because it’s connected and it’s integrated, our second screen can do a lot of things that a tablet can’t do.”

Thanks ONM.

11 comment-trail-alt Posted in: Nintendo, Wii U
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11 comments

#1

G1GAHURTZ
17/09/12, 11:41 am

Can it do multi-touch?

#2

Erthazus
17/09/12, 11:42 am

So it’s a kitchen sink for losers.

Mkay.

P.S. He is actually right. this is not a tablet. Tablets even shitty one’s have a processor that can launch it’s own task.
This one can’t even launch tetris on it’s own because it is too much for WiiUPad.

#3

monkeygourmet
17/09/12, 11:43 am

I think it’s going to be cool to see what people come up with on this…

Can’t wait to see what kind of Indie and Wiiware games come out,

It’s like effectivly having 2 consoles running at the same time so the possibilities are huge.

in before underpowered

#4

Erthazus
17/09/12, 11:44 am

in before licking Nintendo’s sweet spot. :P trololo

#5

monkeygourmet
17/09/12, 11:45 am

@1

Nope, single touch only im afraid!

@2

What does that even mean?! O__o

#6

IrrationalGamer
17/09/12, 12:17 pm

The one thing that I’ve praised Nintendo for, starting with the DS, is that the unique feature is in the box. The Xbox 360 has Kinect, but it’s sold separately, so it’s not a huge focus (which I assume will change with the next Xbox).

Sure asymmetric gaming has existed (Natural Selection has FPS and top-down strategy/command), but since the Wii U ships with the tablet controller, it will force developers to come up with creative new games to utilize it. ZombiU’s multiplayer is a lot of fun, and it combines top-down RTS with FPS.

I am still worried that Nintendo’s 3rd-party support will drop once the other systems come out (or it will get downgraded ports which I end up buying for PS4), but it will hopefully be good for the unique games that it does get.

Good luck, Nintendo, and please keep supporting the hardcore fanbase. The casual audience only needs a few games per year/system.

#7

DrDamn
17/09/12, 12:26 pm

@6
I didn’t even know ZombiU was going to have MP. Is it local split screen or online?

#8

monkeygourmet
17/09/12, 12:34 pm

@7

Local! :)

One person plays the ‘director’ of the zombie army (kinda like Left 4 Dead).

The player on the TV trys to survive…

The director can launch secret Zombie attacks using as the gamepad as a ‘top down’ map!

Sounds awesome!

The online portion is like Darksouls, leaving hints for other players etc…

Again, awesome! ;)

#9

IrrationalGamer
17/09/12, 1:00 pm

@DrDamn it is local versus. I’ve only seen a 1 vs 1 setup, though I don’t see why they couldn’t do one strategy position (tablet) and 1-4 people doing the FPS portion. It would require a lot more from the strategy person, but I imagine it would also be a hell of a lot of fun.

According to the latest Games magazine, Ubisoft is planning on having the sequel (already planning a sequel, yes) to include online play.

#10

Dragon246
17/09/12, 3:20 pm

There goes the tablet argument.
He is right, its just not a tablet (contrary to what some people were saying here). Chinese tablets which cost 50$ have their own processor and multi touch.

#11

DrDamn
17/09/12, 3:27 pm

@9
To be honest local sounds better to me. That’s what I’m looking for.

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