[a]list : With Nintendo, where do you think they
came up short in the way they showed the Wii
U?
Dean Takahashi: They have a major issue with
the capability of the Wii U console where it has
a single processor but it has to drive multiple
displays. A single graphics chip inside the
console has to drive the big screen, the main
game screen, but it also has to provide the
imagery for the tablet controller, the game pad.
And yet the system itself isnt that powerful.
Nintendo only showed games with one game
pad controller and the TV. Most games out
there, if youre in a social setting, you want two
controllers. Nintendo didnt show any games
that do that. They admitted in a Q&A that the
games are going to run slower if you have two
game pads and playing on a main display. Thats
a fairly big issue for them. They made a good
case that you can play with one controller and
multiple Wii controllers, what they call
asymmetric gaming where one person is looking
at the small tablet screen and trying to deploy
zombies while the people playing with the
controllers were all on the main screen. You
come up with very creative, different kinds of
games where its one against four, or one
person going online. They tried to justify and
turn into an advantage this major weakness of
the Wii U, but I think a lot of people saw this as
a weakness. The games themselves were
creative. They tried to do something like Wii
Sports with NintendoLand, which has mini-
games in it that explore the capabilities of the
tablet and the touch screen. But there wasnt an
obvious blockbuster within those games. They
may have had a good one in ZombieU, but in the
demos it didnt necessarily play that well.
Nintendo came up as a pretty big
disappointment at E3.
