Wii U: Breaking Barriers

After spending the last few months with the 3DS I've grown fond of a not widely talked about feature; the notification light. It will flash blue if theres something from Spotpass; usually a message from Nintendo, or it will flash green if its something from Streetpass. This gets really exciting seeing who you've 'met', and then trading puzzle pieces, fightings ghosts or even swapping ghost data on Ridge Racer 3D.
As becoming the norm with each successive hardware launch from Nintendo, there will be aspects which will be carried over, or improved upon. Sure, it could be something as simple as improved Mii options, but I have a feeling we may see something a little more exciting for the Wii U...

One of the aims of the original Wii was to bring in a new audience, people who were intimidated by complicated controllers, but also complicated TV setups. The more advanced technology that enters our living rooms, the longer it takes to get from turned off, to on and playing. How many of you have to swap power plugs, or AV inputs when swapping between TV and gaming?

One of the ways Nintendo was going to achieve a simplified process for its audience was WiiConnect24. This feature was meant to download marketing messages from Nintendo, small software updates and emails from friends. The blue LEDs in the disc slot would glow blue upon arrival of something worthy of your precious attention. This did not materialise, the system was under utilised by both Nintendo and Third Parties. As we are not privy to internal communications we may never fully understand why. This failure to make the process exciting meant that most blue lights were often ignored.


What I see coming in the future with the Wii U, is a WiiConnect24 mode for the controller. So if you receive an email, your controller will flash, perhaps even ping for your attention, and you can receive, read, and even reply, without having to touch your TV remote!
If a friend is online, another kind of notification will appear, and you can then jump right into a game of Mario Kart with them. How about your Mrs has just come in and demands to watch American Idol, you can kick back beside her with the controller in your hands studying your performance on Battlefield 3's Battlelog.

Upon the initial reveal of the Wii U I became concerned that Nintendo were loosing their way, the Wii was so succesful because of the simplicity of the controller, this seems to be going in the opposite direction. However if any of the ideas I've mentioned above become reality this may become an acceptable compromise. Nintendo did recently state that they chose the sliders rather than traditional analogue sticks to make it aesthetic pleasing. I’m sure this translates to addressing the issue of trying to not make the controller too intimidating for the Wii Fit audience.

This controller holds so much potential, Nintendo are walking on a knife edge, I just hope they realise how careful they need to be after such a confusing message coming out of E3.