Wii U's Immense Potential (by Ryan M.)

November 10, 2011, by Ryan M. - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a highly anticipated title of mine, right behind Uncharted 3 and Skyward Sword. And after recently hearing Pete Hines, the VP of Bethesda Softworks, announce that the studio is seriously considering porting the title over to the Wii U, the chance to play both the Zelda and Elder Scrolls franchise on the same platform was unbelievably exciting. The Wii U appears to have garnered a fair amount of intrigue among developers; most of whom are seriously considering bringing their current and future titles to the Nintendo's new platform. These announcements, when paired with Nintendo's first party claims, could indicate the Wii U possessing a solid launch/post-launch lineup upon its release. Even so, some of the games that will be ported over to the console will be nearly a year old; PS3 and 360 owners will have a difficult time justifying a second purchase. However, thanks to the handy tablet controller, developers have the potential to create a definitive build of their biggest hits on the Wii U and hopefully draw in a few extra buyers in the process.

Wii U and its tablet-like controller.
The most prominent suggestion for the Wii U's controller is to display map and inventory screens. Initially the idea sounds purely superficial, but in reality this would streamline the player's travels and plain navigation in any genre, especially openworld games akin to Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim or the recently announced Grand Theft Auto V. The touch screen could allow the player to quickly and easily set markers on any segment of the map with a simple tap on the screen, and removing markers would be as simple as tapping the markers a second time. Furthermore, fast travelling to destinations in the Elder Scrolls series or navigating the galactic map screen in Mass Effect could be easily done with a quick touch of the screen. The process sounds simple, but in mapping the map screen to the Wii U's touch screen, the process of opening the map is streamlined and players wouldn't be forced to open the cumbersome pause menu and cycle through various menu tabs to pull out the map. Many games would benefit from this refined streamlining, especially exploration-heavy titles like Metroid Prime, where the map screen was frequently utilized.

Streamlining fast travel and laying markers is quite useful, but the map screen can possess other potential uses. One instance could be best exploited in Batman: Arkham City or even the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V: in addition to laying down markers, players could draw custom routes between their markers with their finger/stylus. This would allow players to find the quickest possible path while still visiting any points of interest along the way. Players may still stray from their marked routes, of course, but those in a hurry to complete certain objectives would still be able to explore without losing sight of their primary objectives.

Ubisoft's Killer Freaks uses the controller in a unique way.
Inventory selection is the second most frequently brought up use for the Wii U's fancy controller. The most obvious example is the Zelda franchise, where the touch screen could be used to manage Link's portable armory of equipment without the need to constantly open up the pause menu. This effectively creates hotkeys for Link's tools, allowing the player to switch weapons on the fly. As useful as this mechanic is for Zelda; the touch screen's hotkey inventory system could prove to be more useful for loot-heavy titles like Skyrim or even, dare I say it, Diablo III. In the first instance, the touch screen could be split into two sections designated for the player's left and right hands. Each half of the screen could have a set of swords, shields, spells, or even potions that the player could equip on the fly. Imagine being locked in combat and running low on health; instead of pausing the game and drinking a health potion or equipping a Restoration spell, the player can seamlessly switch to the spell/potion and back to their weapon with a quick tap on the screen.

Hotkeys are not only used for standard inventory items, but are also a widely utilized to manage units in the RTS genre. Starcraft II for example, requires several hotkeys in order to manage the multitude of units the at the player's disposal. Even in the Pikmin series, touch screen hotkeys would allow the player to easily swap between different colors, utilize potions, and etc. Similar to the Skyrim analogy, hotkeys can be easily mapped to the Wii U's touch screen for easy access at the tap of a finer/stylus. This would also benefit several PC developers, and allow franchises like Civilation, or Total War in addition to Starcraft make a leap to a wider audience over on consoles without severely compromising their gameplay integrity. In addition, bringing these titles over to the Wii U could potentially allow cross-platform online play between the Wii U and PC, and could help to establish Nintendo's changed stance regarding online multiplayer.

EA's Battlefield 3 is rumored to be coming to Wii U.
Multiplayer is yet another major frontier that the Wii U's unique controller can innovate in. The Ubisoft produced Killer Freaks from Outer Space introduced a feature Nintendo dubbed asymmetrical multiplayer. In Killer Freaks, a first person shooter, this philosophy was embodied in a unique way: three players were given Wii remotes and nunchucks while one lone player was given the tablet controller to combat the team of three. The catch however, was that the lone player wielding the touchpad was controlling both the number, type, and spawning position of the aliens rather than the aliens themselves. The end result was a mishmash of FPS and RTS that created a new kind of multiplayer interaction. This feature could easily be capitalized upon by various franchises like Left 4 Dead or Dead Space, both of which would benefit significantly from this style of gameplay. Furthermore, the streaming functionality would allow multiplayer like those in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, to become a viable as an offline mode.

Many of these features are fairly broad in scope and, despite their usefulness, there are a great deal more mechanics that could be applied to specific titles. Of course, regardless of these mechanics, the most important factor in the implementation of these mechanics is giving players and developers the option of using these tools. Some players may have a personal preference to traditional controls over some of the tablet's streaming or touch interfaces. One of the reasons some players were adverse to the Wii was due to Nintendo's insistence upon using motion controls. In the case of the Wii U however, Nintendo has provided developers and players with a choice between traditional controls, touch interface, or a mixture of both. The end result could create a unique and innovative experience only possible on the Wii U, and possibly even showcase certain strengths the tablet controller may possess over normal controllers.