‘WII U’ Tablet Was Almost Scrapped Over Price Concerns; What About Praticality?

The Wii U was almost scrapped because of price concerns over the insipid tablet-as-controller. It would have been a total shame. Pseudo-innovation is where it’s (not) at.

Joystiq:

The Wii U’s second screen was born out of the idea of allowing someone to play a game while the TV is being used by the whole family, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told The Telegraph. But Iwata admitted that the idea almost didn’t make it to a final product.

“Sometime during that final discussion we almost gave up on the idea of the additional screen,” Iwata said. “This was due to our concern over the expected high cost, it may not have been feasible to create this and sell it at a reasonable price point for the consumers.” This should come as some comfort to those of us still concerned about the console’s (and controller’s) price point, as the continued development of the Wii U suggests that Nintendo hit upon a “reasonable” price.

The Wii U! It’s a tablet! That’s a controller! Only one can be used at once, but hey man and woman being able to use two controllers at once is so pre-networked gaming. Or something.