Among all the myriad events and announcements of E3 2011--some bombastic,some evolutionary--the unveiling of the Wii U was one that, no matter who you asked,generated some degree of mixed feelings. As gaming press and players, what we saw from Nintendo's future console controller produced sensations of excitement, skepticism, ambivalence, and intrigue.
That might be due partly to the expectations that Nintendo set for itself. The Wii was a new experience, a new idea. It also might be due in part to Sony's PSVita stealing some ofthe spotlight a day before; the handheld device actually has many of the same control mechanisms: touch screen, dual sticks, cameras, motion control.
What might be overlooked, however, was the simplest truth about the Wii U: it's a second screen for a home console. It's an idea that's never been donebefore outside of multiple-monitor PCs, or Nintendo's own DS and 3DS handhelds. In fact, technically, in another year or so Nintendo will exclusively be a second-screen game company.
Third-party discussions and demos of the Wii U's capabilities address augmented reality andmotion control, but more than anything else, developers seem curious about the second-screen element of the Wii U. While Nintendo's console might seem to be standing alone with the idea of second-screen gaming, I wonder whether they'll have company in 2012 and beyond.
Related links
• Wii U: hands-on
• Q&A on the Wii U: Shigeru Miyamoto
• Hands on: Disney's Second Screen
• E3 2011: Completecoverage
I've been skeptical of second screens. Disney's Second Screen apps for the iPad haveattempted the same secondary-readout idea for use with Blu-rays. I found the effortdistracting. Yet, I use a second screen when I watch TV most of the rest of my life: it'smy iPad or my iPhone. I tweet about what I'm watching. I google up historical or relatedinformation when I watch movies. I use a sports app for continual stats when I watchfootball.
Even though the Wii U tablet controller doesn't look like it's meant to ever functionfar apart from its base console, its employ as a continuous second screen for theunit opened up intriguing possibilities in my mind as I boarded my plane back to NewYork after the E3 show. If you imagine the Wii U in terms ofa PC gaming experience and a second monitor, albeit a lap-based or handheld one,viewpoints or advanced strategy commands make sense. The Nintendo DS has dozensof games that successfully found dual-screen solutions. For the DS, two screensweren't a gimmick after all, like we may have thought in 2004. Similarly, motion gaming on the Wii ended up, for better or worse, being emulated on every major game platform. Perhaps Nintendo might be on tosomething again.
Of course, using that Nintendo second screen means, for the time being, we putaside our "third screens"--our phones--for a little while. Three screens are too much tomanage. At least, I think so. PC gamers would beg to differ.
Those who laugh at the purpose of a second screen--perhaps, you say, build thatinterface into the single screen TV interface instead--might forget that the move to HD from SD offered a leap in pixels, adding much-needed display area for games. Maybethe second screen for games will achieve a similar goal, adding pixel real estate that'snow being taken up by ever-more-detailed HD games. Perhaps it's expansion.
Second screens could emerge elsewhere, easily. What's stopping Sony from makingthe Vita, with its 5 inch screen, a second screen for the PS3? It might already be on deck. Could smartphones andtablets become second screens for TV or PC games, too? Some already are: Firemint'sReal Racing 2 will support second-screen mirroring on an HDTV via AirPlay. The iPad could evolveinto a second-screen game device for Apple, perhaps in conjunction with the Apple TV,or all on its own.
The biggest lingering question I have after E3 2011 is whether the Wii U is an isolated concept, or a bellwether for the future of gaming at large. Would you play games using two screens, and do you find it any more or less exciting than the rise of motion games? Can the two coexist easily? Let us know your thoughts below.