Skip to main content

E3 2011 hands-on: the Wii U controller

Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’re a fan of Nintendo, today has been a fun, exciting, and scary day for you. Once again, the house of Mario has decided to put its entire well being on the line for a completely new type of games controller. The question is: are they making a good bet? The jury is still out, and the lines to try out the Wii U at Nintendo’s booth are so long that Nintendo has actually “closed” the entire Wii U section of their booth off several times today. I did get a chance to hold the new controller, however.

A couple young Nintendo ladies were roaming around a roped off Wii U exhibit (see below). Paranoid about theft and bad pictures, Nintendo has physically tethered each of the women to her Wii U controller with a white rope. I can imagine the great surprise when a thief discovers that his stolen controller has come with a pretty lady attached to it. Tethering aside, E3 goers like myself were allowed to touch and hold the controller as long as no one was snapping photos (heaven forbid we see an actual Nintendo fan holding the controller). It took a while to get people to stop snapping pics, but I was able to get the controller in my hands.

The first thing I noticed was how large this controller really is: 10.5 inches across. If you’ve seen a 7-inch touch tablet like the BlackBerry PlayBook or Samsung Galaxy Tab, rest assured, this is bigger than that. It’s also about twice the thickness (around .9 inches thick and twice as large around the triggers) of a common tablet. It makes up for its size with its light weight. Though it’s much larger than a current generation controller and has a 6.2-inch touchscreen inside of it, the Wii U controller feels relatively balanced and lightweight. I was able to hold the unit with my index fingers on the L and R buttons and my middle fingers on the two trigger buttons easily enough.

Though the shoulder buttons feel relatively natural, I was a bit disappointed that the face buttons (ABXY), D-pad, and control sticks are taken straight from the Nintendo DS line of handheld systems. They are small, very small. This isn’t as much of a problem for the directional pad, but having to use flat circle pads instead of  full analog control sticks may get a bit tiresome during long bouts of gameplay. Considering the width of the controller, the buttons feel especially small, much like how the GameCube controller’s direction pad felt abnormally small when it came out.

The controller is definitely running on an embedded lithium ion battery, which means you’ll have to charge your Wii U controller at night. Conversely, it also means that Duracell and Energizer battery sales may take a dip. My Wii controllers eat up more batteries than I can count.

Finally, the 6.2-inch screen was lit up and displaying the Wii U logo, but nothing else. It appeared fairly bright, but it’s hard to estimate the resolution of the screen. I didn’t notice a screen dimming toggle either, though this feature may be embedded in the Wii software. The controller does have a front-facing camera, speaker, gyroscope, accelerometer, microphone, what appears to be infrared (for Wii remote interaction), and who knows what else, so dimming functionality is definitely not out of the question.

I’m hoping to spend some time with the full Wii U demos during E3 and will post updated impressions of the system then. For more information about the Wii U, check out our full “What U need to know” on the newly announced system. Molly also posted up some press photos of the new console.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Editors' Recommendations

Jeffrey Van Camp
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…
E3 2023 has officially been canceled by the ESA and ReedPop
E3 logo

The Entertainment Software Association and ReedPop confirmed that E3 2023 has been canceled following a report that broke the news. E3 2023 was supposed to take place between June 13 and June 16.
Earlier today, IGN reported that two of its sources received an email from the Entertainment Software Association saying that this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo has been canceled because it "simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry." Soon after, a tweet from the official E3 account confirmed that "both the digital and physical events for E3 2023 are canceled."
https://twitter.com/E3/status/1641546610218811393
E3 was once a prominent annual video game industry trade show but has struggled to re-emerge since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. E3 did not take place in 2020 or 2022, and a digital-only attempt at the show in 2021 did not live up to expectations. The ESA was attempting to bring the show back this year with the help of PAX organizer ReedPop, and even approved press passes for the event already, but it appears the developers and publishers have lost faith in E3. Ubisoft pulled out of the show earlier this week after initially committing to be there, while Sega, Bandai Namco Entertainment, and Level Infinite confirmed they wouldn't be there in the following days.
While E3 2023 is not happening, there are going to be many other things for people to look forward to. Geoff Keighley will host a Summer Game Fest show on June 8, Microsoft is holding a Starfield direct and larger showcase on June 11, while Ubisoft will have a Ubisoft Forward Live event in Los Angeles on June 12.

Read more
Ubisoft will not attend E3 2023, but it will still host a summer live stream
Basim showing off his hidden blade.

Ubisoft will no longer be attending E3 2023, even though it said it would participate in February. Instead, the game publisher behind Assassin's Creed and Far Cry plans to hold its own Ubisoft Forward Live event in Los Angeles this June.
Ubisoft confirmed its change in plans to Video Games Chronicle today, with a spokesperson saying that while Ubisoft "initially intended to have an official E3 presence, we've made the subsequent decision to move in a different direction." This is a change in messaging from just over a month ago when Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, "If E3 happens, we will be there, and we will have a lot of things to show."
What caused this change of heart in Ubisoft is unclear. However, it seems like the company found that it could still successfully promote its game lineup without being attached to the Entertainment Software Association's event. We don't know much about the Ubisoft Forward Live event other than it'll take place on June 12 in Los Angeles, but Ubisoft tells VGC that "we look forward to sharing more details with our players very soon."
This puts E3 2023 in a weird overall spot, as we currently know more about the companies that won't be at the event -- like Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Nintendo -- than we do about the publishers that will actually be there. After being canceled in 2020 and 2022 and being digital-only in 2021, E3 2023 was supposed to be the annual gaming trade show's grand return. Right now, though, the relevance and viability of E3 2023 are questionable.
ReedPop has not yet commented on the fact that Ubisoft is no longer attending E3 2023. 

Read more
Before the Wii U eShop closes, pick up the best Zelda remaster ever
Link waving in Wind Waker HD.

As we approach the final days of the Wii U’s life span with the impending eShop closure, I’ve been reflecting on my time with that system. Although it’s considered a low point for Nintendo, the Wii U and 3DS era was when I truly became a fan of the company, closely following every new announcement and release. I enjoyed many great Nintendo games on Wii U, like Super Mario 3D World and Xenoblade Chronicles X. Still, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is the Wii U game I still come back to the most.

Maybe it’s because I got the Wind Waker-themed Wii U that included the game as a pack-in, but I fell in love with the HD remaster. Not only did it show off the console's power with gorgeous updated visuals, but it fixed a couple of issues with the original and used the system's GamePad seamlessly. On top of that, it's a charming and surprisingly bold game that still stands as one of the best games in the series 20 years after its North American release on GameCube.

Read more