The Wii U Tablet Controller Almost Didn't Happen

Plus, Nintendo's President takes a jab at copycat products from Microsoft and Sony

None

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has revealed in an interview with The Telegraph the the company almost axed the Wii U's second screen in the late stage's of the console's development, presumably shortly before it was revealed at E3 2011.

"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."

Iwata also commented on Microsoft and Sony's own dual-screen initiations, Xbox SmartGlass and PS Vita cross-play, respectively.

"It's quicker than before," he said. "After our showing of motion control, it took three years for other companies to follow suit. But this time it's just one year after our proposal, even before we brought out the actual product. I think that proves the great potential of what we showed last year."

That may not be entirely fair, as Sony's been trying to make cross-play happen for years.

Anyway, to bring costs down, they decided to focus less on the console's technical power instead of nixing the tablet controller. Do you agree with their decision? Leave a comment below or on Twitter.

[via Eurogamer]

Latest in Pop Culture