CES 2012: Spitballin’ The Future of the Wii U

We knew going into CES that Nintendo wouldn’t have anything new to say about the Wii U. In that regard, they kept their promise. But that doesn’t mean we can’t PRETEND they showed us a bunch of new awesome games, right? Their demos from E3 impressed and excited us if for no other reason than they proved the device’s potential for interesting mechanics. Here in Vegas this week, we saw a similar smattering of tech demos that Nintendo showed us back in June but instead of recapping our impressions of those, here are some game ideas that popped into my head while messing around with the Wii U.

One of the tech demos shown to us was called Panorama View. During the demo, the TV screen was playing a video recorded from the top of a car driving through the streets of Japan. The screen on the Wii U controller allowed us to look around as if this were a 3D environment. Point the controller up to see the sky and point it down to see the road. You get the idea. Now, in your minds, replace “streets of Japan” with “sweet Pokemon Jungle” and image the Wii you controller as a camera you could take pictures with in this environment and it’s pretty easy to see how this hardware would be perfect for the long overdue Pokemon Snap sequel.

Chase Mii was a mini game on display back at E3 that showed off the multiplayer potential of the Wii U. It’s basically a hide and seek game in which one player with the Wii U controller must avoid four other players (with Wiimotes) that are running around trying to find them. The Wii U controller holder has the advantage of being able to see the entire map and the location of the enemy players. It’s certainly not an RTS but giving the Wii U holder the ability to spawn various units on a map while the other players act as ground troops that must survive the waves would be super cool, I think. Taking it one step further, would be placing the players in a co-op first-person shooter game and giving the Wii U Controller holder similar powers to the AI Director of Left 4 Dead.

Okay, this last one is kind of an obvious pick but how awesome would an HD Zelda game be on the Wii U? Of course it’s inevitable but after Nintendo gave us a look at an in-engine tech demo of a Zelda boss battle (sporting a Twilight Princess art style), it’s hard not to be excited about this. The demo allows you switch the imagine for the demo from the TV screen to the Wii U controller’s screen seamlessly. Integrating a second screen into a Zelda game means there’s some potential for some crazy-ass puzzles, not to mention the combat possibilities of using it to aim your bow or sling-shot. Exciting stuff.

Those are some of my pie in the sky Wii U ideas. I know it’s nothing new but the framework for some neat stuff is there. Let’s just hope Nintendo and their third-party partners deliver when the system launches later this year.

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