Last week in a post-E3 Expo meeting with investors, Nintendo Worldwide President Satoru Iwata laid into rival console makers, suggesting Microsoft’s Smartglass for Xbox connected devices was too dependent on Wi-Fi and that Sony’s Playstation 3 to PS Vita linked gaming copies the ideas set out by the new Wii U “living room revolution”, which utilises not only the television screen but also a second handheld display on GamePad.
Sony Worldwide Studio’s VP Scott Rohde has responded in comments made to Games Industry International, attacking Nintendo’s gaming gadget and suggesting the Wii U’s flaw is that its HD touchscreen controller doesn’t actually have its own CPU, meaning “it’s got to be fuelled by that box sitting under your TV”.
Sony’s cross-platform play, on the other hand, will be supported by two separate device drivers – one in the Playstation 3 and one in the PS Vita, so of course Sony’s offerings will be more self-sufficient.
This is true, but Nintendo has never claimed that the GamePad is a console in its own right, merely an extension and an alternate way to play some games. Titles on Nintendo Wii U such as New Super Mario Bros. U can be played on either screen the big screen or the handheld GamePad.
So, if someone else wants to watch their favourite soap while you’re battling Bowser, you can flip the game onto the tablet style controller and continue the game while the pad is connected to the switched on console.
Rohdes promises the linked Playstation experience will become something special in the coming months and more details will follow as well as the benefits of having “a processor in the thing that’s in your hand as well.”
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