DF Retro EX: Nintendo's Last E3 Press Conference - Wii U at E3 2012

We're revisiting old E3 press conferences again - and this one is of particular historical significance. It's Nintendo's final media briefing at E3 and it's showcasing the Wii U with all of its strengths and weaknesses. John Linneman, Audi Sorlie and Rich Leadbetter dissect this one.
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[@slippinjimmy5683]

Don't forget the "this game is fun I wish my parents would stop fighting" kid on Miiverse.

[@RandomShinigami7]

It’s the “me standing outside your house with a bat is also a trap” kid that I remember the most.

[@Tricolorrr533]

Never forget the pornographic drawings

[@CrossingRover]

Or Little Tom...

[@Poever]

@@RandomShinigami7 or the dating drama where one dweeb was asking publicly for a girlfriend, talked to someone, and it ended in tragedy

[@Cheesyboi]

or the "now draw her giving birth" guy

[@MINUANOGAMING]

Rich roasting the hell out of Batman and Catwoman's armor has to be one of the funniest things to ever come out of digital foundry. The man is savage when he wants to be lmao

[@Jereb343]

Rich might be quite advanced in age but hes still young at heart. I imagine his grandkids will love him when he gets them

[@Regulo1d]

26:26 For anyone wanting to replay the carnage

[@MINUANOGAMING]

@@Regulo1d 28:02 gets me every time lmao

[@nickkiller-0710]

I love that he has such a soft voice, but he just casually roasts stuff for free

[@metalbrainmextrememetalent6810]

@@Regulo1dthank you.

[@JediMB]

Seeing Miyamoto's lovely signature during his intro reminds me of that story of the guy who'd acquired a preowned Donkey Kong Game & Watch and then painstakingly eradicated the "doodle" on it, not realizing it had been signed by the man himself.

[@JediMB]

Also, Chinatown Wars is the only GTA game I've actually finished, and the first one I enjoyed playing for any real duration since the original. I'd love to see another game in the same style.

[@kemoselimagic1479]

I just heard Richard say “huge willies” in a sentence. That just made my day.

[@Solid_Malone]

20:26 😂 Good ol’ Rich

[@YourManJazzie]

That Zelda tech demo always looked amazing to me

[@frostynukacola]

They would have never actually got that running on the Wii u, and at the time the Wii u was specced to be more powerful than the final released version.

[@georgie9303]

Too bad it was never real and probably couldn’t run on the Wii U

[@philcooper9225]

We'll finally get that Zelda game in 4K 60 FPS in 2030 once everyone else is playing 16K 777hz VR handhelds

[@teacherfromthejungles6671]

@@philcooper9225 if you want to play Zelda in 4k/60FPS that bad, you can easily do that in CEMU on ur PC

[@flyingplantwhale545]

That thing looked PS4 quality at the least.

[@colevanhoogenstyn9322]

Richard bringing the heat in this video. “Super market exclusive” had me in tears. He just seems so offended by this presentation hahaha

[@zachsteiner]

Lmfaoooooo

[@fcukugimmeausername]

Nintendo's guide on how not to launch a console.

[@theryan519]

3 weeks ago? 🤔

[@DarkPhychic]

@@remasteredretropcgames3312 Valve's guide on how to not launch hardware

[@fcukugimmeausername]

@@theryan519 DF release these early for Patreon members.

[@flelllilx]

4 weeks ago -_-

[@leeartlee915]

It’s nothing compared to the Saturn. Bad but not “wtf” bad.

[@gilpiper3564]

Richard’s “State of the Art tech demo right here.” line had me rolling.... good lord.

[@dangermouse1282]

They made miyamoto look like he was reading a script on the toilet

[@cactoidpinata]

Thank you for this. These E3 commentaries are my favorite thing on this channel. I never really got to watch any of these E3 press conferences when they came out, so it's great to finally see them and with the bonus of DF's commentary.

[@Beavernator]

I have 3 Wii U's that I modded for my kids... I still have mine since launch... All my kids were born between 2005 and 2009, so the Wii and Wii U were the perfect family consoles... They are teens now, but they would defend the Wii and especially Wii U to death.... FANTASTIC gaming memories with my kids...

[@cellspeed8682]

Normally the term "family console" means one console for the whole family, not one console for each family member. XD

[@Beavernator]

@@cellspeed8682 Oh we just had the one that I got at launch for like 6 years.. Bought the other 3 a few years ago just to mod them for them... Yes... I spoiled the crap out of my kids...

[@nick15684]

I actually thought the Wii U gamepad was pretty comfortable to hold and use, but then again I have very large hands, so maybe that's why. The downfall of the Wii U was its terrible launch, the lack of a new Zelda title, and overall just a weak library of games in its catalog, particularly at launch. Basically, all you really got on the Wii U was a handful of decent new Mario games, and remasters, but nothing really special. It got better over the years, but by the time botw was released the switch was already out and the damage was already done.

[@virgobro2025]

For over two years, I thought the Wii U was just a Wii add-on.

[@robovinefilms1811]

I adopted a wii u recently for emulation and was actually surprised how comfortable the gamepad controller is.

[@DenkyManner]

It's comfortable to use but it feels like a toy for toddlers.

[@Poever]

I thought the launch lineup was decent, particularly as most of those games and franchises were “new to Nintendo”. The problem was it didn’t snowball from there and there was no major new release after the launch until MARCH

[@G360LIVE]

The downfall of the Wii U was the cost of entry in terms of control. The Wii had one or two (if you got the Nunchuck) small controllers, one in each hand, that were very light and easy to learn and easy to maneuver, and they were a lot of fun to use. The Wii U had a big, bulky Gamepad that wasn't as light or convenient or even terribly fun to use when playing a game on your TV. Not to mention, when playing local multiplayer, only one person would have a controller with a screen, unless you were willing to spend around $100 on a second Gamepad and order the thing directly from Nintendo, because it wasn't sold at retailers. Nintendo tried to sell the "one player with a screen" idea as "assymetric gameplay," but nobody really bought it. The whole concept just wasn't fun.

[@powerfrenzy]

I love these retrospective so much. Brings back a lot of memories and the commentary is very funny and informative. Hope you guys do more - I think I still remember some great ones you haven't gotten to yet!

[@markwebster4996]

Miiverse was great! That’s one thing now I really miss in the Switch era. Nintendo has kinda lost that wackiness and weirdness that made it fun. The eshop bells and whistles, the menu beeps and effects. It all adds to the experience. Switch is amazing but it’s very bland

[@docArr666]

The wackiness started on the wii, wii u just took it to another level, and yes, the miiverse was really something special.

[@InFar45]

Totaly agree. Miiverse was so nice and cool plase to be. Really miss it.

[@Spokker]

Without Miiverse I would never know which games had the best water.

[@HeavyMetalSonicRM]

Miiverse was great in the beginning when it was only on Wii U and was used by adults. When it was added to 3DS, it became a cesspool of HOW MUCH IS DIS GAME? WILL U B MY BOYFRIEND and MY MOM GOT ME DIS GAME.

[@markwebster4996]

@@lol-ih1tl Well after it’s days we’re already numbered. In it’s prime the spam wasn’t too bad, they stopped working on it eventually

[@spht9ng]

I love the Chad Warden references. Peak 2008 youtube.

[@antm6970]

PsTripple

[@thekingofmoo4346]

The one where Reggie was unconvincingly turned into a zombie with the Wii U camera.

[@Owlero]

The one where Reggie _feels_ like a purple pikmin.

[@Cosper79]

I've still got my Wii u in my living room entertainment center. It's great for party games with the kids.

[@utarefson9]

I actually used my Wiiu as my main Netflix machine (until support stopped last month)

[@Taijifufu]

Say what you will about the Wii U, it was smart of them to add a dedicated Bubsy Button for instant Bubsy 3D gaming.

[@alexsilva28]

Did you say *I N S T A N T?*

[@rhtr.]

The worst was marketing with "cool dubstep" sounds. OMG - that awful commercials! Console is nice, I bought it last year :)

[@DSLightning21]

The remember the Miiverse page for Tekken Tag 2. Folks would draw the button layout for the Capoeira characters, and it was only the kick buttons. 😛

[@GeekdomCentral]

I love these E3 conference reactions - they’re so fun and really interesting

[@TheBandoBandito]

Really enjoying all the DF Retro videos lately.

[@Clay3613]

Rich coming hard with the subtle comedy! Love that comparison to supermarket action figures!

[@icedcapplord710]

This conference was the epitome of "meh" Their September 2012 and January 2013 Wii U Directs were so much better, even if I never ended up getting one

[@nicklong27]

I love the new dynamic with this channel. I've been watching for years, and although the content was always good, the delivery was sometimes a bit stiff and formal, nowadays you guys are bringing a lot more fun to the videos. It's great to see.

[@retrorich3679]

I still use mine to play the Zelda hd remasters, my favourite version of deus ex HR. the whole metroid series is available, virtual console games, plus all my other old disk Wii games.

[@seizonsha]

I still have mine but the remasters look by far better at on pc at 4k native via cemu.

[@cleantoad4332]

@@seizonsha Okay? You realize not everyone has the capacity to do that, right? Nor do they want to.

[@zanychelly]

That Deus Ex HR ( Aug edition) was also released on the 360/PS3… and runs way better.

[@retrorich3679]

@@zanychelly I know I have those versions, just like what they did with the gamepad.

[@fancyslimoshady]

All that is on the PC and better

[@leeartlee915]

The Wii U is worth it if you mod it. It becomes the all in one Nintendo device. Wii games through an HDMI port, native Gamecube support (with gamepad functionality), and unique experiences on the Wii U front. For a Nintendo fans, it’s a must have.

[@funkybuttloving]

John thinking that Nintendo didn’t want GTA because its “filthy” and forgetting about Manhunt on Wii… 😵‍💫

[@Beavernator]

He's a knowledgeable guy, but sometimes he hits levels of "cluelessness" it baffles me...

[@Poever]

I think it was Take 2 that didn’t want GTA on Nintendo because they got burned by GTA: Chinatown Wars. The DS version likely didn’t sell well, blame Nintendo on not marketing it harder and for it looking worse compared to GTA IV

[@DenkyManner]

@@Beavernator He can't remember everything at all times. If it was brought up in a conversation he'd say "oh yes, of course".

[@LashleyAFC]

@@Beavernator Yes, how dare he not be all knowing

[@Beavernator]

@@LashleyAFC Geez... Simp harder...

[@T2and3]

I remember watching this shit live, and it was the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of high school at the time. makes me feel old that this is now 9 years old

[@GTAVREALISM]

I loved my Wii U, I am actually looking to get one back just because I loved how well the gamepad worked, I like playing my Wii U games through emulation, but it just isn't the same as with the gamepad for so many games.

[@V3ntilator]

Rayman Legends, NFS MW, Splinter Cell Blacklist and many more is best on Wii U because of second pad integration.

[@Edmundostudios]

The switch really is just a portable console that you can plug into the TV is how I see it. They just don't do dedicated home consoles anymore.

[@benboyd3082]

They really need to get back into making powerful hardware

[@CreativeWM_Personal]

@@benboyd3082 No they don't, they just to improve the frame rates on some of their games

[@Rebelscum264]

Why even need to put a label on it?

[@G360LIVE]

@@benboyd3082 That type of thing doesn't work for them. They learned with the N64 and GameCube that having powerful hardware doesn't necessarily bring good sales, especially after Sony got involved in the gaming space. It's more about the gimmick (look up the word "gimmick" if you think I'm using the word negatively). The Wii had a simple, effective gimmick, and people bought it. It outsold both the PS3 and Xbox 360. The Wii U had a very flawed gimmick, and people didn't buy it. The Switch has an excellent gimmick, evolved from the Wii U, and people love it, and Valve now has a handheld that takes everything but the detachable JoyCons. Is Nintendo worried about Valve's Steam Deck and its more powerful hardware? Probably not right now, but that could be an issue for them in the future. Actually, the Switch and Steam Deck could be the future of game consoles. We'll have to see how the PS5 sells in the long-run compared to the inevitable Switch Pro (which won't be as powerful as a PS5). One thing we already know, however, is that even with less powerful hardware, Nintendo can still outsell the competition, as the DS and 3DS did when up against the PSP and Vita, respectively.

[@WalkerIGP]

@@G360LIVE I agree that the Switch and Steam Deck are the future of consoles. Small powerful units that you can hook up to TV or monitor and play any way you wish. I have a Switch and I have also reserved a Steam Deck 512 GB model. I look forward to playing my PC library on the go.

[@88oscuro]

32:00 Wasn't early port such as Darksider 2 done on the old Wii U devkits? Where developers didn't have access to as much performance? I might be wrong but I want to recall that early devkits only gave access to 1 CPU core for example to the later 2 cores.

[@MrDiana1706]

that but replace the 1 with 2 and the 2 with 3

[@linkssz1699]

I think your wrong about them wanting the Wii u to be the switch, they intended it to be like a DS but on the TV, the idea for the switch came when people were complaining that they couldn't go very far with the gamepad before it lost connection.

[@TheAlibabatree]

True. And its hilarious that they thought “DS on the big screen” was a good idea.

[@ahums16]

@@TheAlibabatree I mean it's not that big a stretch. When the Wii was out I was wondering where they could go next and I thought of the same concept. It works on the DS, it can work on the home console too. Thing is it's a perfect concept but developers and people's expectations of it's use left them scratching their heads when we have seen for years what the second screen offers on the DS family of systems. The games that had excellent implementation of the Wii U gamepad were the ones that understood this.

[@libertarianvoter]

*The idea for the switch came when someone thought of the idea of a portable gaming device.

[@TheAlibabatree]

@@ahums16 The DS was used in many different ways. The only way that makes any sense for a home console is to just use the touch screen as a menu… which they did in many games, but the controller nor the screen needed to be so big for that. They got too caught up in trying to make it do too many things. But either way, it was sold as a gimmick. You were getting a system an entire generation behind for premium price… But it had a screen on the controller! Yay! Everything about the Wii U was abysmal, and failure out the gate.

[@lumpython5351]

One thing I found it quite interesting about Wii U is the game disc. All my used Wii U games look almost like brand new. Literally I can't find any scratches on any used game. This doesn't happen on Xbox or PlayStation used game.

[@dsimpson530]

Anyone remember Sony showing off a second screen concept for Gran Turismo with the PSP being a rearview mirror years before the Wii U and smart glass

[@turnipman]

That was at Sony's E3 2006 conference. It was supposed to work with F1 Championship Edition on PS3, but the final game didn't have the feature.

[@rare6499]

Still got mine, I love it. Such a great underrated machine.

[@seizonsha]

if it was great why was it a failure?

[@rare6499]

@@seizonsha greatness is irrelevant to commercial success. They aren’t one and the same. Alternatively you can still have something that’s absolutely rubbish but proves to be a commercial success.

[@VanTesla]

At least it didn't because of timing and not great marketing do what Dreamcast did to Sega... Mind I say that still having my original bought Dreamcast and playing it once in a while😅. It had some definitely interesting aspects, but again time, some management, and etc hurt the console success. I remember how so many people two years after Wii U release still thought it was some kind of add on... The last time if I recall correctly Nintendo competed in power/performance department. Was the GameCube. Which again wasn't that big for Nintendo, though better by far sales to Wii U. Mind GameCube came out in-between PS2 and later Xbox. The biggest thing I recall that really hurt the GameCube in my view. Was the mini disc. Given the much more limited data available and the competing Consoles could be used as DVD&CD players. GameCube though had way better specs to PS2 and only slightly weaker overall to original Xbox. Also that lunchbox was truly indestructible and so easy back then to take over to friends. Still have that purple cube somewhere in my closet 😅

[@TheExpendableGuy1]

@@seizonsha it had roughly the power of a ps3 in the ps4 era, that's one of the key reasons. After 8 years of ps3/xbox360, most people wanted next gen games.

[@swampthing94]

ZombiU was an amazing title, I had such a blast with it

[@MegaLPlover]

I miss the old DF Retro intro. That sound was so nice

[@julianburrell5058]

I don’t think Nintendo ever had an answer for what the point of the second screen was. Everything they used it for outside of off TV play didn’t expand gaming at all. Most of it could just be replicated on pause screens and onscreen HUDs. At least we got the Switch out of this stumble.

[@andyreeves6771]

They wanted to risk everything on the chance it might succeed so they could put out a game pad with a 3DS style screen, since this was during the time that 3DTV infamously died this would have been their only way to achieve their dream of stereoscopic console gaming that goes back to at least the GameCube.

[@double0cinco795]

I'm glad Nintendo released the Wii U. I have a PC and other consoles to play standard games on. I can't experience anything like Nintendo Land or Star Fox Zero on any other system. Not to mention how it improved the Zelda HD releases. Love it.

[@JKSmith-qs2ii]

I honestly prefer the original versions of both games. Wind waker HD got rid of the art style of cel shading which ruined it for me. And I like the hazy look of the original twilight princess and the original texture work I thought was better even it was lower resolution.

[@dmywololowol]

Why would anyone willingly choose to play that awful game known as Star Fox Zero?

[@quinn562]

1:11:50 One of the biggest rickrolls of all time at E3 - when reggie said to check out this last clip and it just end up being more unimpressive nintendoland stuff....that really hurt lol

[@95mjl]

"ill tell you what, blindfolded Boyz II Men sounds sinister" I'm dying after that comment lol

[@lowmax4431]

That moment when you realize Nintendo hasn't had a press conference in 9 years. What am I doing with my life?

[@jowysw]

They did do one for the Switch before launch if I remember right?

[@peterconnel7495]

They changed the format,Nintendo still have conferences.

[@lowmax4431]

@@jowysw ah. I meant E3 press conference.

[@Karlenk0]

@@jowysw yes

[@callumdointhings5]

"Blindfolded boys to men sounds quite sinister" lmfao

[@otakuuniteda.s.2882]

I just want to make one correction about the port situation when it comes to the wii u. Both Tekken Tag 2 and Mass Effect 3 are very good ports.

[@otakuuniteda.s.2882]

Never mind you mentioned both.

[@ChrisLT]

Happy to watch this with my favorite KZbinr, Bubsy.

[@AutoAbsolute]

...the Bob cat?

[@DroneCorpse]

53:33 AHHH MY EYES

[@juicemanvon9859]

At one point I thought the Wii U was the future. Gaming media destroyed the Wii U, but that's not to say that Nintendo didn't make any mistakes, but they knew what it was and still decided to put out stories being confused about what it was.

[@MunaAzuki]

This was the funniest DF video ive seen. Audi and Rich pretty much spent the whole show throwing shots at each other

[@hugo-garcia]

If 2012 is retro so PS4 is a retro console as well

[@martinevans1206]

Aliens Colonial Marines never released on the Wii U. Fascinating to see the advert for it on here.

[@siddhantbanerjee3328]

0:45 Scott the Woz would be so proud

[@nalong55]

The water comments was me, i do the same on yelp too LOL

[@tylergrice9085]

This is absolutely hilarious. Love it. Thanks guys.

[@NeoTechni]

I loved the Wii U, I just hate that: -we never got a port of Silent Scope -Nintendo removed Wii U functionality from Breath of the Wild cause Switch didn't have 2 screens

[@gregoryberrycone]

i like how richard chooses richard the third for his shakespeare reference. im sensing a slight richard bias here

[@dlbutters7164]

Gzuz, why is the guy in the middle already falling asleep?

[@Owlero]

They really need to ditch Audi. He brings nothing to the table. No energy, nothing funny to say. He constantly interrupts and I can tell Richard does NOT like him.

[@hurgcat]

In this house, we stan audi

[@MrDiana1706]

the duality of man

[@VulturePilot]

Can still play all the 3D Zelda games and most of the 2D ones on it as well as all the Metroid games

[@Grimm141]

I'm deeply disturbed that John may potentially be holding onto a U.S copy of Alien Colonial Marines that Richard managed to sucker him into taking, some media is meant to be forgotten 😂

[@dookie_12]

I miss Miiverse. I miss shitposting on the New Super Luigi U board.

[@TheGameLecturer]

The WiiU Gamepad looks like a Fisherprice Steam Deck.

[@peterconnel7495]

To me it looks like a prototype switch. Though I can see where you're coming from.😄😄😄😄😄😏😏😏

[@megamanx1291]

It had way more functionality than the switch though, and is the better system regarding possibilities

[@mctapoutos7426]

😂

[@DijaVlogsGames]

Damn, I forgot the WiiU had a dedicated Bubsy button.

[@quag311]

I use my Wii U to turn on my tv so I can play my switch.

[@DiegoOliveira-uy7td]

I'm from Brazil and I have a WiiU!

[@StarKratos]

Team Ninja didn't "try to enhance" NG3 with Razor's Edge, they definitively did fix almost every aspect related to pure gameplay.

[@EVPointMaster]

Hey Digital Foundry, Bubsy snuck into your video again

[@gustavolopez2599]

It was great using the game pad as my control channel aka directory for tv 📺

[@Smexbi]

Well, even if not many ppl played it & even less liked the WiiU, I enjoyed the console a lot & no one can take away from me.

[@martinevans1206]

I was always under the impression that the Wii U was slightly more powerful than the Xbox360 and PS3! 🤯

[@martinramirez21]

The CPU was weaker, but it surpassed them in RAM and GPU.

[@OrtadragoonX]

@@martinramirez21 Yepp. The cpu was a disaster. It had its roots in the PowerPC 3 the GameCube used in 2001. It was a horrifically outdated architecture by that point. They’d have been better off using a new design (like x86-64) for the CPU and then just stuck a Wii on a chip to support backwards compatibility.

[@Charles-hy6gp]

@@OrtadragoonX Well going to IBM was actually a good choice. But Nintendo think that specs doesn`t matter

[@Air51]

I loved the WiiU (after nearly a year of thinking it was just a controller for the Wii) . Had 4 kids at the time and we all played tha party games and everything else including Monster Hunter with controller chat. The controller itself was an amazingly comfortable controller too

[@seizonsha]

If you thought it was a controller for the wii it means you don't read. These garbage videos will entertain people like yourself.

[@LeastLikelyGents]

@@seizonsha you ok bro?

[@seizonsha]

@@LeastLikelyGents as I said you don't read if you though it was a controller for the wii.

[@LeastLikelyGents]

@@seizonsha a little needlessly aggressive, don't you think?

[@seizonsha]

@@LeastLikelyGents don't read and a snowflake.

[@SpacedAug]

The legend of PS-Tripple lives on

[@andrewrastorguev]

My body is ready

[@burneraccount1218]

I think what happened with the Wii U was they looked at how successful the DS and Wii had been and said "hey if we put these 2 together surely it will be the next big hit?" Same with the Xbox One, they looked at the success of the 360 video store and Kinect and the other reactionary, panic induced Wii copycat features they added to the 360 and thought they needed to make the next console all about those. Both companies where too stupid to understand the iPhone and iPad had totally stolen away the exact audience who went crazy over the Wii and Kinect and who used the 360 more as a video streaming box and thus it was totally pointless to keep trying to go after that market.

[@aceofhearts573]

Great comment

[@973terminator]

16:35 on what Reggie was saying, I don't think the Wii U ever supported 2 gamepads at once

[@repeekyraidcero]

0:43 Woo it's Rich ! Last E3 Conf... Huh... Crazy.

[@Fuuntag]

I think a lot of us would be interested to see the Wii U announcement from 2011 as well.

[@jayg339]

Thanks for doing another one of these! I always enjoy your perspectives on these conferences and what went right and wrong with the products. Pretty fascinating.

[@PSNationTorgo]

I was actually at this conference, and the entire crowd was absolutely puzzled when they revealed the Wii U. Most commented that they thought it was some sort of add-on for the Wii

[@The-Fishkeeper]

So many casual gamers still think that the Wii U was just a tablet add-on for the Wii to this day, if they know that it even existed at all. Terrible name and marketing that just confused the hell out of general consumers.

[@VulturePilot]

The WiiU was an excellent console, still use mine today as it has many cool features that the switch is missing not to mention the games. Nintendo just marketed it terribly and then stopped supporting it after just a few years choosing instead to take the L and try again next console.

[@V3ntilator]

Wii U is better than Switch in so many ways. Switch is a barebone console compared to Wii U.

[@yarc9]

The switch had good game

[@VulturePilot]

@@yarc9 there’s so much shovel ware in the eshop it’s ridiculous. I’ll take the WiiU’s NES, SNES, N64, GBA, DS and Wii VC over that any day

[@yarc9]

The switch is missing games I'm sick with that mind set than how it made 85 million units in terms of sales

[@yarc9]

@@VulturePilot best selling Nintendo systems are known for having shavol ware

[@ZetsubouMar]

I forgotten how disappointing was this conference. Funny enough, the subsecuentes Nintendo Directs were much better.

[@AidGum]

I wonder, if this conference didn't go horribly wrong, would they still be doing press conferences like this?

[@rars0n]

The second screen concept for the Wii U was meant to be an extension of the second screen concept for the DS. The difference with the Wii U is that now the second screen would be able to be moved around and even overlap with the main screen. I thought this actually sounded like an awesome idea that could be incorporated into games in a lot of different ways, but it ended up just being mostly used as a static screen for you to look down at, either with a map function or something similar, or as a distraction requiring you to stop looking at the main screen and interact with the second screen. I still think it was a great concept by Nintendo, but like motion controls, was completely misused and underutilized, except even more so. I'll even state something similar about Kinect: great technology that was completely misused. It was kind of understandable back in the Wii days that developers didn't want to spend a lot of time figuring out how to take all of that data generated by the Wii-mote and turn it into convincing motion controls. There was a pretty big leap in graphics between the Wii and the 360 and PS3, and graphics were what grabbed audiences' attention. We're at the point now that graphics don't matter nearly as much as they used to. Motion controls will become more and more important for VR experiences as that technology grows, but I really wish we could have seen both concepts (motion controls and the second screen) fully fleshed out and utilized properly. I don't think they would have been considered gimmicks had this actually happened.

[@megamix]

The Wii-mote was fundamentally broken at release and it wasn't fixed until MotionPlus. The obvious Wii upgrade would be a Wii HD with MotionPlus built-in so you could actually have working motion controls but for some reason they went with the Gamepad instead.

[@rars0n]

@@megamix I wouldn't call it fundamentally broken, most of its features worked well enough. But the added precision definitely aided the motion controls. I still don't think developers bothered to take proper advantage of them, though. Most simply remapped buttons to random gestures, which didn't make sense, were hard to remember, and didn't add anything to the gameplay. I specifically remember feeling this when I played Call of Duty 3 on the Wii.

[@Patrick-tw7nr]

Can DF do a retro reveal for the Nintendo GameCube? That would be one i would definitely want to revisit when the big 3 were really competing and pushing graphics boundaries on home consoles

[@apictureoffunction]

Would absolutely love it if you guys could cover Sony's E3 press conference from 2012/2013 where the PS4 and used games were discussed

[@filipmartinez1162]

Honestly even the Zelda spaceworld 2000 GC tech demo video looked cooler than that Zelda WiiU tech demo. I still want a game like THAT.

[@chemergency]

One of these on E3 2001 for the Xbox and Gamecube conferences would be awesome.

[@WalrusFPGA]

LOL @ that "blindfolded boys 2 men" image you threw in there for 2 seconds. this entire discussion was great. thanks for the informative & entertaining recap of one of Nintendo's oddest blunders- worst they have done since the virtual boy. always a pleasure to see the df crew form like voltron and work their magic

[@FreakinTheComments]

Imagine how many problems would have been solved if Nintendo called it "Wii 2"

[@bearpuns5910]

The person at Sony who decided to call the second PlayStation the PS2 deserves a medal

[@mechanicalmonk2020]

The latency you get from Sunshine and Moonlight can be tuned down to being 1 frame. The concept of moving gameplay from a dedicated machine up a handheld with no loss in latency already exists through those projects and has been something I've been doing got a couple years now. The Steam deck is great for it too.

[@AxelAlexK]

I bought a wii u in spring 2013. I had a ton of fun with the wii u throughout it's life. A super fun console that nobody bought. I swear I think it sells around xbox one numbers if it had a good name. The console had other big issues but if people just understood what it was the great games would have at least kept it from being such a huge flop. The marketing was such a dumpster fire.

[@mx2000]

I bought the WiiU _for_ Pikman 3. It also ended up being the only game I played on the WiiU. No regrets.

[@myownfriend23]

They really didn't need to physically combine their handheld and console after this. If they had a handheld and a console that both shared similar architecture (same ISA, GPU feature set, and OS) but scaled to the hardware (higher clocks, more cores, more and faster memory) then they would still be developing for one platform but have better scaling than the Switch or any hybrid console could possible have. I also disagree with the idea that Wii U is just the Switch done worse. There's a lot of stuff with the dual-screen home console concept that could have been great had they made some different choices in it's design. For example, had they separated the screen and other less standard methods of input and made it smaller (kind of like the Switch), but kept it separate from the actual console then it could have had some interesting implications. Through one device you'd have a microphone, camera, and chat screen complete with secondary audio stream for chat notifications, an all-in-one streaming setup. The touch screen could have also been used to make stream layouts. Due to the nature of motion controls, you pretty much can't use a wired headset on for game audio or voice chat but if you had a device that wireless sends audio to and from the game console and has a headphone jack, you could clip that to your pants and have a means of using a wired headset. For fitness games, the camera with closely paired IR light would have worked fine as a heart rate sensor, too. Think back on some of the ways the Gamepad was used to do world extension on the Wii U. The golf game that used it to place the tee, the games that used it to look around an area in first person, the mini-game Wii Party U where it plays the role of the river that you're scooping water out of, etc. These are all technically forms of VR. By having a smaller device that still has things like motion controls (complete with magnetometer), microphone, and speakers then the Wii U (or a device like it) could have been placed in a headset and used for both headset and non-headset VR.

[@aceofhearts573]

I worked at Gamestop from August 2012 to February 2014 and you guys have no idea how many moms would come in and ask me if the Wii U was a tablet for the Wii. I had to explain that the Wii U was a brand new console. Good times, PS4 and Xbox One release day in late 2013 was good but nothing like the ps2 or ps3 days.

[@boulderpunch96]

Is there a digital foundry retro Playlist I wanna watch all of these 🥺

[@evilkinggumby]

have you considered doing any of the euro games expo conferences for these? I know being from the states, there must be stuff we haven't seen or heard much on.

[@RonnieBarzel]

Rich would’ve been a good pick if you were trying to come up with another member of the “Had Been to Every E3” club, alongside Jeff Gerstmann and Andy McNamara. Guess he hadn’t.

[@OnkelBermuda]

Great video. Yes, please do the reveal video as well

[@modestyblaise4167]

I hated the sheer size of the Wii U gamepad, as it seems Richard did too. It’s still smaller than Valve’s Steam Deck which doesn’t concern Richard, but I know it’s too big for me.

[@nes3568]

Yeah Wiiu gamepad was awfully heavy and big to me. I was surprised when I saw the size and weight of the Steam deck! The Wiiu wasn't really popular and not many people owned it, so maybe people don't know how hard it is to hold something heavier than a gamepad for a long time lol.

[@modestyblaise4167]

@@nes3568 I just checked. The Steam deck weighs 669 grams! No way, that’s way too heavy. So too wide and too heavy.

[@BassPunk]

I was there ,blagged our way in right before it started 😆

[@skilarbabcock]

Me at 13 years old was able to tell it was a console and not a wii attachment