In the latest Iwata Asks feature on Nintendo’s website, some of the key men involved in the design of the upcoming console’s quirky controller get talking about one of the most important elements of the pad: its range.
Being a wireless controller, and one that you can use for more than just playing games on your TV, how far it’ll work away from the Wii U is actually as pretty big deal. And while Nintendo’s Bill Trinen last month said in an interview with 1UP there had once been an optimal distance of 24 feet, Nintendo’s own technicians are a little more…elastic.
Sticking to the basic mantra of “it will be fine within the same space”, the designers (and Iwata himself) remind you that there are a number of factors affecting the controller’s range, like what your walls are made of and even whether you have your Wii U in a “a metal TV stand”, which is a problem because “it may deflect the radio waves thus reducing its usable range”.
That’s not to say it won’t work in adjoining rooms. Iwata himself recounts:
Playing at Yamashita-san’s house worked with one wall in-between! (laughs) When asked “Can I use it in my bedroom?” we can say that it would work within the same space when there is nothing in the way, but basically it depends on how your house is constructed, so we have to ask that you test it in your own home.
Fair enough. The first thing I normally do with a new console is play a game on it, but I guess this time around it’ll be a game of “can I use this while taking a dump”.
Wii U Gamepad [Iwata Asks]
Leave a Reply