Wii U’s GamePad best-ever controller by Nintendo for hardcore games, claims Gearbox Software

By: Jason McCarthy

  |   November 1st, 2012   |  

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While the unique GamePad controller for Nintendo’s Wii U has been struggling to convince analysts of the promise it holds over the last few months, Gearbox Software has already acknowledged it.

The president of the studio Randy Pitchford is all praises for the tablet controller that the Japan-based gaming industry giant is all set to introduce later this month.

According to him, GamePad is the best input device by Nintendo for first-person shooters and hardcore games.

“This is the best controller Nintendo’s ever made for making [a first-person shooter],” Pitchford said. “This is the best controller Nintendo has ever given us for playing hardcore games.”

Showing the controller with even more compliments, Pitchford said that Nintendo has shown a great deal of commitment to bring a second screen gaming screen to the living room.

Noting that both PlayStation and Microsoft have realised the value of the second screen for gaming, apparent from Vita and the SmartGlass respectively, neither of them have been able to show the same amount of commitment as their traditional rival in appreciating the value of the promise that the second screen holds.

“With the Wii U, [Nintendo] committed themselves to this promise. So the link is direct, fast, and immediate,” he said. “Things like SmartGlass and Vita, they appreciate the value of the promise so they’re making the promise. But they’re not in with such commitment.”

The interactive touch screen on the GamePad is being utilised quite effective by a number of developers, with Ubisoft’s ZombiU serving as a perfect example to show the synergy between the controller and games.

Gearbox Software, which is currently working on the multiple-platform title Aliens: Colonial Marines, has already made it known that the sci-fi first-person shooter will be coming out for Nintendo’s upcoming console next year.

Pitchford had some time back that the Wii U version of the game based on James Cameron’s Alien motion picture is turning out to be even better looking than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version, which comes off as a real surprise since the Sony and Microsoft machines are said to be more capable in terms of graphics and power.

Gearbox Software would surely have made the most of the GamePad features for its upcoming sci-fi shooter.

A demo of ZombiU has shown that the concern about GamePad being incompatible with first-person shooters is without merit and so far it seems that Aliens: Colonial Marines would help to further convince game makers of the promise that the controller holds.

It is rumoured that Call of Duty creator Activision had threatened to keep their popular franchise off Wii U until a more traditional and conventional controller was introduced, which eventually led to Nintendo revealing Wii U Pro Controller earlier this year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).