2012 saw the continued evolution of three consumer technologies — autostereoscopy, touch-sensing, and motion sense – with direct application in the gaming world.

As an analyst in the tech industry (I do this gaming stuff for fun and occasional profit), I’ve witnessed these burgeoning advancements spread from the fevered dreams of OEM engineers to vertical-market trade shows, the Consumer Electronics Show, and finally E3 and the games industry.

None of these technologies debuted in 2012, but they’ve each matured and become an indispensable part of gaming. For perspective, here’s a link to last year’s article.

Seeing in three dimensions without goofy eye wear

For those who don’t know, “autostereoscopy” is an informal term in the tech industry for glasses-free 3D – “stereoscopy” refers to the process by which combining two offset images gives the illusion of depth (three dimensions), and “auto” denotes the glasses-free component.

Autostereoscopy uses a parallax barrier to create 3D images without the need for special glasses. This differs from an active shutter system (like Nvidia 3D Vision), which, through special driver software and glasses that present alternating left- and right-eye images, presents the illusion of depth.

Most consumers are familiar with polarized 3D systems, by far the oldest and most mature of these technologies. These are the sort most often found in theaters and theme parks.

Of the three techniques, autostereoscopy shows the most promise, but the tech is inherently limiting, as the 3DS amply demonstrates. The biggest downside to glasses-free 3D is its highly restrictive viewing angles. In my own experience, it ranges anywhere from 45 degrees to 60 degrees. Move too far in any direction and it breaks the illusion. In that way, the 3DS – and its parent technology – are not dissimilar to a hologram.

When the 3D revival began in recent years, the consumer electronics industry threw all their weight behind this oft-maligned gimmick.  CES became saturated with 3D TVs, 3D movies, 3D projectors, 3D laptops, 3D gaming, and more than enough 3D to turn off consumers — which it did. Whereas the leap from cathode ray tube (CRT) to flat-screen was monumental, 3D wasn’t nearly enough to convince most people to abandon their “obsolete” LED TVs. Most consumers apparently saw it as a stop-gap solution.

OEMs lay the groundwork for autostereoscopy

I saw the foundation of the 3DS’s glasses-free 3D tech at optoelectronics events (essentially, anything having to do with displays and lighting), and a large manufacturer – rhymes with “Carp” – demoed a small form-factor display long before it did (or didn’t … shhhh) become part of a certain Nintendo handheld.

And yet, Nintendo’s autostereoscopic handheld system – which may or may not have utilized display technology from Japanese manufacturer, Sharp – faced an uphill battle due to inherent limitations with the tech, itself.

The 3DS was hobbled from the start – health reports loudly trumpeted claims that 3D was unhealthy for children, while many viewers (myself includes) get headaches and/or nausea from observing stereoscopy for too long. And up to 12 percent of the population suffers from “stereoblindness,” which prevents the individual from seeing 3D images.

But the 3DS’ biggest handicap was its restrictive viewing angles, given that its claim-to-fame was its autostereoscopy technology. On July 28, Nintendo partially mitigated this problem with the release of the 3DS XL, which increased the screen size by more than 90 percent — (top: 4.88 in [124 mm], bottom: 4.18 in [106 mm]). But was it too little, too late?

GamesBeat writer Jasmine Maleficent Rea noted that “The 3DS XL is what the 3DS should have started as.”

But she also addressed the system’s improved capabilities: “A wider viewing area enhances the 3D effect, making some games that were too blurry in 3D a joy to play. For those of us with horrible vision, larger screens are a must, and because of this advancement, the 3DS XL is a great step toward people accepting a ‘gimmicky’ feature as a viable gameplay tool.”

Most consumers still do see 3D as a gimmick, and autostereoscopy is but a fancier gimmick. But for stereoscopy to ever become part of mainstream entertainment, it must shed the clunky glasses and develop into a mature, glasses-free technology.

Pinching, swiping, and styli

Capacitive touch – which underpins your iPhones, Samsung Galaxys, Droids, and countless smartphones – has become more prominent as the platforms supporting it have eked out a bigger piece of the pie. And resistive touch – the passive cousin of capacitive – has done even better for itself, featuring prominently in the Wii U gamepad (not to mention countless commercial applications like ATMs and credit card payment machines).

Resistive touch sensing – which registers pressure via fingers, styli, and other objects – is hardly a new technology. Because of its versatility compared to competing systems (like capacitive touch), resistive touch is popular in commercial applications like ATMs.

Nintendo utilized this relatively primitive touchscreen technology for its DS and 3DS systems, presumably to save a buck and to enable the use of styli.

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If you’ve heard the Wii U name before but don’t quite know what it’s all about, you’re in the right place. Video game publisher Nintendo has a new home console on the way, and we’re going to run down everything you need to know about it.

As the Wii U name implicates, the new hardware is the followup to Nintendo’s popular home console, the Wii. But this name may cause some confusion, so let’s clear a few things up right away:

• This is an entirely separate device from the Wii.
• The Wii U is not an add-on for the current Wii.
• The Wii U’s GamePad tablet controller does not work with the original Wii.
• The Wii U will play original Wii games.
• The Wii Remotes for the original Wii will work on the Wii U only if they are using MotionPlus (either built-in or as an attachment).

That should clear up some common misconceptions. If you’re still a bit shaky on exactly what the Wii U is, that’s OK. We’re going to do our best to explain. Here’s the basic answers to the frequently asked questions:

• Release date: Nov. 18
• Price: $299.99 for the Basic set, $349.99 for the Deluxe
• Pack-in game: Only with the Deluxe set. The Basic set comes without a game.
• Backward compatibility: Wii U can play Wii games
• Game cost: Most retail games are $59.99.
• 23 launch games: Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Bros. U, ZombiU, and more (full list here)
• Wii-to-Wii U WiiWare and Virtual Console game transfer: Yes

The system

The Wii U is entirely separate from the Wii. That has its pros and cons.

This means that your Wii, if you have one, is now obsolete. You can’t just go out and buy the Wii U’s interesting GamePad controller and have all of the functionality of the new system without buying a Wii U. If you want those Wii U games, you’ll have to spend at least $299.99 for the Basic system and then the cost of some games. The good news it that all of your old Wii games will still work on this new hardware. Also, a lot of new Wii U software is compatible with the Wii Remote as long as it’s using the MotionPlus dongle (or has MotionPlus built-in).

The plus side of a new system means the visuals are a significant leap over the Wii. The Wii U is Nintendo’s first fully high-definition console. It is capable of producing visuals at least on par with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. If you want a Mario game that takes full advantage of your 1080p HD television, the Wii U is the only way to make that possible.

The GamePad controller is the next big upgrade you’ll find in the Wii U. Nintendo’s advertising campaign is focusing on this new handheld device with a screen that connects wirelessly to a console. It’s easy to look at that and think “Why didn’t Nintendo just release that for the Wii?” Well, the Wii simply doesn’t have the juice to power what Nintendo plans to do with the GamePad.

We’ll break down the controller in detail in the next section, but the simple explanation is this: The Wii U can display one player’s in-game view on the GamePad and multiple other views on the television. That sort of video output requires a level of graphics processing that the Wii cannot reproduce.

If you have any WiiWare or Virtual Console games on your original Wii, those are transferable to the Wii U. The process requires both systems to connect to the Internet, so Nintendo can verify the content, and then you take an SD card from the Wii, pop it in your Wii U, and that’s it. It’s a similar process to moving downloadable 3DS games to a 3DS XL.

The Wii U console comes in two varieties: a white basic system with 8GBs of capacity for $299.99 or a black deluxe version with 32GBs of storage and a game for $349.99.

Here’s a list of each version with the included bits and pieces:

Wii U 8GB Basic: $299.99

• White Wii U console
• White Wii U GamePad controller
• 8GBs of storage
• Sensor bar
• AC adapters
• HDMI cable

Wii U 32GB Deluxe: $349.99

• Black Wii U console
• Black Wii U GamePad controller
• 32GBs of storage
• Nintendo Land (game)
• GamePad stand
• GamePad charging cradle
• Console stand

The controller

This is it. If motion controls were the big draw for the Wii, then Nintendo expects this controller with a touchscreen in the middle to reproduce that success. We’ll explain all the things the GamePad can do for games, but let’s run down the specifications first:

• Color: White or black
• Buttons: Six face, four shoulder, power, TV, Start (+), Select (-), Home, D-pad
• Analog sticks: Two clickable sticks (R3 and L3 buttons)
• Front-facing camera
• Microphone
• Display: 6.2-inch resistive LCD touchscreen, 16:9 aspect ratio
• Audio: Two stereo speakers
• Near-field communication
• Motion sensors: Accelerometer, gyroscopic sensor, magnetic sensor
• Stylus included
• Rechargeable battery
• Force-feedback rumble
• Headphone jack
• Infrared transceiver (for operation as universal TV remote)

If you’re confused by that list, don’t worry. We’ll explain how Nintendo and other developers plan to use all that junk.

Basically, the GamePad operates as both a controller for the game on your TV screen and as a tablet for observing and maintaining supplemental information in said game. For example, in an adventure titles, gamers can now tap on the screen to select between different weapons and tools.

But this a simple explanation of its capabilities. Nintendo built in some advanced sensing equipment that allows the tablet screen to directly interact with the television display.

In Nintendo Land, the game that comes with the Deluxe console set, a particular minigame allows players to hold their GamePad vertically and throw ninja stars by swiping on the screen. Those ninja stars then appear on the television exactly where the player aimed them.

Other games will allow players to hold the controller’s touchscreen up in front of the television to get an augmented perspective of the TV screen. Let’s say smoke fills your field of view on the set — hold up your GamePad and use it as infrared goggles to see your enemies.

Another oft-touted feature is the Wii U’s capability to play full console games directly on the GamePad LCD. If you are in a household where multiple people are vying for the television, you can quickly migrate a game like Call of Duty: Black Ops II from the television to the controller with a simultaneous press of the + and – buttons.

Since the Wii U will support the GamePad and the Wii’s old Wii MotionPlus controllers (along with new controllers like the Wii U Pro Controller), developers are designing their early Wii U games around an idea called “asymmetrical multiplayer.”

Asymmetrical multiplayer is when two or more users are playing one game and one of those players has more in-game abilities than the others. For example, Ubisoft’s Rayman Legends will have one person on the GamePad controlling a special touchscreen character who can interact with the environment that the other players are running around in.

You can see in the video above (starting around the three-minute mark) that the GamePad player was changing the world and allowing the other players to get more points as they traversed the platforms.

Nintendo wants this type of gameplay at the center of the Wii U experience, and it’s the GamePad controller that makes it possible.

This device also has a microphone and front-facing camera for video chatting and in-game communication.

It has a lot of features, but the GamePad will also work fine as a controller for standard games. It may look some chimeric monster built from leftover Kindle Fire and Xbox 360 controller parts, but our hands-on time with the device suggest it will be perfectly capable and comfortable for games like Assassin’s Creed II.

The controller as a TV remote

The GamePad has an infrared transceiver, so it can work as a universal television remote. That TV button on the bottom right will bring up television controls so that players can quickly turn down the TV’s audio if it’s too loud. The TV functions of the GamePad will expand beyond that, though. Even when the Wii U console is off, the GamePad can still control the TV.

Thanks to a service called Nintendo TVii, you may actually want to use this device as your primary remote.

Nintendo TVii allows your Wii U GamePad to hook into your Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Instant Video accounts. TVii can also interact with your Tivo or other personal digital-video recorders. If you’re looking for something in particular, searching for it on the GamePad will tell you if the show, movie, or sporting event is on one of your services or even it’s playing on television currently. If it is, the GamePad will tune your TV to that channel with the touch of a button. TVii also includes a suite of interactivity features for quickly sharing moments to social-networking sites like Twitter.

The games

Like any home console, the Wii U will have a lot of games. We’re not going to list them all here, but at the bottom of this section we’ve included a YouTube video that runs through many of the system’s biggest releases.

Instead, let’s talk about the types of games that you’ll be able to get on the Wii U, since that’ll be quite a bit different than the Wii.

On the Wii, developers couldn’t bring over the games they made for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Most developers had to rework their games for the Wii’s less powerful hardware and motion controlls. That will no longer necessarily be the case on the Wii U.

The Wii U now has the power and the controller necessary to play ports of games like Assassin’s Creed III and Darksiders II. On top of this, it’ll also support any developer who wants to build something new that takes advantage of the tablet controller.

Of course, you’ll also be able to get and play motion games like Just Dance 4 since this console still supports the Wii MotionPlus controller.

Theoretically, the Wii U should be the best of all worlds. It could have the best multiplatform games (Call of Duty: Black Ops II), fun motion-control games (Just Dance 4), and new kinds of GamePad games (Nintendo Land.)

How to buy a Wii U

OK, well, that’s going to be difficult, but not impossible.

Right now, the system is sold out on retailer GameStop‘s website. Some independent vendors on Amazon are selling the console for as much as $1,000. Between now and its launch on Nov. 18, the hardware may become available on different websites, but it’ll likely sellout as fast as it appears.

Our suggestion, and it’s only that, is to use Walmart’s layaway service to preorder the system. Walmart will allow you to reserve your Wii U for launch day if you put down 10 percent in their layaway department between now and then. You’ll probably still have to wait in line on Nov. 18, but you’ll have a better chance to get one than someone who didn’t reserve it.

Call your local Walmart first, though, because some only have one of the Wii U models (my local Walmart told me they only have the $349.99 version.)

Other retailers, like Toys R Us, Target, and Best Buy are all out of preorders as well. You might be able to get in line on the night of Nov. 17 for a chance to pick one at midnight at those locations and others (Fry’s, Kmart, Meijer’s), but by the afternoon on Nov. 18, customers will have picked over most stores.

So … should you get one?

We can’t really answer that for you. We’ll have a review of the system up around the time of its release, but everyone’s different. If the idea of Nintendo Land’s asymmetrical gameplay sounds appealing to you, it could be worth it. If you desperately want HD Nintendo games, you’ll likely get your money’s worth.

Oddly, despite the fact that we’re less than a month away from release, we still don’t know everything about this device. It’s online service remains something of a mystery. It will have some kind of service that’ll allow you to leave comments in your games that other players can read once they reach that point, but we don’t know much else.

If you’re on the fence, hold off. It’s going to be difficult to buy one anyhow. You might as well wait for the reviews.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Nintendo specifically designed its Wii U GamePad controller to work in a variety of circumstances, but at least one engineer wished they wouldn’t add motion games to the list of potential complications.

With the Wii U and its tablet GamePad controller, out Nov. 18 for $299.99, you play a game on the television while viewing important information on the handheld display. More impressive than that, you can simultaneously press the + and – buttons to have the primary screen moved to the tablet’s LCD panel so that someone else can use the TV. The Wii U accomplishes all of this by sending video data wirelessly to the controller.

Nintendo wants that functionality to work while also using the GamePad for motion games.

And that’s the problem.

“It’s extremely tough, wirelessly, to have players hold the Wii U GamePad and move with it because of the Doppler effect,” Nintendo product development engineer Kenichi Mae said in an “Iwata Asks” feature on Nintendo’s website.

“To be honest, I even thought, ‘No, please don’t!’” Mae said about Nintendo’s plans for motion games on the Wii U.

For those who skipped your high school science class, the Doppler effect is when differences in relative speed between the source of waves and the receiver of those waves causes a distortion. It’s the phenomenon that causes a police siren to sound different depending on whether the police vehicle is approaching or leaving your location.

That same kind of distortion can happen in the radio waves sent between the Wii U and the GamePad if players are waving around the controller … which they will in games like Nintendo Land.

Mae and fellow engineers didn’t mention exactly how they overcame this obstacle, but they seem confident that it shouldn’t pose a problem in the final product.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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We want things to just work. That’s the hallmark of an accessible piece of consumer electronics, and it was Nintendo’s challenge when designing the new Wii U GamePad tablet controller.

In an extensive “Iwata Asks” feature, where Nintendo president Satoru Iwata asks his internal Nintendo teams questions about their products, the executive grilled his engineers about the technical aspects of the tablet GamePad, which is the hallmark feature of the Wii U console due out Nov. 18 (base system is $299.99).

When the designers told the engineers that they wanted a controller with a screen that could display video wirelessly from a console, they all knew that latency would be a problem. They didn’t want players to press a button only to have Mario jump a second later, so they got busy inventing new techniques.

“Generally, for a video-compression/decompression system, compression will take place after a single-frame of image data has been put into the integrated circuit,” Nintendo product-development engineer Kuniaki Ito said. “Then it is sent wirelessly and decompressed at the receiving end. The image is sent to the LCD monitor after decompression is finished.”

That’s how something like Netflix works. It uses special imaging codecs to squash the information-rich frames down into something much smaller so they can travel quickly across narrow Internet passageways. The PC, Xbox 360, PS3, or Roku then decodes that compression and re-creates the image to a close approximation of its original, uncompressed form.

“But since that method would cause latency, this time, we thought of a way to take one image and break it down into pieces of smaller images,” Ito continued. “We thought that maybe we could reduce the amount of delay in sending one screen if we dealt in those smaller images from output from the Wii U console’s graphical processing unit.”

That’s a technical way of saying the Wii U compresses data on a much smaller scale and at a more rapid pace.

“I thought it was good from the start,” Nintendo product-development engineer Kenichi Mae said. “If the amount of data which needs to be buffered is to be big, it would minimize latency. You can get by with less memory, and with less power consumption, so it was a good example of a single solution solving multiple issues.”

Ubisoft’s Michel Ancel, who created Rayman, told Nintendolife that Nintendo has successfully reduced the latency of the GamePad down to 0.017 seconds. That’s about the time that a single frame is on the screen in a game running at 60 frames per second. Most gamers won’t notice that tiny amount of lag.

We won’t know for sure if that’s the case until we get our hands on the final retail release of the Wii U and put it through its paces. Keep an eye out for our review.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Blame Apple. The success of high-quality, economically priced options on their App Store proved gamers might willingly take their gaming to a nontraditional platform…at least temporarily. A tablet and a smartphone suddenly, unexpectedly, entered the game-console wars. That got some wondering if $60 games with budgets north of $100 million could survive as a business model against an onslaught of 99-cent mega-hits made for $140,000 by four people…such as Angry Birds, reportedly one of the most profitable games in human history.

And now we’ve seen how the big three video game publishers — Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony — decided to respond. Imitation, flattery, and prayer all play their parts.

Each company co-opted the tablet platform in a way that says a lot about them and their corporate philosophy. None, as yet, seems willing to give up on their established price-points, concentrating instead on value-added propositions. All want to convince you that playing a game on one screen won’t cut it anymore. But the actual value added by these tactics depends a lot on what gamers want and expect from their games.

Nintendo’s GamePad

What is it? A new tablet-like controller for Nintendo’s incoming Wii U console, featuring all the buttons, triggers, and analog sticks a hardcore gamer could possibly want in such a device…plus a reactive touchscreen in the middle.

Advantages: The GamePad lets Nintendo evolve the narrative it started with the Wii…namely that it’s not just a matter of what games you play but how you play them. Shooter X might release on every console, but Nintendo wants you to believe the definitive edition only happens on the Wii U due to the unique gameplay options a second, interactive screen offers. It’s also a nice touch that you can play Wii U games on the GamePad without needing a television. But the not-so-secret weapon boils down to asymmetric gameplay, where up to four people run through a game while a fifth on the GamePad plays the same game from a vastly different perspective, possibly with very different goals.

Downside: Reactive touchscreens carry a risk; they work well with a stylus (included with the GamePad) but not as well with fingers. Our time handling GamePads at various events seems to support this, though few games so far rely heavily on touch controls. Nevertheless, those “definitive” experiences feel pretty ill-defined. Batman: Arkham City’s GamePad-specific tricks feel obligatory in the same way most third-party games’ motion controls do on the Wii. Only Ubisoft’s first-person shooter ZombiU, specifically and exclusively designed for the Wii U, feels natural. Though as a game, it might have other issues.

We also recently learned that Nintendo balked at adding a second screen, and for good reason. The extra hardware will likely bump the Wii U into the same, higher price bracket as other gaming consoles (Nintendo’s consoles traditionally sell at $250). So either Nintendo loses its lower-than-the-rest price point, or it takes a loss on every console sold…something it generally doesn’t do.

Microsoft’s Xbox SmartGlass

What is it? An app that gives you an enhanced experience with your games. You might use it to call up info on enemies or landmarks you see while playing a game or to contact friends online.

Advantages: Easy integration. Just like Windows, SmartGlass works with the mobile devices you already own — laptop, tablet, smartphone — and you can bet it’ll come preloaded on every Windows 8 smartphone when it becomes available. We’ve already seen Xbox Live running on a tablet in real time, avatar and all. SmartGlass will give your games a presence on your mobile platforms as well…in spirit, at least. Overall, it’s a staggeringly easy way to throw together a second-screen solution, all while making sure Microsoft doesn’t get into the high-risk hardware-manufacturing business.

Downside: Microsoft doesn’t get the high rewards, either. Completists, superfans, and lore hounds might take an interest in what SmartGlass offers, but its offerings feel disposable to anyone else. By comparison, the planned app supporting Ubisoft’s upcoming, open-world adventure game Watch Dogs helps you interact with the game world in real time and even lets you mess with your friends’ games, whatever console they’re playing on. Nothing announced for SmartGlass sounds remotely as ambitious. And unless Microsoft charges for the app or throws in a number of annoying ads, it’s tough to see how it could make money off of SmartGlass. It’s even tougher to imagine anyone paying for it.

Sony’s PlayStation Vita

What is it? Oh, it’s just a handheld gaming device Sony released last winter. It’s really quite good, but the Vita hasn’t found its footing in the marketplace.

Advantages: The innovation company invented something. The software people made a program. Sony does hardware. Its Vita handheld gaming device already mimics a full console experience fairly well, but with the addition of Cross-Play, the line blurs even more. A Vita user can now join a multiplayer match with people on a PlayStation 3. Cross-Play is only confirmed for the multiplayer brawler PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale so far (think Super Smash Bros., but with Sony characters instead of Mario and other Nintendo icons), but with first-person shooter Call of Duty coming to Vita, the possibilities stack up fast. You can go gunning with your friends in your console games while away from home. That’s major. And the also-new Cross-Controller functions turn the Vita into a GamePad. Surprise, Nintendo.

Judging by the IR port on the original PlayStation Portable, Sony’s wanted to do all this for a long, long time. Technology (and the cloud) finally caught up. If Cross-Play takes off, it will boost the Vita’s fortunes, too…not a bad side effect.

Downside: The Vita retails for $250. Attractive bundles aside, you can get a perfectly good iPhone or Xbox 360 console for less. It’s also likely that Sony wants you to double-dip those game purchases…one All-Stars for your PS3, and one for your Vita. That’s a whole lot of money they expect you to spend. Particularly since, with only All-Stars confirmed for Cross-Play and only DIY platformer Little Big Planet 2 downloadable content (which you have to purchase in addition to the base game) named for Cross-Controller play, Sony’s given us more speculation than reasons to buy in.

So nobody’s perfect…but a lot depends on the developers, the games they create, and how much they apply to that second screen. If real thought and imagination goes into the application of that second screen, great things can result even working within each format’s limitations. A throwaway approach will result in throwaway feature. Nobody wants that. It really all depends on whether developers treat that second screen like an advantage or an obligation.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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