Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
THE WII CONTROLLER
The Wii controller was one of the most discontinuous product attributes of
the Wii console that dif erentiated it from established notions of what the
video game console should be in the game industry. Some of the infl uenc-
ing ideas for the controller had been a result of explorative projects carried
out in Nintendo years before the development of the Wii, an indication of
the reuse of ideas in Nintendo's innovation process. During the GameCube
era, Nintendo had devoted ten to twenty small teams to experiment with
coupling dif erent dedicated controllers or peripherals with games. Some of
the designs and the ideas from this experimentation with controller interface
infl uenced the Wii's development (Nintendo 2006a, 2006b). Other infl uences
came from previous experimentation with a handheld game ( Kirby Tilt 'n'
Tumble , 2000) that used built-in accelerometer technology in its cartridge.
Among the dif erent aspects of the Wii's development, the innovative con-
troller was the part that most signifi cantly characterized the open-ended,
interpretative nature of the innovation process. Nintendo's cognitive frame
were essential for the project in (1) guiding the explorative process to areas of
interest, (2) continuing the search for dif erent alternatives and, fi nally, (3) con-
vincing the management of the selection of the chosen alternative, although
this was characterized by a high degree of intuitive-based judgment.
The cognitive frame of Nintendo would not have been as important in
the development process of the controller had it not been for the underly-
ing nature of knowledge in human user interface. Compared to some other
product attributes, user interface of games is characterized by a high degree
of uncertainty and intuitive-based judgment, requiring hands-on experience
with a large number of controller prototypes. President Iwata described
how “interface tweaking is dif erent from optimizing performance, for
the former is largely subjective, and calls for actual testing” (Nikkei BP
2006). The hardware and software team of Nintendo met continuously to
discuss the nature of user interface and possible directions with dif erent
prototypes. During these discussions, priority was given to the views of the
industrial designer and the resulting software experience.
The innovation process of the controller was shaped by the general direction
of the Wii as a console for everyone. These directions were important in the
ef ort to question the performance attributes on which existing controllers were
built upon, such as the use of two hands. According to Shigeru Miyamoto:
I also spent a lot of time thinking about what makes a design acces-
sible. It was in this context that we started to question everything about
conventional controllers, including the idea that a controller had to be
held with both hands . . . It was a good opportunity for us to think
outside the box. (Nintendo 2006b)
The experimentation with the dif erent attributes of the controller
emerged from these interpretative meetings. The use of a pointer in the
 
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