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Nintendo NX Controllers Reportedly Have Motion Control and Force Feedback

Could the Wii Remote finally be retired?

Nintendo NX Modular Controller

The supposedly detachable portions of Nintendo NX controllers will support “basic motion control” similar to that of the Wii Remote Plus and “advanced force feedback,” if a new report from Let’s Play Video Games is accurate.

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According to their report, these NX controllers have Wii Remote motion controls baked into them so that Nintendo can eventually eliminate the need for NX owners to have controllers that were originally paired with the Wii, which released all the way back in 2006. This would differ from Nintendo’s current console, the Wii U, which comes with a tablet-like controller sans motion controls, thus creating a need for Nintendo to continue producing Wii Remotes. The report asserts that NX owners are still going to be able to use Wii Remotes for some multiplayer games, but not all of them.

Precious few games have been officially confirmed for NX outside of Nintendo’s heavily anticipated The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. One of the handful is Ubisoft’s Just Dance 2017, a launch title, and its multiplayer is said to support both the NX and Wii controllers.

Meanwhile, the new controller’s force feedback is said to be alike to Valve/HTC’s Vive virtual reality controllers. According to LPVG it will be “very similar to the Vive controller, in that it alters intensity, pulsing patterns and duration of vibration to mimic the sensation of a range of different movement types. It’s not just one vibration for all situations, there’s a notable difference between the hard abrupt feedback of a sword clash or the softer, longer thud of something like hitting a tennis ball.”

Lets Play Video Games’ sources — one of which is the same party who last year leaked the existence of DLC for Until Dawn that was later officially announced — also confirmed July’s Eurogamer report that the NX controller is basically a Wii U tablet with detachable sides. The controller would become a portable gaming platform whenever the sides are connected to the middle section with the screen and function.

Just last week, we learned that the controller’s buttons themselves might be detachable and interchangeable, as opposed to just the sides with controls permanently embedded into them. That report was based on a recent Nintendo filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Of course, all of this are just rumors at this time. While Nintendo has confirmed the NX’s existence, it has not shown the console or its controller or announced as single detail aside from a planned March 2017 launch.

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About the author

Nick Santangelo

Nick has been a gamer since the 8-bit days and has been reporting on the games industry since 2011. Don't interrupt him while he's questing through an RPG or desperately clinging to hope against all reason that his Philly sports teams will win something.

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