Wii U And 3DS Connectivity Is Possible But Complicated

In an interview by IGN with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Miyamoto talks about the Wii U and 3DS connectivity. However, the development for the said feature seems to be a low priority at the moment as the install base of those who won't own both systems is predicted to be small compared to those who does.

Miyamoto also expressed the challenge of working with the 3DS and the Nintendo Wii U as there are 3 screens to think about.

“Of course we are thinking of the possibility of connecting Wii U and Nintendo 3DS once again. But we have challenged connectivity on many occasions, and one of the great lessons we have learned is the simple fact that those who own both are much fewer than those who don’t own both. So what we decided early on when considering the Wii U design was that we had to make it so that every single purchaser of the Wii U is going to have the same play conditions, the same equipment.

Even between Wii and 3DS, there are some things that can be done by connecting with each other – Mii channel is interchangeable on both systems. There are things that can easily done by transferring data between Wii and DS or 3DS systems.

If we are going to do that with Wii U and 3DS, there would be three screens to consider. The reason why we were not so eager to do a similar thing between Wii and DS if that it would have become very complicated using two screens on the DS and one screen on the Wii. But of course we are trying to think about a way to expand the experience of 3DS and Wii U when they are connected with each other, one way or the other.”

It would seem like Sony is a bit ahead of Nintendo in terms of connecting their portable device (the Vita) to their home console (the PS3). In what ways to you think Nintendo can utilize connectivity for both the Wii U console and 3DS handheld systems?

Source: IGN