Miyamoto: Only one touch-screen controller per Wii U console

When Nintendo announced its new Wii U system at E3 on Tuesday, it was unclear if the company would sell touch-screen controllers separately or if only one would work per system. Nintendo executive Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of such franchises as Mario, Zelda, and Star Fox, said Wednesday that the system most likely will only work with a single touch-screen controller and other simple Wii-motes.

The news indicates the new Wii U system may not have enough power under the hood to handle simultaneous touch input from several controllers. With that in mind, it’s also questionable if the system itself will be that much more powerful overall than the original Wii.

“Our basic premise is that you can use one with a system,” Miyamoto said in an interview with news.com.au. “If we got to an idea of having multiple, it might be just more convenient for people to use their Nintendo 3DS and have a way to connect that. That being said, we are doing research about if someone brings their controller to their friend’s house and they want to play together on Wii U to whether or not something like that would be possible.”

The Wii U will be released sometime in 2012 and at this point, it’s still an unfinished product, which is why the company relied on footage from PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games in putting together game footage for its Wii U announcement. Nintendo hasn’t released the specs of the machine. There’s no guarantee that Nintendo won’t bump the console’s specs or create a way to use multiple touch-screen controllers effectively.

As a gamer, I want to see what a developer could do if it had four separate screens people could play while interacting with a large TV screen. For instance, I’d love to see a first-person-shooter on the Wii U with four separate touch-screen controllers playing at once so no other players could see my location.

Now that the Wii U’s concept has sunk in, what do you think of the system? Are you satisfied with what Nintendo has put forth so far or are you looking for more from the console?