TheGrayGhost
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It's relatively old news, but I found the information very interesting.
by The Wiire Staff (2006-06-24)
Nintendo's Wii Remote, first unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show in 2005, shocked and surprised the world with its unique shape, size and functionality. Since then, Nintendo has been tweaking the device to perfection, with the newest iteration of the controller recently exhibited at E3 2006 held in May. While many changes are minor, several important modifications were performed that could determine the overall success of the controller.
THE SPEAKER
The most noticeable change to the Wii Remote is the addition of a speaker. Underneath the "Home" label, 18 holes (three columns of six holes each) of varying size establish where the speaker is inside the unit. This internal unit, according to Nintendo, will be able to play a variety of short sound effects that are stored to a small amount of flash memory built into the controller during game play. Examples of what you can expect to hear out of this speaker include the coin collection chime from Super Mario Galaxy, or the blasts of weapon fire from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
PHYSICAL BODY
The entire physical size of the controller is also noticeably larger; the new version is much taller and slightly deeper than the original, with the width being approximately the same as before. The corners sport a larger bevel radius, and an altogether more rounded shape along the bottom.
BUTTONS
Power: Changed from rectangular to circular, but located in roughly the same position.
Directional Pad: Appears unmodified
"A": Seems to be barely smaller. The spacing below the "A" button is larger, and a number of changes have been made to the middle row of three buttons.
"B" trigger: Now more curved rather than flat, with a 'hook' jutting from the bottom. The button now better resembles a trigger, and feels like one, too, which could be beneficial for shooting games.
"Select" and "Start": These labels have been removed from below the left and right buttons, and they now bear a minus and a plus symbol directly on them. The buttons are also more flat on the surface, presumably for comfort reasons.
"Home": Found between the minus and plus buttons, the "Home" button now contains a small blue symbol of a house instead of a blue dot.
"a" and "b": The two secondary buttons have been replaced with "2" and "1", respectively.
LED player indicators: Four are still present, but are now square-shaped instead of rectangular. The numerical labels now take the form of beveled dots above each of the lights, the amount of which represents which player number that controller is for.
TOP AND BOTTOM FACES
The top of the controller now contains a larger and more rectangular sensor window. On the other end, the bottom contains a much larger bracket-shaped expansion port, and now contains two hardware mounting points on the left and right sides for accessories to clip into securely. In addition, there is now a small hole for a wrist strap to be threaded through below the expansion port, so that controllers are not accidentally thrown when playing Wii games.
THE NUNCHUK
In addition to revising certain aspects of the Wii Remote, Nintendo made slight modifications to the controller's Nunchuk attachment. These changes are important to note given players will find the Nunchuk bundled with every Wii system.
The newer version of the Nunchuck sports a remodeled analog stick, now flat instead of ribbed ("ribbed" meaning circular indentations are present throughout; the GameCube and N64 controllers used ribbed analog sticks). Also, the two buttons on the back of the Nunchuk have undergone form and label alterations. What were previously "Z1" and "Z2" have now been replaced with "C" and "Z", respectively. Whereas these two buttons were once rectangular in shape, "C" (the top button) is now smaller and round, while "Z" protrudes out farther, containing a small hook to cradle a player's finger.
On a final note, the connecting piece attaching the Nunchuk to the Wii Remote is less bulky, perhaps to further lighten the device's overall weight, as well as create better visual appeal.
WHY THESE CHANGES ARE IMPORTANT
Nintendo didn't modify Wii's controller just for aesthetic reasons; the changes may very well benefit gameplay. As stated earlier, the newly curved "B" trigger could add a greater sense of pulling the trigger on a gun, with a satisfying click preceding the fall of each foe. The model shown at Tokyo Game Show 2005 may have been sufficient for small-handed Japanese gamers, but the added length in the new version accomodates more people, while still remaining small, light and comfortable to hold.
A number of the alterations also prove Nintendo is adament about breaking away from tradition and catering to casual and non-gamers. For instance, the previous controller design used well-known button labels such as "select", "start", "a" and "b". A certain stigmatism is attached to these names, which is probably why Nintendo opted for new labels, such as "+", "-", "1" and "2". This variance between button labels could help, if only on some subconscious level, to ease the intimidation factor of the controller.
CONCLUSION
All of these modifications show that Nintendo is determined to create one of the most innovative and user-friendly controllers ever. It's important to note, however, that these changes may or may not represent the final design, for as Game Designer Shigeru Miyamoto recently stated to Famitsu magazine, "We're still debating on the area of how many buttons to use."Regardless, the current design should be close to what we'll see when the Wii launches this fall.
