Multi-touch Wii U screen would be 'unwieldy' - Nintendo

The Wii U GamePad touch screen is only sensitive to a single input at a time, and Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime is saying that limitation was more than just a cost-cutting measure.

Speaking with Kotaku, Fils-Aime explained that Nintendo determined "single-touch was a more appropriate option" given the GamePad's other buttons. While Fils-Aime acknowledged that the price of a multi-touch display played a part in the decision making, he added that there was a consideration to the gaming experience as well.

"Certainly there's a cost to it. Again, we envision this as a controller that you're putting in your hands and you're doing a two-screen experience," he said. "The concept of putting it in your lap to do multi-touch for us just feels unwieldy."

In addition to addressing the GamePad's single-touch screen, Fils-Aime promised that the Wii U will incorporate improvements to Nintendo's existing Friend Code system from the Wii. There will still be friends, and gamers will have a separate level of interaction available for those people on their friends lists, but Fils-Aime promised that the process of confirming someone as a friend will be "a lot simpler" than it is with the Wii.