What's the deal Developers?
Well, that amazingly addictive "Lego Simulator" Minecraft has been officially announced at Gamescom this week to be coming to the Playstation 3, 4, and Vita which joins the already existing PC, Linux, Mac, Xbox 360, Android, and iPad/iPhone editions.
And if you read that list again, you may notice a particular company seems to be left out in the cold on this deal. Yep, not a single announcement for Minecraft to show up, in any form, for the Nintendo Wii U or the 3DS. And no one knows why.
I've been a long time Minecraft fan and player since the beginning. I have it on my PC, Xbox 360, and Android Tablet. I will be getting it at least for Vita (since the Android version has horrible controls in my opinion and won't support anything other than touch) so I have have proper controls on a handheld system.
The Wii U and 3DS could both handle absolutely fantastic versions of the game which would allow for direct control of the environment by using the second screen interface and touch enabled screens that both systems come standard with. You could tap directly on a block to break it easier, you could draw out lines in order to build faster, or the most obvious tool would be having your crafting interface and/or world map going at any time on the bottom screen. Being able to use the map in the game without it taking up the entire screen would be a HUGE change for me which would allow for quicker exploration in my infinite amount of worlds I can make.
Local multiplayer on the Wii U could be handled with just one system spreading out the game between the GamePad and the TV which would make for a more enjoyable coop that you could only do while online for Xbox 360 or with a dedicated server on PC.
It's just these simple ideas that would make this game truly play so much better that makes me question what is up with developers and Nintendo lately? So many games are being skipped for this system that could EASILY run them, yet Nintendo just stays quiet like they are afraid to say anything lest they upset the few large 3rd party developers they have. Thankfully they are getting quite a bit of smaller devs making titles for them, but they need the big ones to make this really take off.
Many will argue that this will be another nail in the coffin of Nintendo, but many also don't realize that even if the Wii U never picks back up from this drop since launch, the company has a HUGE pile of money in the winds to hold them over for multiple failed consoles before they have to actually throw in the towel. But on this note...why don't they USE some of that pile to take chances and expand the Wii U library, by force if necessary? Hell, they probably have enough to just BUY out Mojang and change that whole dynamic but Nintendo seems to be too shy about doing something so bold so the idea is just that, an idea without form.
Here is a "concept video" from YouTube user AbeHunter125 that I think shows an interest in the idea and some ways it could work out.