Wii U proves to be a challenge for Injustice: Gods Among Us and other fighting games

Nintendo's Wii U console is continuing to prove to be a challenge for fighting game developers. Echoing concerns that we heard earlier this month from Tekken Tag Tournament's Katsuhiro Harada, NetherRealm's Ed Boone told Polygon that they are struggling to incorporate the Wii U's GamePad controller with their upcoming fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Expressing a similar sentiment, Boone stated that the team wants to make sure using the Wii U controller doesn't seem "gimmicky".

“Right now, all the systems are in parity with the same feature sets,” he said. “We’re obviously going to have some conversation about the Wii U’s unique controller and how to use it in a fighting game that’s not just a gimmick. I don’t want to just have a touchscreen that shows all the secret moves and you just press them to fire them off."

"Thankfully the game isn't out until next year," he added, "but it's certainly not something that we've cracked yet."

This seems to be a growing concern among fighting game developers. Harada recently told Eurogamer that the tablet controller's touchscreen is too "distracting" for fighting games and that they were going to use it merely as a way to "progress through the game".

While I'm sure these developers will figure out a solution, this could be a troubling concern for Nintendo and the Wii U. The last thing they want to do is alienate third-party developers. Unlike the Wii, I don't think the Wii U can survive without the same games that are appearing on not only this generation of consoles, but next as well. Remember, the Wii U isn't just competing against the Xbox 360 and PS3, but eventually the next Xbox and PlayStation consoles – whenever that may be. Hopefully by then, fighting game developers can figure out a way to make the tablet work in useful fashion.