Wii U could support two tablets - Report

At the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Nintendo unveiled the Wii U and the new tablet-like controller for the system. Many unknowns still linger about the system's functionality, but one question regarding the supported amount of simultaneous tablet-like controllers may be getting closer to being answered.

Citing a "trusted game development executive," industry publication Develop reports that recent updates to the Wii U codebase suggest Nintendo is close to resolving technical issues preventing use of more than one simultaneously connected, screen-adorned controller.

However, those hoping to connect more than two controllers to their Wii U at once may be out of luck. The report goes on to say that there is "very little chance" that four controllers will ever be supported.

Nintendo's showing at E3 2011 presented various demonstrations of potential Wii U games, but even multiplayer-centric titles were predicated on only one person having a screen-equipped controller. At the time, Nintendo said the Wii U was restricted to use of one Wii U controller, but future support for multiple controllers might come.

Speaking to Nintendo's reservations about committing to multi-tablet support, Develop's source said, "At E3 they didn't commit to this, but they know how important it is to make it technically feasible to support two screens. Even if that affects framerate, as a developer and player, I don't care. It needs to work. Developers will design appropriate games for this. If you're building a quiz game you're not going to give a s*** about the framerate."

The Wii U is set to be displayed in final form at E3 2012.