Back in November of 2006, Nintendo released the Wii home video game console. It eventually went on to become the best-selling seventh generation console so far. The Wii's success didn't lead to Nintendo just resting on its laurels, though, as apparently already started planning for the console's follow-up shortly after it launched.

Speaking to Gamasutra during E3 2011, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed that they had decided by as early as 2007 that a second screen was going to be one of the main features in the Wii's successor. The initial plans were markedly different from the final product, as at that time the screen was smaller due to the high cost of LCDs. Nintendo had also not yet decided where to put it.

"Considering how expensive screens were then, it did not make sense to have this big-sized LCD," he said. "We would not have been able to come up with a reasonable price point. … We had not decided when we were going to launch the new console [at that point], but we knew we needed to be flexible."

It eventually ended up on the Wii U's controller, which got a lot of face time during Nintendo's E3 2011 press conference. The LCD screen on the Wii U is bigger now but in order to keep costs manageable, the company has decided to limit the controller to one per console only.

Via [Gamasutra]

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