Dear Gamers/ Wii U owners

Are you tired of the same old shooters, races or platformers that are appearing on your console? Do you yearn for a gaming experience like those of yesteryear when there seemed to be more then just 3 genres? If you answered yes to these questions then please read on, as I would like to invite you on an adventure that could very well change the face of gaming as we know it.

About 20 years ago the Real Time Strategy genre was all the rage, what started with the humble title of Dune exploded and set the stage for the juggernaut that is World of Warcraft MMORPG. However as time passed gaming PC's became more and more expensive whilst gaming consoles became cheaper and gained in popularity. As a result there was an exodus of players from the PC to Consoles. In the 7th generation of consoles this became even more apparent, so much so that companies that were once stalwarts of the genre abandoned it almost in its entirety. The reason was simple, the money was on consoles and consoles did not have the control scheme necessary to play an RTS.

Early attempts at translating the genre on to consoles were less then spectacular. Despite their best efforts developers were unable to overcome the limitations that analogue sticks had when trying to make precise selections on a screen. All this however has changed with the Wii U. If you not familiar with the Wii U by now allow me to explain, the Wii U is the latest console from Nintendo. Unlike its competitors the Wii U sports a control device that incorporates a decently sized touch screen.

Why is this important and why did it change things? Well to put it simply, the touch screen allows users to to use their finger or a stylus to control a pointer or selector around the screen. It is sensitive enough that the latest exclusive offerings on the console have control schemes that let you use the touch screen as easily as you would a mouse.

With this in mind I now ask you dear reader;

Do you LOVE the Real Time Strategy Genre?
If so would YOU be interested in playing one on the Wii U?

Before you answer though let me just say this, the purpose of this petition is to show developers that there is enough interest in the genre and that NOW there is a valid console platform for them to bring their efforts to. Never before has a console provided such fertile ground for the expansion of this genre.

Why would a developer want to bring the RTS genre to any console much less the Wii U for that matter? Well allow me to illustrate some points. If you are developing and RTS on the Wii U you have the following benefits;

1 Fixed architecture and system requirements mean that you dont have to worry about 1000 different hardware configurations as you do with PC's
2 Eshop - go digital if you dont have the capital to print physical copies, you already do this with STEAM again on the PC
3 Reduced piracy due to the fact that the Wii U and 3DS have been pretty secure at resisting hacking attempts. No need to use obtrusive DRM that doesnt work and just annoys customers.
4 Starved market - There has been very few attempts at a RTS games on consoles and not everyone has a gaming PC as they are expensive
5 Wii U Gamepad gives you parity with a mouse. See Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2
6 Unity tools are being sponsored by Nintendo if you want to go indie/cheap and give you full access to program for the gamepad and include motion controls if you wanted.
7 Wii U dev kits are cheap-ish compared to their competitors
8 The Wii U online infrastructure allows for CROSS PLATFORM MULTIPLAYER
9 Nothing ventured nothing gained
10 Wii U gamers want good and challenging games

Naysayers may argue that the Wii U sales have not been brisk enough to warrant developer attention, but to that I would answer with the following. PC games generally have lower production costs then console games. As a result you dont have to sell millions to make a profit. Most of the cost comes from the building of highly detailed worlds that are designed to be seen up close. Not even the latest and greatest RTS's these days have - nor do they require the level of graphical investment that is present in an shooter or racer. This make investment into the RTS genre reasonable and more likely to turn a profit even despite the low numbers of Wii U's out there.

Now you might be wondering how would the Wii U gamepad be used to play an RTS. I have come up with an example of how the control scheme might work.

Touch Screen - selector/pointer
RS/LS - panning around the screen*
RS/LS - Zooming in and out*
Bumpers and triggers - For left/right mouse buttons*
D Pad and A B X Y buttons - various commands
*Swappable for left handed players

As you can see it is very plausible to have an effective control scheme on the Wii U for an RTS. Also I would like to point out that between the D-Pad, ABXY buttons, the remaining bumper and remaining trigger you already have 10 input options even before you consider adding in virtual buttons on the touch screen.

So again I ask you;
Do you LOVE the Real Time Strategy genre?

Would you like to play it on the Wii U?

If your answer to both these questions is YES then what are you waiting for? Sign this petition, hopefully together we can show developers that there is a market for an RTS on the Wii U and give them the confidence they need to make our dream a reality!

Sign today!!!