Developers working without controllers, Vitality Sensor still alive, ‘early 2012’ release?

Remember all those developers who were listed off just a short while ago, who are supposedly in possession of Wii 2 development kits? Turns out they might not quite be going full speed ahead with their projects, as we’ve now got word that not all of them have received controller units yet.

Actually, for the Wii 2, I'm pretty sure it is.

Personally, I’m curious how it’s possible to develop much of a game at all without the controller, particularly one as complex and interesting as the rumours make Project Café’s out to be. Then again, depending on how recently Nintendo began sending dev kits around, it’s possible that the controllers are still just in the mail.

The second part of this update is a claim that the Vitality Sensor still has a future ahead of it, but it’s unknown whether that future lies with the current Wii or with its successor. I’m inclined to think that Nintendo has taken it behind doors to retool it for use in the Wii 2, perhaps as an integrated part of the controller. Ever since it was revealed, I’ve been curious about what exactly happened to it. I think it would be cool to see it come back as a bullet point on the Wii 2’s retail box.

The last portion of this update pegs an “early 2012” release date as a possibility, stating that Nintendo had originally been planning to get it out by the end of 2011, but pushed it back to some point in 2012. The original source of these particular rumours, Puissance-Nintendo, rules out a late 2012 release as illogical because Nintendo cannot wait too long to release their new hardware.