Nintendo has been a leader in the video game industry for over 30 years, but it would be generous to call their most recent controller designs industry leading. The N64/GameCube sticks were cumbersome designs that looked like overweight frisbees. The Wii controller took design back “old school” while also introducing an awkward pointer hand controller. Groundbreaking? Yes. Ergonomic success? I believe “he$% to the no” might apply.

Still, for the upcoming Wii U, Nintendo is taking design to a different level. Incorporating everything from on the fly gaming to wireless transference of game elements, this thing looks incredible. With one exception: the thumbsticks seem to be non-existent.

Nintendo aims to fix that.

According to Techland, “The worst you could say about Nintendo’s Wii U controller before was twofold: It’s really big (for a console game controller), and the thumb-sticks are actually thumb-nubs, set flush against the controller’s surface, 3DS-style. A new picture of the controller released by a Wii U developer just reduced that double whammy by one — the Wii U’s left and right concave-style analog pads have been raised on tiny poles that sport convex, Wii-like tops.”

It’s good to see an industry giant listening to feedback and improving the product before launch. What do you think about the new design?