So people having the choice to use whichever control scheme they find most suitable for them is a bad thing?
This isn't about what people find more comfortable. As I have gone over several times the large number of differences between the Gamepad and the Motion+ mean that a game designed to use as many features of the Gamepad as possible (something that the Zelda series is known for and is likely to do) will not be compatible with the Motion+. Motion+ simply will not be able to do the same things.
What if ZeldaU has an item that requires you to blow into the mic? Motion+ can't do that, the item would have to be removed from the 'Motion+ version' or be changed so that it was practically a different item entirely. What if they allow note-taking on the map with the Gamepad's stylus? Motion+ can't do that so there's a game feature lost. What if they use the fact that the sticks are also buttons to add in two extra slots for equippable items? Motion+ can't do that so now that 'version' is less convenient and has you spending more time in menus. This isn't a case of having two options and you pick which is most comfortable. This is a case of the game cannot be designed to use
both without there being some pretty significant differences between 'versions'.
Games like Mario Kart Wii and Smash Bros. Brawl can get away with multiple control schemes because those games have, like, 5 inputs and the GameCube controller, Classic Controller and Wiimote all have enough buttons and a stick to accompodate them. A game like Pikmin 3 was designed for the Wiimote with the Gamepad thrown in as an afterthought, from what we've seen. If a Zelda game is designed around the Gamepad, heck, if
any game is designed around the Gamepad, then a lot of what that game does will not be possible with the Motion+ without major changes.
Take ZombiU as an example. The Gamepad in that is mainly used as your map/radar and inventory, as well as a scanning device. Now, if it used Motion+ the map could be accesed via a menu, same with the inventory, and the scanner could be done similar to Metroid Prime 3's Scan Visor. However, entering a menu to do these things would pause the action around you, something which goes against one of the game's fundamental principles of keeping everything real-time to make the game dangerous. If going into the menu's didn't pause the game, well, without the second screen you would have your view blocked and be unable to see approaching zombies. You'd have people dying in menus because they couldn't see.
So, to accommodate the Motion+, the game would either have to either:
1) Abandon a central design philosophy and sacrifice a major source of tension
or
2) Become frustrating and unfair to the player, punishing them for unavoidable actions
The Gamepad is what allows ZombiU to be the game that it is. The limitations of the Motion+ in comparison to it would prevent a game like ZombiU from working the way it does. This kind of thing applies to any game built around the use of the Gamepad.
I imagine a potential counter-argument would be something like "But Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U use them both and so does Rayman Legends!" This is true but they use them in a multiplayer capacity, in games designed to use the two controllers. What's more, the players with the Motion+ must do things that the player with the Gamepad can't and vice versa. It's not a case of having up to 5 people playing the same game, one of those players must do something the others can't because the two control schemes are so different. The very notion of the Wii U's asymmetrical multiplayer is born from the incompatability of the Motion+ and the Gamepad.
Turning that difference into a strength shows the kind of genius that has kept Nintendo going all these years but we remain with that core issue; the Motion+ and the Gamepad are
too different to be used for all of the same things. They can be used for some of the same things, but not all. Once again (with feeling), a game that is designed for the Gamepad, like ZombiU and (assumedly) ZeldaU, will not work in the same way if it was adapted to the Motion+. The Gamepad's various features such as a second screen, touch, the microphone, a camera and 4 extra buttons, which are all absent from the Motion+, prevent the use of
both controllers without major differences in core game design between 'versions'.
The Wii MotionPlus is too damn good to leave behind, and Nintendo knows this. That's why there are launch games with it as an option.
The Wii U Gamepad is too damn good to ignore or stifle in favour of the older set-up. There are launch games which use Motion+ as an option because only one Gamepad can work on a Wii U at a time. If they didn't allow Motion+ to be used then the console would have no capacity for local multiplayer. I'd wager money that was a more convincing reason for the decision than "Motion+ is awesome guys! Yippee hooray!"
The thing is, with Nintendo's focus now on asymmetrical multiplayer, the Motion+ is gonna be a big part of the Wii U's life. It's unavoidable. It's not a bad thing, though. Having played Nintendo Land and NSMBU in their asymmetrical capacity I can tell you it's very fun and will lead to some of the more unique and enjoyable multiplayer experiences of the next few years. The Motion+ is not going anywhere.
But that is where the Motion+ belongs on Wii U, multiplayer. In multiplayer it is just one more tool for Nintendo to create fun experiences. In single-player (like Zelda) it is a back-step, a move in the wrong direction. I don't say this because I dislike Motion+ (I don't). I say this because I very much like the Gamepad. I own a Wii, have done for years now, and I have seen what Motion+ has to offer. Now I own a Wii U and I would very much like to see the full potential of the Gamepad. This will not happen if developers design games to use the Motion+.
They were very clear at E3 about the Motion+ being the primary and intended method of controlling Pikmin 3. That means the game is designed to work on the Wii. From seeing the ways the Gamepad was used it was obvious they had tried to adapt the game to it. I am provided with an example to use to explain my point here. Nobody should be adapting a Wii U game to make use of the Wii U controller. They should be built
for the Wii U controller before anything else. I'm sure there will be people who love playing Pikmin 3 with their Wiimote and their Nunchuck and say how lovely it is to have an overhead map displayed on the Gamepad but the Wii U's actual controller should not be relagated to such a passive and perfunctory role in a Wii U game. I do not want to see developers designing games for Wii U which would work on Wii minus the HD graphics.
This can apply directly to Zelda. If, say, they used the Motion+ for ZeldaU and we returned to Skyward Sword's combat then we would once again have enemies which reacted directly to our sword movements and told us which way to swing our arm like a significant portion of the enemies in that game did. This proved a divisive point, with some people liking the change to combat and others disliking it. On a personal level, I thought it was interesting and not necessarily bad but led to less creative enemies and easier gameplay overall. It is a mark of what Zelda is like on the Wii. Well now it is time for Nintendo to show us what Zelda is like on the Wii U and the way to do that is to use what the Wii U gives us and not what the Wii did.
Think of how Nintendo could incorporate the Pictobox now that we have a camera on the Gamepad. Think of how we can use our breath or voices in puzzles and combat now that we have a microphone (I know such things made Spirit Tracks pretty unique). With more buttons we have more potential item slots which means we could have more offensive items or even just an expanded range of weapons. The extra buttons could be used to perform new actions that deepen combat or stealth. The touch function would enable note-taking and could change the way we use familiar items. The biggest difference the Gamepad offers is the second screen which has a much larger impact than it first appears and a better understanding of that can be found in
this article to save me the time of explaining.
A Zelda game designed for the Gamepad has so many more options and potential than a Zelda game designed for Motion+. Motion+ had it's time to shine with Skyward Sword. It is now ZeldaU's turn to show us what the Gamepad can do.
If you payed attention to any of the Nintendo Directs, you'd know they didn't do that because they're already out on the market
The Pro Controller was also out on the market but they still bundled that with some Premium Wii Us. In fact, they bundled that with a game that doesn't use it. Regardless of whether you could just go out and buy a Motion+, bundling one with a few Wii Us would have been a good decision, especially for those people who never bought one in the first place.