THQ on Wii U controller: "We thought of it 18 months ago"

THQ's kids, family and casual division boss Martin Good has claimed that he is not perturbed by the Nintendo Wii U's similarities to THQ's own uDraw controller.

"None of this is a surprise," he told CVG in regard to the Wii U's tablet controller and drawing capabilities. " As you know, we thought of it 18 months ago and released it last season."

THQ claims to have shipped 1.7 million units of its drawing-centric, tablet-like peripheral for Wii, and now plans to release Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions.

He felt the similarities between uDraw and Wii U could even be to THQ's benefit. "We think we're really on the front for it and well poised to exploit this because we've already been playing with the drawing mechanic and we've got a lot of game designs in the pipe. It's only going to get better with that experience."

Good also claimed that "THQ never really went about being a peripheral manufacturer - that wasn't our intent", but had done so due to perceived market opportunities for drawing-based console games. "The fact is we had to create our own peripherals including for 360 and PS3 to be able to play with that audience."