Astrogun developer Xander Davis changes his tune on Wii U and Nintendo

Astrogun CEO and game developer Xander Davis, who previously worked on Transformers: War for Cybertron and Darksiders II with Vigil, has changed his mind about Nintendo, after they reached out to him about releasing his upcoming indie CIDER to the Wii U, and also being convinced by fan feedback to get a unit himself.

Astrogun game Project Codename CIDER is a top-down 3D mythic sci-fi action-adventure game in development. Xander plans Early Alpha funding in the same vein as how Minecraft was funded. It is planned for release to PC first, and then the consoles PS4, Vita and Wii U.

The outspoken Xander was initially critical of the Wii U in an interview  last August 2012. He referred to the device as a $ 400 Xbox 360 released seven years too late, and the GamePad as a gimmick that remains tethered (presumably, he is referring here to GamePad use often connected to a charger because of its battery's low power).

Xander started changing his tone only 2 months after, when he started setting up Astrogun and learned about the recently inked deal between Nintendo and Unity. Now coming from the standpoint of an indie developer, he explained indies would be more willing to embrace the innovation of the GamePad and try new things with it than AAAs. Consequently, indies would also prefer to publish to Wii U since the opportunity is there, than to untested platforms like the Ouya.

Today, in a post on CIDER's Tumblr, Xander enumerates several insights from having played with the console for an extended period.

Most noteworthy among these insights is his experience of playing the Wii U and finally 'getting it.' The way he explains this is, in spite of the skepticism the console has received from the industry at large, the concept of the Wii U is valid and easy to grasp once you experience it. 

Other positives he notes include solid indie support, the GamePad itself (a complete 180 from his earlier position), Nintendo's move to HD, and their continued independence.

Our own Brett Phipps has also shared praise for the Wii U.

Image is a screenshot from the preview for Project Codename CIDER.