All of these posts regarding the hate for the gamepad really irk me.

Its a very good controller that matches any other configuration, very comfortable, and provides an excellent feature with off-tv play. In fact, most people I know or read about here and GAF don't even use the TV anymore unless required (rare). Its simply a better way to play.

Only problem the gamepad ever really caused was its costs in materials to the overall console. But even that is a bad argument. Had WiiU not contained a gamepad and instead had beefier specs, it would still have cost about the same.

Meaning, we'd still have a $300 console that is being sold at a loss with no 3rd party support or sales. It still wouldn't appeal to the MSony crowd that only see Nintendo as a kid company and it wouldn't be in the price range or feature/game aspect to hit the casual group again like Wii.

Its sad so many people ignored the Wii U and its superior controller options. Its  great system with many great games. I sincerely hope the next Nintendo console is some sort of portable/home hybrid where the portable controller option is a touch screen off-tv capable device. Its just a better option.

I love my gamepad, Just hate the triggers... Analog... Wtf...

But one of the reasons I bought the wiiU is cause I wanted to draw but I didn't want to get a tablet where the only thing u could do is draw so the wiiU seemed like the best thing ever for me! Sure, its not as zomfg as those other fancy tablets and you can't use illustrator with the wiiU but oh well, it can play Nintendo games so its good enough for me!

I used it in the store and thought it was really annoying, hate looking down for a minimap or the like when Im playing on the big screen. It feels nice in the hands but the lcd is of bad quality if you've helt a 5" smartphone or Vita in your hands. Also I dont like its short battery life and its ac adapter instead of usb charging.

Yeah it is a good controller but it wasn't explained well to the masses in my opinion.

The Gamepad is awesome but it is something you can't understand until you played with it. If the Internet had said: "Try the Gamepad!" the people would have done it and the Wii U would have been more succesfull.

But you don't need to look down and up again... just play in off-tv mode. you can lounge throughout house and play from just gamepad.

Every time I have someone over to play WiiU for the first time, I have to force them to use the Gamepad. They all think its dumb, but 30-60 minutes into playing, without fail, they'll comment on how it's actually a pretty nice controller.

I mocked the gamepad, off-TV play and, well, the Wii U in general before finally buying one in September. Absolutely fell in love with the machine and gamepad and all the features of the machine.

If there's any complaints I do have it's the tragic battery life and I have a bit of bloom in the bottom left corner of the screen (like some of the older Samsung-panel LCD TV's used to a few years ago).

Wii U as a whole is a very good and exciting idea, or at least the E3 2011 device they showed. Unfortunately, Nintendo was not ready to execute that idea.

There is nothing wrong with the gamepad. I like it very much :).

It's just a new controller which has very little support from even it's own developer.

So it fails... it must fail actually...
Since software sells hardware -> No gamepad-selling software, no gamepad sales.