What will become of the Wii U's USP once the NX launches? Wii U supported the Wii motes and not just for backwards compatibility, with new game releases too. They continue to sell them at shops, will the gamepad get the same treament? 

Id like to be able to use it for off screen play but I imagine the nx handheld will also do that, vita style.

If the NX (whatever it may be) supports BC or tablet controller functionality, keep it as an option for those who want it. For those of us (like me) who want to move on from the Gamepad once and for all, I do hope a normal controller scheme (that lets me go to settings and updates) is included.

The thing with the Gamepad, though, is that they do not sell it separately. The Gamepad would really only be used by the 10+ million Wii U owners. If the NX does support BC, I hope use of the Pro controller would suffice enough.

I hold my stance that the gamepad isn't going anywhere. Is it changing? Absolutely. Are they dropping it? Absolutely not.

If that bothers you, you're in for a rude awakening.

Even though i LOVE the Wii U gamepad, i hope it doesnt continue on. Same with the Wii remote <-- I want them to drop it.
But, i dont mind if Nintendo does create a NEW Gamepad controller (which improves everything) or a new Motion Controller, but i hope that both will be an option.

Keep it as a controller option capable of off-tv and sell it separately, as well as the wiimote. Unless we get a wiimote 2 or gamepad 2(both optional too for christ's sake) that has a different control scheme, this should happen because wiimote is awesome for some genres and off-tv is awesome too.

Hopefully it will be optional with a better battery life

The NX will support BC, at least in digital form, so WiiU owners may use it. If non-WiiU owners want to play, they'll have to use the NX handheld as the tablet. It will happen.

They'll still keep it around for their next console.

I can't see Nintendo completely dropping the gamepad.

this needs to happend: