Nintendo made the WiiU gamepad because they didnt have a better idea - opinion

[Gamerace]

Cold-Flipper said:

aikohualda said:

Cold-Flipper said:
I say definitely not

I read back when the Wii was first released in 2006 that Nintendo always wanted a screen in their controller. They apparently thought about it while making the GC's successor but found that it would be too expensive. They then discovered motion controls and the Wii was born.

In 2007 while thinking of what to do with the Wii's successor, they went back to the screen concept which is now more cost-efficient. Wii U is now born. Nintendo does this a lot actually. They think of ideas and don't use them because of cost issues and come back to it later.

source?

that would be awesome if that's true... so wii u has been planned long time ago?

I read it a while ago and can't find the source. (I know it sounds suspicious but I'm not making it up)

They were looking into the Gamepad a while ago around the same time DS released. They thought it would be too expensive and never used it until now. I could be wrong about the details but I do remember reading about it

This is correct, although I don't recall cost being an issue.  They didn't want the Wii to be a home DS and they wanted to broaden their audience. They realized the dual analog controller was the biggest deterent to getting new people to play.  Thus the wiimote was born.

I can't find a source, but I've read this repeatedly from Nintendo's and other reliable sources.