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

[Cheebee]

Well, I don't agree with the OP.
It's pretty obvious Nintendo's been experimenting with the idea of dual screens and, to an extent, asymmetric gameplay. Way back with the Game & Watch, and more recently with stuff like the GameCube's Four Swords Adventures, Pacman Versus, and Wind Waker's Tingle Tuner. And obviously with the DS line and 3DS.

I think the WiiU Gamepad is just a natural extension and somewhat inevitable evolution of those principles and ideas... It just has so much potential, especially coupled with all the extra stuff in the Gamepad like the motion sensors, the NFC thing, the mic, and the speakers (the sound experience in stuff like the WiiU menus and such is actually really neat and well done, it's really a unique sort of surround-sound, with the sounds and music from the Gamepad's speakers being different from, and complementing the sound from the TV speakers).