Do you need the gamepad?

[d21lewis]

RolStoppable said:

prayformojo said:
The Gamepad is there, you're stuck with it....it's just, always there. You can't even watch Netflix without it staying on. If you try to turn it off, Netflix turns off. It's beyond stupid why they didn't put a button on the thing to turn the screen off.

Other than that, it's a great. It took some getting use to, but now it feels just fine.

Press the home button, select the controller settings, turn the Gamepad screen off. Naturally, the Gamepad will still drain bits of its battery, but if turning the screen off is all you want, then that's possible.

I tried that as soon as the thread posted because I thought that would be the case but I didn't know 100% for sure.  Unfortunately, no.  When you hit the home button, Netflix stops too.  I even tried going to Netflix with the Wii Remote and the Wii U controller came on, too.  I personally just leave the controller on the charging cradle or plugged into a wall.  It will eventually go dim but that's it.  The only way to turn it off is to take it out of range of the console.  It will turn off until you turn it back on.

Really, it doesn't bother me in the least but I can understand why some people wouldn't like the controller on while watching Netflix.