http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_field_communication

think about credit cards.  the credit card has some information that can be passed on to the store's credit card reader allowing for the passing of payment information.  

same general idea -- if you saw the rayman legends trailer where toys could be placed on the wii U gamepad to modify the game...well there is your application.  nintendo will sell you toys that are basically DLC but in toy form instead of code form.  ...or something like that.

rayman trailer -- skip to 0:40 so see what i mean.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orKiQ7-YtgQ

Sorry for the delay, guys but

DAT MARIO!

What if you lose ur gamepad?

I'm glad the Wii U Pro controller has been announced, my fears of how to play the next Smash Bros. have been laid to rest.

If Nintendo is smart, they should bundle this with the console, along with Wii Remote+ as well. The more options given to the gamer to play a game the better. Its no different than the NES/SNES days.

Like the old school days, the SMW SNES bundle was awesome, two controllers and a game. Console companies post SNES era, have skimped ever since.

I'm still disappointed that Nintendo still decides to treat NSMB like a DS port. I mean here's a system capable of rendering gorgeous HD graphics and we get a game that looks like the DS game. Though I do like the world map, it looks awesome. Can't wait til Tuesday!

Oh yeah, that feature! Hope they can find some useful things to do with it!

Thanks a lot!

That conference was great. Nintendo really have done a lot of research on online infrastructures and the Wii U's is looking amazing. Tuesday can't come soon enough!

@Arius Dion Have you seen the new art style in the backgrounds? Have you seen the footage in HD? Looks nothing like a DS game.

Good summary of the broadcast for sure

You don't like it...?

Anyway, it's for the lazy devs. Iwata practically said it himself!