Ever since the existence of the Wii U was leaked just prior to E3 2011, game developers, publishers, those in the gaming press, just about everyone but Nintendo have called the console's new controller "a tablet." Every time someone does this, they drag their collective fingernails across the chalkboard of my soul.

Anyone who has used the Wii U GamePad should be able to tell you that it's not a tablet device. A tablet features multi-touch screen controls, and does not rely on multiple buttons and control sticks/pads. The Wii U GamePad does not feature a multi-touch screen controls, and it does have dedicated buttons and control sticks (and one control pad).

If you are going to call the Wii U GamePad a "tablet," then you're going to have to call the 3DS, the PS Vita, ATM machines, The Real Touch anus simulator, and everything else on the planet with touch controls a "tablet" as well. Personally, I'd prefer for us to use the word for devices that are actually are tablets, and not mindlessly tack it on to every new touch-controlled device that hits the market just so we can sound trendy. It's cool when words mean something, isn't it?

That's not for me to decide though. In the long run, tech and gaming culture will determine what the word "tablet" means as it relates to interfacing with technology. Depend on how th efuture unfolds, this post may look really dumb in a few years, when everyone calls any old fashioned touch controlled device a "tablet" while the world has moved on to telekinetically controlled cars and jetpacks internet brain implant chips in our hamburgers.

In the meantime, I'll tell those of you who haven't played the Wii U that you should not expect it to deliver an tablet-style gaming experience. The Wii U GamePad is essentially the bottom half of a 3DS XL, but with two analog sticks, some NFC functionality, and a slightly larger screen. It's not that different than using a standard dual analog stick controller. There just happens to be a big touch screen in the middle of the thing which you may or may not end up using. It feels nothing like an iPad or other tablet devices.

I've played a  good amount of Wii U games (Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Bros. U, Rayman Legends, Assassin's Creed 3, Batman: Arkham City: Armored Edition, Project P-100, Panorama View, Pikmin 3, Game and Wario, Trine 2, and many more). Most of them did not require you to use the touch screen, and those that did went about it in a way that was almost exactly like something you'd find in a 3DS game. Take Takamuru's Castle for example. The game is all about flinging throwing stars off the GamePad screen and onto the TV screen. You couldn do that with a 3DS. The only difference is, it wouldn't be as fun to throw a star from one screen to another screen that's less than two inches away. Regardless, it's nothing like playing a game on the iPad. It was more like playing a PS Move/Wii Remote pointer controlled game, except the pointer control also had a touch screen.

In closing, anyone who has led you to think that the Wii U GamePad is anything like an iPad is being a jerk and you should tell them so.

http://www.destructoid.com/psa-the-wii-u-gamepad-is-not-a-tablet-controller-232934.phtml

its a tablet controller hehe jk

so in other words it is even less accessible and mainstream than i've been thinking so far. ;P

This is dumb... sure tablet devices are all multi-touch and buttonless now... but there have been tablet computers for years before the iPad with single-touch screens and additional buttons (though not the same kind of buttons the UPad has, but that's because a computer has different needs to a game console)

The word tablet (as with "pad") is in use because of it's general size and shape as well as the way you hold it to use it, which is similar to how ancient stone or wax tablets were used. It has nothing to do with the technology involved.

The Upad is no more a tablet than the NDS.

I've always said that It's not a tablet with buttons, it's a controller with a screen. It's not that hard to understand...

Obviously, someone forgot to run spell check before they submitted this article.

I see couldn , th efuture

Wiipad or what should we call it?  We settled on the Wiimote previously.

That's like saying the iPad is no more a tablet than the iPod Touch.

I believe size has a lot to do with it.

The NDS is a small clamshell device. If it was permanently open and had a single touch screen then it could be argued as a small tablet device yes (although I would say even opened out it's still a bit small to be classed as a tablet), but as it is with 2 screens and a folding mechanism no it isn't.

TABLET: a small, flat, or flattish cake or piece of some solid or solidified substance, as a drug, chemical, or soap.
i guess the 10 commandments was not on a "tablet" because it was not a multi touch....