I LOVE the game pad. I love off tv play and it's great for web browsing and things like inventory management in game.

I still really like the idea of having a screen on my controller, even just for the minor conveniences like inventory management and the minimap. That said, I am starting to question Nintendo's decision to go with this setup. I kinda feel that simply making a "Wii 2" with improved motion controls and a $250 pricetag would have benefited them more. The specs wouldn't even need to be any better than the WIi U's are now.

I really enjoy the GamePad. Off-TV play is great, having a second screen ala DS is great, and having all the conventional buttons and stuff is a plus. The battery life could be improved, but it's not terrible, especially since you could plug it in anywhere. As for the price, I doubt it raises the cost of the system by more than $50, considering how a replacement seems to cost $100 and a regular controller costs about $50 anyway.

Does anyone enjoy offscreen play more than they do second screen functionality?

For the gamepad totally against the shitty rumble that sounds like crap. I mean Nintendo basically invented that stuff and even their first one on the N64 was better.

I turned it off day1 and never looked back.


Btw those "normal" games are well normal there is no use for the touchpad it can just as as gimmick in normal games.

Stuff like The World ends with you etc showed what the DS could do not mario kart or mario. On "normal" games it just is used for convenience like switching items etc.

For some games, yes. Being able to play Injustice while everybody else in the room is in the middle of a Tarantino marathon is quite the perk IMO.

the touchpad has potential. Developers just has to benefit from it. we know some games are hard to benefit from this. but the majory of the dev has to know some way to make this pad sweet.
But personally I still don't understand why the great old has forsaken their remote-ish concept. i still don't get it. they found a hole in the market with the wii. And now they release something like the WiiU. no offence to the WiiU but still...

Absolutely FOR. It's a bad ass controller, arguably the best all-in-one controller concept in many years.

The raw potential is there, and even if it's ONLY used for little, subtle touches like Zelda's item screen being always on, on the GP screen, that is still a great use. Not every DS game had to use the touch screen to "justify" it, just the same as not every Wii game had to include some kind of waggle to "justify" being a Wii game. Many great Wii games made little to NO use of motion controls. And that was great. It's no different with Wii U.

The GamePad rocks, period.

I see the Wii U in general as prototype to a long term vision of Nintendo entering the tablet market themselves or at the very least having a product more suited to be released on tablet type devices. I got the feeling the Wii U being the last true dedicated home console for Nintendo, with the next console being more combined cross between the bottom half on the 3DS and Wii U tablet controller.

So a fully portable 7 inch screen tablet console with specs on par or at least close to the Wii U. With the ability to do TV OUT like certain PSP models can do. So it can acts as both a portable console at one moment then a home console the next.

I think Nintendo have hit the point in console spec with the Wii U where they simply don't need to go any further in terms of power. Nintendo first party games simply don't require the spec that future PS/Xbox do, as they are not aiming to get photo realistic graphics as they. Nintendo are happy with sticking with their more surreal fantasy style art form of graphics.

Gamepad was made for third parties. That's an odd statement.