No offense, but it's far too early for anyone to be able to make that kind of judgement, considering just how few games the Wii U has actually even GOTTEN thus far. There have literally been, to date, 2 actual Nintendo games for it. If you count them publishing Lego City, which I own, then that game in particular shows great use of the GamePad, from a map screen that you can touch/interact with, to using the magnetometer to act as an accurate-position scanning device, to acting as the character's portable computer, to just functioning as a normal controller.

Not every game has to use all of the GamePad's features to justify it having them. I think it's a great controller, and I love the options it alone provides, let alone the fact that Wii U also uses a standard controller, Wiimote, etc. Like I said, the GamePad is basically the swiss army knife of controllers, and you don't always need everything one of those had in it. But it sure is nice having it all available. Personally, I'm glad all the functionality in it is there, and like that any developer can use any of it at any time they wish, while also just being a comfortable, surprisingly light-weight for it's size game controller.

But again, it's far far too early to say that "the GamePad was a mistake". I'd rather they go in the direction they did than to just rehash the Wiimote concept. There was only so far motion controls could really go, and honestly, while some motion Wii games were fun, at the end of the day, I really would rather just press buttons and use a dpad or analog stick. But I guarantee in the fullness of time Nintendo themselves, as well as other developers, will come up with some very good ways to use the GamePad's different features.

With Wii, it only took one game.

And then?..... it took one game because Wiimote was very, very simple. The gamepad is far more complex device  and people need to play with it in order to understand what it can do.

Indifferent.

But to think that Nintendo can just drop the GamePad is ridiculous. The Wii U is already too far along for that.

And that is why the gamepad was a bad idea.

A touch screen is what make a Tablet a Tablet, its the main selling point over other computer based devices!

The only real major difference between a Wii U over a Tablet are more button based controls and the limited portability factor. Adding more button is not that far away from a standard tablet, as all Tablets have at least some buttons on the device for things like turn the device on, volume, etc.

It simply too prohibitively expensive for the Wii U to be true Tablet at this present time, while having power on par with the entry level HD consoles like ps3/xbox360. The Wii U to me seem like a compromise between having Tablet functionality at home, tech specs above ps3/xbox360 and a affordable price.

Pikmin 3 & X are more to show off the ability of the Tablet/Power of the console than to to big sellers on the Wii U. Nintendo main focus has always been on their wide range Mario IP and their surreal/fantasy inspired style. In my opinion neither Pikmin 3 or X can be really called that realistic looking, they seem to have more of a Anime inspired look if anything.

I love it. For the simple fact of having the possibility to play without a TV.

I for one love it. True it is very under utilized. But miiverse and games like raymond and a few games in nintendo land plus off screen play make me think that the future potential is huge. If nintendo can finally get a grip on hd game production and get games flowing at a good pace hopefully they will be able to turn there full attention to the pad and really amaze us. It looks like the games we are currently seeing were in production before they finalized the pad and/or getting the hd rite took time away from pad development. But if they can see that they are not gonna be able to give it the proper attention it deserves in the near future then they should give people a cheaper option that doesnt include it.

Should have added some more choices to the poll. I guess I have to vote for that is has potential.

I like it. But I think it was a mistake to market it as the next big thing. The focus should have been on the HD graphics and improved motion controls, the gamepad being added value. So, Nintendo should have bundled the WiiU with an improved wiimote and nunchuck, plus the gamepad.