it's not a tablet and you're right about the price. when you subtract the price of a regular controller, the increase for the gamepad is just $40/$50.

I agree. The Wii U makes no sense without the gamepad.

Some of you guys really have no clue how to design a good product. The Wii U without gamepad came out and it was called the Gamecube. It was great, but it wasnt very sucessful.

This may seem like I'm backtracking my view earlier, but maybe we should just wait for the Wii U's sale performance this holiday. If it is isn't able to sell close to a million or two at the month of December in NA and EU combined (not each) and Nintendo continues to not put great use of the Gamepad besides touch screen, map/HUD display (all possible with a start menu that has touch screen buttons navigated by the controller stick and buttons), or off-screen play (because every Wii-U game already had it and the consumer shows no interest in it if the Wii U doesn't sell well during December in NA & EU) then Holiday 2014 or even Spring 2014 should have a Wii U console sold with or without a Gamepad but with two motion plus wii controllers and nun-chuk (these are already mass produced so selling them at loss is worth it). And sell the Gamepad separately with a bundled game.

Yes they're admitting their gamepad was bad if they remove it from the. But it doesn't really matter if the consumer thinks its bad as well and a price entry barrier to the system. But by this time, even removing the Gamepad and having a great price drop afterward won't create huge sales increase. The damage from the Gamepad will already be done.

What made the Wii controller so much better than the Game Pad was that it didn't jack up the system by being 50-100$ more and confuse Nintendo and the audience in how to market it. People aren't complaining they don't like using the game pad. People are complaining that the Gamepad is negative label attached to every single Wii U that increases it price value and makes the consumer think its overpriced, because why else do price cuts make system sell more?

And here's a video of how the Wii U menu that starts up after the system turns on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T9P_8_pwfU

What's so difficult in replacing the TV screen menu with the touch screen menu? Or a start button that alternates the TV screen to the touchscreen menu, which is what the Wii U can already do? I understand some apps will have to change their coding or whatever because those are the most abundant software the Wii U has that offers asymmetric interface. But what if you go to to the app, the app tells you it requires the Pad, and has a video that shows how it's done by the pad? IMO that is one easier way to advertise how the Gamepad works. Make the Wii U cheaper so people wil buy it and then let them realize how much the Pad can increase their experience with the system even more.

It'd be worth like $150! Not $250.

This already has been disscussed but....hell no..

Wii U would still be underpowered.

Without the Wiiblet, it would be underpowered and gimmickless......That would be worse.

What is usually the point of a console?

It might be as low as $100. Without the tablet the Wii U is basically a PS3 with more memory,  a tiny library, and no hard drive to speak of. The tablet may not have proven itself for gameplay, but it lets the Wii U become a support console rather than competing directly for the TV. 

Personally, the second screen craze isn't exactly taking off, hence why Smartglass is merely an option.

Cut the tablet, bundle a WiiU gamepad (if not allready included), and cut the price. Bundle Pikmin 3.

No. I don't care how much you, or other people, loathe the controller it's not going any ware.

Seriously though what is it about the gamepad that makes you people so baffled or afraid about it?