I read about halfway through the first paragraph before I gave up. I have a 360 and i use Smartglass and what the Wii U does in games like Arkham City or Wind Waker or even games like Call of Duty is absolutely nothing like what Smartglass does. Yeah, it doesn't NEED the second screen because most games work the traditonal way when you play them in offscreen (using the controller as a TV) mode and they play very well. But when you play a game like Nintendo Land, it makes sense. I love the second screen, now.

It was silly of them to manage to make it look awkward and heavy despite the fact it isn't either of those things. People are used to seeing tablets like the iPad, which makes the GamePad look very cheap in comparison (despite the fact the Wii U costs roughly the same). It looks more like a LeapPad, but they are a quarter of the cost of a Wii U.

I will never own a smartphone as long as it's an option. Data plans and losing personal privacy is not for me.

But as someone who has a sister who has both an iphone and ipad and I owned an older v3 ipad touch...I can say that tablet gaming is terrible. I honestly don't understand how people find it enjoyable. However, at least the Wii U is dedicated for it and you have the option of other controllers (remote, regular style controller)...Smartphone gaming is terrible. I tried playing cod zombies on ipad. So bad...never again touching or supporting that crap. I'm going PC if anything, but I want to support real innovation with consoles or at least developers who make traditional games. I am so sick of hearing about Angry Birds. I had it on my ipod before my ipod stopped updating. It was so boring. I mean I hear people complain about minecraft and I'm probably one of them, but ipod gaming is like magnifying all those complaints 1000x.

With the reveal of the 2ds, I am now confident that we will see a Wii U sku without the gamepad in the next year or so. 2ds is a path to more sales for an already successful system, and a padless Wii U could save Nintendo in the console market this gen.

Imagine this ... Wii U with pro controller included for $200!!! Combine this with free online/backwards compatible with Wii and you have the ultimate budget console. When Wii U Sports, Wii Fit U, Mario Kart, and Smash come out this thing would sell like crazy. Would not be original Wii levels, but it would turn a disaster (current Wii U sales) into a monumental come back.

Much like what Sony did with the PS3, Nintendo needs to relaunch the Wii U with this value focused model. Three simple selling points ... affordable price ($200 cheaper than PS4 and $300 cheaper than X1), free online, and a wealth of classic Nintendo franchises in HD.

Do all of this, and add trophy/achievement support (whatever they want to call it), cross game chat and an account system similiar to Microsoft and Sony, and even I will think about switching to Wii U as my primary system.

What about the pad? Game pad could be sold separate for like 80-90 dollars or something if you are into that sort of thing. Make all future games, or most pro controller and wii remote supported.

Innovation is good and all but I can't help but think they over-thought the gamepad thing. The fact that I've owned a wii u since launch and barely used it (the gamepad I mean, not the console) demonstrates how unnecessary the device is so where's the innovation there?
Repackage the damn console while it's still feasible to do so I say...and don't innovate for the sake of it.
(ps, don't get me wrong...I like my wii u and all, I just can't take to the damn pad! It's good to interface the apps and menus and stuff but not for playing games)

They'd be selling the console at a loss still. You'd also get even less in the package.

WiiU's tablet is too little to be a true tablet and too big to be a comfortable controller. Ninty should have equipped it with a 5" screen at most, enough as a secondary touch screen, but small enough to keep it comfortable as a controller.

We use our Wii U all the time, and we have zero problems from a comfort stand point with the Game Pad.  I believe that most of the people that say it's uncomfortable have never owned one.

This really is getting old.

and I hope Nintendo continues to use the Game Pad (which they will) as I think it's a great addition to the system.  If Nintendo was to drop the Game Pad, they'd drop the Wii U....aint going to happen...at least not anytime soon.

Or maybe it's just a matter of taste and habits acquired from previous use of other controllers, people maybe try before buying and those satisfied both with available games and controller layout (and price too, as price cut definitely had a good effect on sales), buy it.