Even though the gamepad in the Wii U makes the console a little bit more expensive we are talking about a 100 dollars difference with the PS4 and the Wii U has the gamepad. Still this was a smart decision for Sony. The 400 dollars price tag is nice.

my bad :P

I'm glad they didn't put it in, since I like consoles that are unique. I love the Wii U gamepad though.

When navigating through the UI of a console and actually playing games, the addition of a screen to a controller can definitely be a plus. It's all about the right implementation. I can't help but to laugh when people classify it as a gimmick. I wonder what Sony fans we're saying back when Nintendo first added an analog stick to a controller, let me guess, that it was a gimmick ?

The only negative I see is that it drives cost up. I wouldn't mind paying 50-70$ more for a PS4 if it came with a controller similar to the Gamepad. As long as they also keep the regular DualShock available for purchase, just like Nintendo is doing by offering the Pro controller.

Im not saying it would be the smart marketing choice by Sony, but as gamer, that's what I would of like from them.

Ok, I understand you better. I was thinking your opinion was fanboyism, but instead you're just out of the loop. You're not that interested in the system to research all the little things like what I bolded.

The touchpad has been shown off a lot. Off the top of my head I can think of three different games that they've distinctively explained the functionality using videos. In killzone shadow fall, the touchpad controls the OWL. It's a drone that hovers around the player. The touchpad acts similar to a d-pad in this case. Swipe up for one command, swipe left for another.

In Infamous second son they are using the touchpad for gimmicks as well as special attacks. The gimmeck they showed off was putting your finger on the touchpad when the character in the game puts his finger on a scanner. In order to do this special move:

The player swipes up on the touchpad with both thumbs.

In Assassin's Creed 4 there's a video out there showing the map being controlled with the touchpad.

people didn't seem to have a problem with it on PS2.  I've heard way more people (not on this site just in general around campus) who like the symmetrical sticks compared to the 360 type or have no preference compared to the Xbox and Wii fans who like to state it like it's a universal truth that asymmetical or lower stick placement is inferior.

People don't have a problem with it because they are used to it.  It works just fine.  But from a biomechanical perspective it is a poor design.  Your thumbs aren't at rest.  It stems back to Dualshock 1, when the thumb sticks were the secondary imput and the buttons and d-pad were the primary.  The d-pad and buttons on a Sony controller are placed at the natural hand resting place becuase when PS1 was designed they were the primary imputs.  On almost all games now the left thumbstick is the primary mover, so it should be at your thumb's natural position.  Whether the right stick should by asymetrical (XBox) or symetrical (Wii U) with the left depends on whether you view the right thumbstick or the buttons to be the primary use of your right thumb.  I would argue that Wii U and XBox are actually reverse in layout than they should be, since XBox games are dominated by dual-stick shooters and Nintendo leans heavily on platformers and has seldom used the dual-stick style.  Regardless, PS controllers are fine because humans can figure out how to use them, they are just a poor design from a muscle fatigue perspective.  Not a big issue since thumbs are strong muscles.  Sony even subtly admitted this in the OP, as they didn't say they stuck with the low-placed thumb sticks because it is ideal or correct, but rather due to "muscle memory" ie, Sony gamers are used to it so we need to keep it.

Ironically, the Gamepad will sell as many consoles as the Gamecube controller sold Gamecubes.

I'm glad they didn't go for the touchscreen. The cheaper the console, the better.

@Vita touchpad - personally I don't like it. It works ok in some games (Jetpack Joyride is best with it), but most of the time it just causes problems. I'd rather Vita had regular L2/R2 and L3/R3 instead. Would be perfect.

They looked at NIntendo:

"Not this time bro. Thanks for the wiimote tho. lol."