Nintendo has been speaking out about the gamepad for its soon-to-be-released Wii U console, stating quite clearly that it believes, despite the touch screen function, that it is far more than a tablet.
"The Wii U is not a tablet. It's a two-screen experience, and so you have this unique GamePad that gives you a different way to have a gaming experience," said Nintendo boss man, Reggie, Fils-Aime while speaking to the New York Times.
One of the examples that has been given with the zombie shooter ZombiU, was that when searching for items you'd need to look down at the gamepad, thereby taking your attention away from your surroundings - making for a tense experience. Fils-Aime continued to explain: "We've got a range of different examples that we can show you. It's everything from the three of us can be playing the game, and I'm using the GamePad to maybe try and attack you with a space ship."
"We've got an attraction called Metroid [Blast] where literally I'm playing against the two of you, using a space ship trying to shoot you, you're shooting up on the ground, so we're playing the same game but having a fundamentally different experience and that all happens with the GamePad. So it's a controller with this screen built in that allows us to create content that shows different ways to play together but have fundamentally different experiences."
However, the Gamepad does have tablet functions. Fils-Aime said you can browse the internet on it, watch videos, social network as well as being able to transition between gaming and these function: "All of this is done because my GamePad is seamlessly connected to my TV experience. That's not something you can do with a smartphone or a tablet - there's a lag. There's latency built in because the systems aren't talking to each other and they're not connected."