That Japenese commercial looks mighty fishy!
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/editorial/39230/is-there-a-new-gamepad-coming
If you go on NeoGAF, /v/, or pretty much any online community centered around video games, there’s a decent chance you’ve seen this commercial making the rounds, posted a few days ago on Nintendo’s Japanese YouTube channel:
Around the 0:07 mark, pause and look at the man’s hands. You will see this image:
That doesn’t look like the GamePad we know and love! It looks compact and sleek compared to the original, and it could just be me, but does the screen look a little larger? A new GamePad would be an interesting idea – a means to cut costs two years after the system originally came out, especially if Nintendo was planning on selling the controllers separately. But if that’s the case, why would some actors get their hands on a new GamePad without it at least being a focus of the commercial?
The short answer is that they probably didn’t.
As it turns out, an identical commercial was posted on the Nintendo UK YouTube channel…back in May. This one:
Nintendo Life did a good job of calling this second UK commercial to attention, which provides a similar effect, showcasing the Wii U GamePad looking similarly warped in slightly different ways:
In reality, that’s all this probably is: an effect for a television spot. To show off how fast the actor’s chairs around them were going, they likely used special effects to distort the objects around them, including the Wii U GamePad. If that’s the case, then why didn’t this turn into a huge thing back in May? There are three possibilities.
I suppose that doesn’t really answer the original question, however. Is there a new GamePad coming? I wouldn’t be surprised if they put something out to coincide with games like Zelda Wii U and Star Fox (which seem to heavily utilize the GamePad) coming out next year, but this commercial is not the confirmation we’re looking for.
What say you? Do you still have faith in this rumor? What do you want to see in a new GamePad?
Yet again, Betteridge's Law of Headlines holds true.Haha. I guess that makes me 1 and 1 with breaking headline question standards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines)
$80 for a replacement one is not far off from the competitors controllers.
$80 for a replacement one is not far off from the competitors controllers.
If you think about it, it's actually way more reasonable. A DualShock 4 will run you $60 (at least MSRP, it's not that hard to find one a bit cheaper), and it has far less functionality.
Do you still have faith in this rumor?
The only thing the GamePad desperately needs is better battery life, and that is sold separately in Japan. A revision is useless right now.Fixed that. The compartment has space for it and I know for a while they were selling a bigger battery in Japan.