The battery life is a tiny disappointment that I should have anticipated. I guess they didn't put in a massive and expensive battery in the game pad. Still, it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to remember to dock the game pad on the charging cradle after each session.

From the specs we now know of the Wii U what can we infer from its power and how well it stacks up to the PS360? We know absolutely nothing about what the PS420 will be, but it would be nice to at least be able to put to rest once and for all that rumor that the Wii U was merely equal to or even weaker than the PS360.

The graphics are atleast as good as PS360 and based on some of the games, slightly better, but the only graphical games are all 3rd party, so nothing is really pushing the system yet as they wouldn't have had time with the new kits to do so and/or it was a port using the same assets.

Wii Compatibility: Wii Software and Peripherals with some exceptions.

Exceptions?

I read somewhere that Wii U is natively powerful enough to render in 1080p, which would be more powerful than the PS360, which render in 720p, then up-scale for some games.

No clear talk of storage solutions at all this E3 - frightening concept at this stage!!  :Q

Anything using the Gamecube Ports.

Having a rechargeable battery is awesome. I hated that the Wii Fit board needed like 4 batteries. It was seriously like me back in the day running to the store to buy new batteries for my Gameboy Color

The battery life on the GamePad is pretty awful. Doesn't the iPad last like 9-10 hours while doing more things?

DUDE rechargable batteries. i have like 10 AA and 2 chargers. you always have batteries ready to go.
What i wanna know is , RAM, 1gig, 2, dare to dream, 4GIG?!
GPU radeon, umm yea.
Specs are not hieght and width, its GHZ and GB's.
But its all meaningless, unless Nintendo announces a game i want. STILL WAITING!  :@

So basically what this tells me is my worst fears came true:  they had to have gone out of their way to produce such a dated piece of hardware.  What a waste/shame.  I really thought the Wii U would redeem Nintendo in my eyes for home consoles.  There's no way I'll be suckered into buying another dated console just because of a unique controller.

WiiU:
Height: About 1.8 Inches (not including protruding parts)
Length: About 6.8 Inches (not including protruding parts)
Depth: About 10.5 Inches (not including protruding parts)
Weight: about 1.5kg/~3.30lb

Wii:
Height: 1.73 inches
Length: 6.18 inches
Depth: 8.48 inches
Weight: 3.84 pounds/ ~1.74 Kilograms

So it looks to be slightly shorter but wider and longer.  It is also slightly lighter.  Yep, a longer Wii with Rounding.  I didn't really need the Wii to be longer.  *Shrug*

These specs are still too vague.  So it's an IBM Multi-core Processor.  That's nice.  So is this a dual-core, quad-core?  That's a big difference.  What's the clock speed?  So is this like the Wii where Nintendo is intentionally vague with the specs to hide how incredibly shitty they are?  For all their bullshit talk about getting core gamers back, this is important information.  We need to know if this is just another one-gen-behind system or if it will be able to compete with the PS4 and X720.  So is Nintendo just so ignorant to not realize how important this piece of information is or are they hiding it on purpose?  If this blows away the current gen, that information would be reassuing to core gamers and would improve the image of the Wii U with that group.

Flash memory storage at this point is pretty lame.  Not a good sign.

Far from a confirmation, but check the rumor thread. Leaked specs from an older dev kit are in there.

Thats what she said ;)

and just like her, you'll enjoy it anyway

The iPad also costs $600.

I don't understand what you mean by this.

So? Unless you think battery technology accounts for $500+, that's a moot point. The GamePad has a smaller screen, is doing far less and doesn't have a CPU.

It will also cost about 1/6 as much as the iPad (likely under $100 retail), partially because it doesn't have an $80 battery in it.

Correct. It's just a difference in the scope of the product. The Wii U GamePad is not intended to be sold for $600 and be a go-anywhere type of device, and its price will reflect all the things it cannot do in comparison to an iPad.

I'm not saying I don't want better features on my stuff. I'll never say no to better features. But I will often say no to spending a lot more money to get them. There are other things I need to spend money on you know, like food... or a whole bunch of Wii U launch games.

I don't think the GamePad needs an $80 battery. I think it needs a battery that can do better than 3-5 hours on a single charge. I only brought up the iPad because it's a product that does significantly more and still manages to double to triple the battery life of the GamePad. The battery life is the only thing that's not really awesome about the GamePad (besides maybe the lack of analog triggers and the digital click). I remember when Nintendo released the DS Lite and it was a beast when it came to battery life.

Well Iwata did say during the Pre E3 Nintendo direct video that the Wii U Pro controller would be the better fit for gamers who like to play for longer periods of time.  We now know why he said that.

The GamePad could actually still be doing things that are more power hungry then the iPad.  It is wirelessly streaming 60fps video smoothly while return control input wirelessly.  That can't be cheap energy wise. Shoot when I stream Netflix to my phone unlesss I'm on my uber super fast charger it will still draw the battery down on a charger.  Why do you think its so noticeable to turn Bluetooth and WiFi off on you phones?  Even if your not activily using it.

Doesn't work for any game that requires the screen though, and I imagine most of Nintendo's games will.  3-5 hours is small enough that I would probably be charging my controller after EVERY playing session.  If I don't have at least a two hour block to play in, I don't bother.  When you're talking a potential 3 hour battery life, that's like one charge per gaming session.

It might be a necessity due to cost but this and the short 3DS battery life do seem better suited to casual use.  They had better battery life back when their focus was more on the sort of gamers that would conceivably spend an entire Saturday playing a videogame.

In all fairness, you might be able to play GamePad games with the GamePad tethered to the console via USB charging cable.  Depending on how long the cable is (and if it isn't long enough, there will be a 3rd party cord that is, judging by the 3rd party PS3 USB cables), the GamePad's battery might never be an issue.

I hate the short cord on the PS3 but I like how you can still play even if the battery is dead.  I would hope Nintendo would have a similar setup.  They pretty much have to.  Otherwise you have to stop playing and wait for the thing to recharge?  No way would they release something like that.  Let's hope for a long cord.

I just hope this and the 3DS is just the unfortunate reality of Nintendo providing these products at the price they are.  I hope that they do still consider battery life important and it just didn't work out this time.

They also had better battery life when they were able to get away with much MUCH less advanced hardware. I mean, just look at how long they were able to resist adding backlights to their handhelds in those days!

This is the part I'm not terribly convinced of. Like you, I hope this is a case of it just not working out.

From the article: "can recharge while being used." So you can recharge the Wii U GamePad while still using it.

What is the specs on the Wii U Game Pad, I own a PS Vita, does it have similar or better specs?
How does it perform as a stand alone device. I purchased the Vita, because Ilike hard core games, if I want to play a casual game I could that on a smart phone. I would buy a Wii U if the vame pad is powerful and independent as the PS Vita.
Smart phones make low end handhelds obsolete, I hope the Wii U Game Pad is equal or better than the Vita.
I love the Vita but I want options other than Ipad and Vita for console quality hard core gaming screw the 3DS.

Game Pad has no Processing power of its own.  Its driven purely from the Wii U.
It doesn't perform as a Stand Alone Device.
If you are considering the iPad "console quality hard core gaming" You probably should consider the 3DS.  That is unless Monster Hunter and Resident Evil aren't Hardcore enough for you.