Nintendo: two Wii U Gamepads will work on one system (update: but at a cost)

Nintendo broke a few hearts when it initially said the Wii U would only support one of its unique Gamepads. Much to our delight, the company just said in its live keynote that the final console will support two. As such, it'll be possible to have truly equal two-player games instead of relegating a friend to the old-fashioned Wii remote and Nunchuk. Of course, how much that extra Gamepad will cost we have yet to know -- along with whether or not it'll be possible to have strictly Gamepad-to-Gamepad titles that skip the TV entirely. We expect to find out soon.

Update: In a follow-up, Nintendo Japan has posted on Twitter that there's a price to pay if two Gamepads are active. Frame rates drop to about 30 fps if two are active; any games that really want that extra controller won't be quite as glass-smooth. On the upside, it's possible to switch one off with a smooth transition; there won't be a need for theatrics just to switch to a solo game.

Nintendo: two Wii U Gamepads will work on one system (update: but at a cost) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.