It just dawned on me, that you can play the Wii U on a train thanks to the GamePad screen!
All you need is an power outlet and you are ready to game! Ain't it the best thing ever?!
Sometimes I have to travel for a long distance and thanks to the GamePad I can ease the boredom with my (future) Wii U!
You can take your Wii U anywhere there's power, without having to worry about there not being a TV. And you only have to bring the console, the GamePad and the AC adapters (at minimum).

I'm sorry for all the exclamation marks, but I am very excited about this prospect.

Plus, it's way less cumbersome to use in a train than a laptop.

Not sure its range is quite that far, not certain but don't you need to be near the wii u to use the pad? its not like its 3/4G or anything

Wouldn't it be annoying to bring a whole system and a big controler on the train?

I don't see how a whole system is going to be less cubersome to handle than a laptop.
I can see it working as a portable if you use it in your house, but I don't really see the prospect of using this on the train really working all that well.

I can see someone making a kind of backpack for this.

You can slip the Wii U in to it, there will be some ventilation holes so it doesn't over heat. It has pouches for the games and Wii U Pad. A place to store the cables and a flap that just opens up so you can connect the Wii U to a power source.

Why would you want to use the Wii U as a portable when you have a 3DS and/or Vita for that? Nintendo can do all of this stupid marketing they want, but it's a console, not a portable.

I wouldn't do that myself. I got my 3DS for that, it's a much easier thing to bring with me.

My WiiU will stay at home and get played at home in my couch. What I personally feel is awesome though, is the fact that when I'm tired and want to go to bed, I can take the game over on to the GamePad screen and bring it along with me to the bed and play a little there before I go to sleep. Now THAT is awesome

My hope is that next generation (gen 9) they some how combine the WiiU with the 3DS and have an all out portable system

You can experiment with that later, but that sounds like too much of a burden for me. Bringing the GamePad to any room of my house to continue playing a Wii U game sounds great. I mean, it doesn't have to be in the living room, right?

What excites me is that whenever Gamecube games come in the Wii U Virtual Console, I can get to play any of my favorite Gamecube games on my GamePad as if they were portable. Now that's awesome.

The gamepad only connects up to 24 feet so its pretty useless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztVMib1T4T4

If you bring the system itself on the train, you'll need a power supply. If you think you can use the controller itself without the Wii U, you need to do some researching.

Trains have power outlets?

I thought of this originally at first, and then i realized i would need the console so it wouldn't work, that said, I wouldn't be surprised if Ninetndo came out a with a Nintendo Wii U Gamepad 2.0 that you could play 3DS or whatever portable games on.

Some of you misunderstood me and some of you did get what I was after. Read a bit more carefully.
Yes, I do know that you can't use the gamepad without the console, and no, I don't think I can use it via 3G or anything like that. And yes, some trains in our country do have power outlets for laptops and recharging phones etc.

I meant that when I'm traveling far away for a longer period of time, I could use it while staying in any place there's power, without the need for a TV, or having to hassle with all the cords. And while I'm at it, why not use it on the train as well? The console and pad don't take that much space so it's not that much of a strech.
I sometimes take all kinds of devices with me anyway when I'm traveling for a longer period of time. I'm weird like that. Plus, it would easily fit in my laptop bag even if I had my PC with me also.

Sure, it would be dumb to carry the whole console around like it was a full on portable. But about it being cumbersome, trying to set up a laptop with a mouse to play games on a train is very cumbersome in contrast to just having to plug the console and taking the pad in your hands.

At least I got some conversation going, like I intended. It's all just fun and games, dudes.

And yeah, I agree that it alone is awesome that you are able to play the Wii U around the house - even while on the potty.

I read the original post a little while ago, and thought it was easy enough to understand. And for the record, you can play your 3ds on the can too.

I may be wrong, but wouldn't you need a TV to get started on a game? Unless right off the bat you can view everything on the pad, then never mind, there you go. xD

I think so...can't remember though, its been a LONG time since I've been on one, same could be said for planes. xD

Um... Nintendo isn't marketing the Wii U that way. Where did you get his from?