I know the Wii U Controller will be rechargeable, but what about the battery life? Would you expect relatively short, as with 3DS, or do you think they will make it as good as a regular controller? I think somewhere in between will probably happen. What do you think?

I never really thought about this.
Either way, hopefully you can charge it while playing because it's not like you can easily just switch controllers while playing like with the Wii.

Neither did I, interestingly enough. I must have thought (subconsciously) "It's just a controller" but it really is a lot like a DS/3DS so it would make sense that the battery wouldn't last as long. I hope they'll make it like an ordinary tablet.

I'm sure there will be a charging cord if there's a battery life issue.

I'm guessing it will be decent. As long as it comes with a really long charging cord I don't really mind.

Did they confirm this?

@HeroOfWaffles Yes they did.
"The rechargeable controller includes a Power button, Home button, +Control Pad, A/B/X/Y buttons, L/R buttons and ZL/ZR buttons. It includes a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope, rumble feature, camera, a microphone, stereo speakers, a sensor strip and a stylus."

Source: http://e3.nintendo.com/hw/#/about

well the thing is just a shell so a integrated battery should last a while.

@Nintendoman: "What did Nintendo say about it's battery life?"
Nintendo: "It's OVER 9,000!!!"
Nintendoman: "WHAT 9000?!?"

The 3DS has much more that drains the battery. The Wii U controller doesn't have a processor, Wi-Fi, or a 3D screen. All of them are power hogs, remember, the 3DS is hardware itself... the Wii U controller just streams, so it doesn't need any processor unit or anything like that.

exactly this and the fact that you'll almost certainty be using it inside so there's less need to turn the brightness up. Also there's no reason why they can't put in a larger battery than the 3DS has, it's not like this is prohibitively expensive tech because you get 700mAh batteries in burner phones. Space is the limit.

So what technology is the Wii U using for streaming? Bluetooth? Bluetooth is a nasty drain on battery life.

That said. The iPad lasts all day long. If the iPad can last all day, this thing should last a month or so.

Hm, makes sense.

Well it is the tech used for every modern wireless game controller. The thing is the newer versions of Bluetooth that came out after 2009 which support speeds upto 24Mbps (theoretically) by combining Bluetooth with WiFi. It'll probably use that.... or some random proprietary tech.

also if they're doing that it makes you wonder why they're only supporting one tablet. They could do two without too much trouble.... assuming the Wii U itself is upto it obviously.

Only thing is I hope it's as long or longer than the wii remote's... when you start getting into a 5-6 hour period of gaming, it starts eating the batteries.