They would have made a lovely couple

We're all hoping Nintendo will confirm Wii U supports two GamePads during its E3 conference, but don't get your expectations up too high — Ubisoft France manager Xavier Poix has told VentureBeat the machine only supports one GamePad.

GamesBeat: How many players can you get on the Wii U at once? Is it four or is it two…?

Poix: On the controller it’s just the one. One person. But you can still play with the four Wiimotes if you have four. So it adds up to five players.

Poix doesn't see that as a disadvantage though, calling its asymmetrical capabilities "a revolution in terms of gameplay":

It’s not one against the other or one with the other, it’s, I’m doing something very different from my partner, but still we’re in the same world and the same game. That’s something really interesting. It’s not a disadvantage. And the best of all the games that are on the iPhone or other mobile games, tactical stuff, are brought… It’s stuff you couldn’t do before in the console market, obviously. Now you have this new layer that’s been added, it’s really cool.

So there you go — don't expect to see two GamePads working in conjunction.

[source venturebeat.com]