A few outlets were reporting earlier this morning that UK catalogue store Very.co.uk had become the first retailer in the world to begin selling the Wii U GamePad as a standalone item - which was surprising news given that there's nothing to use two GamePads for right now, unless you like really expensive bookends.
The pads were listed as being available in the standard white, or "premium" black colour, at a price of £89.99 (around $146). We made a quick phone call to the retailer which resulted in them confirming that the item was listed in error, and was removed from the site while we were on the line. However, do Very know something that the rest of the retailers don't in terms of pricing? Is the solo GamePad on its way?
The store - part of the Shop Direct Group which also owns the Littlewoods brand - has a full range of Wii U items at pretty much the same price as anywhere else, so are they on the money at £89.99? If so, analyst predictions of £100+ secondary controllers would be well and truly scotched.
If the price is right, would an £89.99 GamePad be of interest to you, or is that still way more than you'd expect to pay for a second controller? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source neogaf.com]
Comments 17
Holy crap. I must never let my GamePad get a single scratch in it.
EDIT: When I get one.
i would buy if it can be used as a pro controller with headphone jack. player 2 shall be heard!
i think £89.99 is very reasonable especially when you think about just how much the gamepad has inside.
It doesn't have that much inside, Tomboy. Most of the price is in the screen, which is on the exterior.
Does anybody know for sure that you can't use 2 Gamepads at a time? As Xmas_mii said, why can't the 2nd pad be used as a Pro controller? If the Wii U could multitask - 1 person playing games, another web browsing or youtube or Miiverse or Netflix - then you could probably sell people a 2nd Gamepad even if there weren't any games that used them both at once.
@steamhare accelerometer, gyroscope, geomagnetic sensors, camera, NFC chip, speakers, sensor bar...
The list goes on, man. There's far more expensive tech inside the GamePad than the crummy resistive touch screen they used.
Its not just that easy. There will pobably be a system update with the introduction of 2 pad play. Due to the system having to stream info in a split signal. We may not see 2 pad play until late March/early May. Just being realistic about it. As for the price..yeah Id get one. I mean hey rumor has it we'll be seeing some type of IMAX VR goggles from the competition's next systems, and I'm sure THOSE wont be cheap (if true)
I don't really care about the 2 gamepad setup really. I am, however, more interested in third party gamepads than I'd usually be, considering the fact that screen and battery improvements should be very much worth it.
How about those, eh?
@TOMBOY25 - It doesn't have much inside, the work is done in the Wii U. I would never buy one at that price.
It is also listed on the danish site cdon.dk in both black and white. The pricing is 1699 danish kr./ 185£ / 300$. I have seen it here the last 2-3 months.
i would not buy the second pad for that money they listed =D if they would be selling these game pad's, 65€ is the price for me =P
Thats a much more reasonable price than I thought, so I'm quite happy personally!
I could see these being quite valuable when guarantees expire. I mean how long do we expect any controller to last , with all that gaming?....especially a touchscreen one....
i will pay $70 TOPS for a wii U controller. oh well... OFF TO EBAY!
Hmm....that's not too bad considering it was said at some point that an extra gamepad would be around $180... We'll just wait and see
That's not even a bad price, assuming you would be able to run different apps at once to seperate GamePads. I would say $120-150 would be a good price for the controller itself, and realizing that it would raise Wii U's potential use by roughly 50%(haha). I doubt any 3rd party GamePad controllers will come out, but accessories are always gonna happen.
For ALL the people out there saying:ders not much inside the gamepad. gyroscope,a infrared connector,TONS of memory,broadcom nfc chip,an lcd screen, touch sensors.
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