Yeah, right

One thing is guaranteed when a new high-profile gadget arrives in the market: within months it'll be heavily copied for a tablet device. It happened with the PlayStation Vita, and now it's the turn of the Wii U GamePad.

The culprit this time is Chinese company JinXing with its SMART S7300 Console, described as a Dual Core HD GamePad2, which is due to arrive by mid-January 2013. Now it's not a rip-off, because it's put '2' after its name, nor is it a rip-off due to its shell, button layout — ABXY are coincidentally in the same order as on Nintendo's controller — and of course the general design and placement of the D-pad and analogue inputs are completely unique and innovative. Oh, all right, it looks like a bit of a clone.

We do like the fact that Circle Pad-style analogue controllers are used, which is of course the original prototype design of the Wii U GamePad shown at E3 2011. It does have some design variations, such as the fact it has a 7.0 inch capacitive screen and operates with the Google Android operating system. The gaming aspect is focused on titles from the Google Play platform, as well as 'Simulator' games, which we assume means emulators; the image for this article is from the marketing page, showing Super Mario Galaxy 2, even though Android and the system can't emulate Wii — or it's certainly not listed alongside the usual suspects such as Neo Geo.

Devices like these are relatively common, and if these manufacturers see the GamePad as a desirable form to copy, Nintendo must be doing something right.

[source nintendoeverything.com, via jxd.hk]