In what may be one of the most mundane exclusives of all time, Big Red Barrel can reveal that the Wii U Gamepad has an official Wii U branded stand for displaying the Gamepad in a off-axis vertical position. Shown in London alongside Pikmin 3, the stand was the only one on display across all of the consoles being exhibited. Possibly made necessary as, unlike it’s showcasing at this year’s E3, the build of Pikmin 3 being shown in London was only playable with the Wiimote-Nunchuk combination and the Gamepad was only used to display an in game map and to control the replay feature once was the level was complete.
The Wii U Gamepad Stand is different in design to the 3DS stand that bundled with Kid Icarus: Uprisng; the 3DS stand folded flat, presumably to help with portability, whereas this bad boy stands proud all the time. The Wii U Gamepad stand was a single piece of contoured plastic that enables the Gamepad to be otherwise freestanding in a position that’s evidently designed for viewing rather than interaction.
While I was given permission to publish the pictures featured here, showing the Gamepad resting in it’s purpose-made plastic cradle, I was asked not to publish any of the pictures I took of the stand in isolation. If that situation changes I will update this article with those pictures. I can confirm from closer inspection that the stand was branded with both the official Nintendo and Wii U logo. It also looked very much designed for the purpose.
The was no word on whether we can expect to see one of these stands packed in with the Wii U console, bundled with a secondary Gamepads or if they’ll have to be purchased separately. There is also the possibility that Nintendo could do what they did with Kid Icarus on the 3DS and pack it in with a game that would stand to benefit from it. It does seem to indicate that Nintendo intend for some styles of gameplay to include the Gamepad in a more passive fashion than had previously been showcased. Now that we have had official confirmation that the Wii U will support two Gamepads per console, it will be interesting to see if this will allow you to use one as a screen and the other as a controller, allowing you to skip the use of a TV entirely or if some games go the whole hog and make use of a TV, passive viewing screen and touchpad all at the same time.
