Nintendo: two Wii U Gamepads will work on one system

[wraggster]

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/06/nintendo-wii-u-live-e3-2012.jpg (http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/05/nintendo-two-wii-u-gamepads-will-work-on-one-system/)Nintendo broke a few hearts when it initially said the Wii U (http://www.engadget.com/tag/WiiU/) would only support one (http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/18/nintendo-says-one-wii-u-controller-per-console-robs-player-two/) of its uniqueGamepads (http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/03/nintendo-shows-final-wii-u-gamepad-tv-remote-app/). Much to our delight, the company just said in its live keynote (http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/05/nintendo-e3-2012-keynote-liveblog/) that the final console will support two. As such, it'll be possible to have truly equal two-player games instead of relegating a friend to the old-fashioned Wii remote and Nunchuk. Of course, how much that extra Gamepad will cost we have yet to know -- along with whether or not it'll be possible to have strictly Gamepad-to-Gamepad titles that skip the TV entirely. We expect to find out soon.
Update: In a follow-up, Nintendo Japan has posted (https://twitter.com/nintendo/status/210042395507695616) on Twitter that there's a price to pay if two Gamepads are active. Frame rates drop to about 30 fps if two are active; any games that really want that extra controller won't be quite as glass-smooth. On the upside, it's possible to switch one off with a smooth transition; there won't be a need for theatrics just to switch to a solo game.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/05/nintendo-two-wii-u-gamepads-will-work-on-one-system/