Posted By: wraggster
Nintendo is working on at least one project that will utilise the Wii U GamePad's built-in NFC (Near Field Communication) functionality as a matter of high priority.
That's according to Mario creator and Nintendo senior managing director Shigeru Miyamoto, who told
Polygon that the firm has made NFC functionality "a priority".NFC is a technology used to pass small amounts of data wirelessly between devices, and is perhaps most iconically used by Activision's Skylanders games to make figurines placed on an NFC-enabled pad appear in the game world. The GamePad contains an NFC chip, but a game that uses it is yet to be announced."With NFC, that's a feature that everyone that owns a Wii U can take advantage of," said Miyamoto."So that's what we're putting our priorities right now. We're hoping that in the near future we'll be able to show you something that will take advantage of the NFC on Wii U and people will be able to enjoy that."Miyamoto also revealed that Nintendo is working on games capable of using multiple GamePads."With regards to the two GamePads functionality, from a gaming system standpoint we are developing games that will have that capability," he said.So far, Wii U games only use a single GamePad, and only one GamePad is supplied with the console with no option to by a second one separately at retail - presumably due the expense of a controller containing a touch screen and its many other innards (Note: multiplayer games are achieved using Wii U Pro Controllers and/or Wii Remotes). Because of this, Miyamoto plays down the viability of dual-GamePad support being a system that's fully utilised any time soon."In the future, perhaps when we get closer to something that, an environment where everybody or a large majority of people would have two GamePads, that might be a time where we look at how we can leverage a system of that nature."
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...mepad-support/