Wii U GamePad has 3-5 hour battery life

Nintendo's Wii U GamePad features a ton of tech: gyroscope, camera, and a giant touch screen. So, what kind of battery life can we expect?

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Nintendo's Wii U GamePad features a ton of tech: gyroscope, camera, and a giant touch screen. So, what kind of battery life can we expect?

According to Nintendo's Japanese website, it will last about 3 to 5 hours.

Battery duration will depend on the brightness of the screen and the stated time is meant merely as a "guideline." Nintendo warns that it may be shorter, depending on how you use it. The GamePad will come with an AC adapter. You will be able to use the GamePad as it charges.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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  • reply
    June 5, 2012 11:59 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Wii U GamePad has 3-5 hour battery life.

    Nintendo's Wii U GamePad features a ton of tech: gyroscope, camera, and a giant touch screen. So, what kind of battery life can we expect?

    • reply
      June 5, 2012 12:05 PM

      I hope they have decent battery tech. If it's anything like my last netbook, it'll be down to 1-3 hours within a month. :P

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      June 5, 2012 12:32 PM

      Hey, that's still longer than the 3DS!

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      June 5, 2012 12:57 PM

      So half the time it'll be a wired controller... except you're wired to your wall.

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        June 5, 2012 2:08 PM

        hopefully they can come up with a way to wire to the console

        • reply
          June 5, 2012 2:53 PM

          yeah, I'm sure they will. That's actually more likely than a wall charger. First post was dumb.

      • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        June 5, 2012 2:52 PM

        Half the time? You planning on playing for 6-10 hours in a row?

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          June 5, 2012 2:55 PM

          Are you a gamer? Have you ever spent a saturday playing through a game? Why is spending 6-10 hours playing a game a shocker to you?

          • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
            reply
            June 5, 2012 2:57 PM

            If you take any sort of break like a healthy human being then you can charge the controller. That's too long to be playing any video game without stopping.

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              June 5, 2012 3:02 PM

              did you miss the part where it takes 2.5 hours to charge the controller?

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                June 5, 2012 5:48 PM

                Perhaps you missed the part about the AC adapter you can plug into a wall and continue playing? I mean this is such a small issue being blown up but hey have fun. If that's what is fun for you, continue.

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                  June 5, 2012 5:56 PM

                  i did miss that part. That changes my argument. I am ok with that sort of charger.

        • reply
          June 5, 2012 2:58 PM

          On a rainy day with lots of pot, yeah.

          Anyway, I'm one of those crazy people who likes to unplug their devices when not in use to avoid phantom power use. Just feel how hot your Wii while it's "off" even when you haven't played it for a while. So I don't like the Idea of leaving my console in standby mode all day to charge my controller for a couple hours.

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      June 5, 2012 1:06 PM

      lol, no wonder they will allow you to buy two, you'll need it to enjoy a day's worth of playing a game.

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        June 5, 2012 1:26 PM

        or you can play it plugged in.

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          June 5, 2012 2:08 PM

          I don't know about you, but I keep my consoles by the TV. If it's anything like the PS3 cords, they won't be nearly long enough to play from the couch.

      • reply
        June 5, 2012 3:19 PM

        You've made about 30 posts shitting on Nintendo today, can't afford one or what?

        • reply
          June 5, 2012 5:02 PM

          lol it seems i have a fan. Go ahead and add me to your shackbook if you want to follow my postings.

        • reply
          June 5, 2012 5:33 PM

          Many things seem like a race to see who can hate on something the quickest for the most trite reasons. I don't care, I find it sad that some people are on a gaming site and seem to never have anything positive to say. They actually think people care about their constant hate and nitpicking on the most asinine things.

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            June 5, 2012 5:42 PM

            you are right, people shouldn't post messages about their opinions about games on a gaming website forum. That's ridiculous. We should post poetry and works of art, stuff to further humanity not stifle it. Shacknews, it's serious business.

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              June 5, 2012 5:47 PM

              It's not serious business. It's tiring seeing the same people do nothing but complain. It makes you wonder if they enjoy video games at all as they never say anything positive. It's not even remotely balanced. It's just constant hate. What's the point?

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                June 5, 2012 5:55 PM

                i do say positive things. do you want an entire website of Valcans and Ruski who say nothing but positive things? That gets boring. If anything, when I actually say something positive, I generally and genuinely mean it as opposed to watering everything down to lukewarm banter.

                • reply
                  June 5, 2012 5:59 PM

                  You keep trying to go to extremes and not understanding the message. I'm not asking for full on love. I don't expect nothing but baseline haterz either, but some folks.. ahem.. seem to get kicks on that without even bothering to read the entire article! Just jumping the gun to win that race to hate first. It's kinda hard to discuss the things you enjoy when you're facing a slew of hate based on the most trite things. No matter the topic.

                  • reply
                    June 5, 2012 6:00 PM

                    that's the beauty of how shack works. don't like the subthread, start a new subthread. You don't have to pay attention to what I or anyone else things. if you like the game, post about it and ignore the hatorz

    • reply
      June 5, 2012 1:35 PM

      wow that is bad, way worse than I expected (I mean you couldn't possibly have predicted it be any lower than this). And as mentioned, the battery is going to decay so after a year or two then what? 2-4 hours or replace the battery/controller for how much?

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      June 5, 2012 2:05 PM

      Wow that's terrible.

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      June 5, 2012 2:16 PM

      Oh fuck no :(

    • reply
      June 5, 2012 2:33 PM

      [deleted]

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      June 5, 2012 2:48 PM

      who is actually planning on buying this thing?

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        June 5, 2012 2:52 PM

        Me, I can't wait! I look forward to trying it and I hope it doesn't suck.

        • reply
          June 5, 2012 2:59 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            June 5, 2012 3:05 PM

            I have no idea if the touch screen will be gimmicky. It could be totally awesome. I also have no idea what games are coming out at release but it'll get some good ones eventually. They always do.

            I prefer to have a "wait and see" attitude rather than blowing a gasket with proclamations on a console that isn't out and has barely even been demoed yet. Also I thought the Wii was an excellent system despite its many flaws so for me Nintendos track record is still extremely strong.

        • reply
          June 5, 2012 3:35 PM

          you can try it without dropping a couple hundred for the opportunity

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        June 5, 2012 3:01 PM

        I'm leaning towards the buy column, especially if Pikmin 3 is a launch game.

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        June 5, 2012 3:08 PM

        I suspect I eventually will, but they pretty much lost a sale for 2012. It's almost a worse launch lineup than GameCube. At least GameCube had Rogue Squadron and WaveRace. Pikmin 3 is cool, but it really does nothing for me as a system seller. Same with NSMBU. Zombi U looks interesting, but I'm honestly not expecting it to be that good. Again, not a system seller.

        Not really concerned about battery life though 3hrs sucks.

        • reply
          June 5, 2012 10:57 PM

          As much as I love Nintendo's franchises, the problem with both Pikmin 3 and NSMBU is that they don't seem revolutionary towards their GC/Wii equivalents.

          So yeah, I'm not rejecting an eventual purchase, but definitely not at launch.

      • reply
        June 5, 2012 5:35 PM

        Buying it first day for Mario alone. Some of the other games look interesting also. Not NintendoLand. The other ones. :/

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        June 5, 2012 6:20 PM

        i've gotten every major console/handheld since the n64 and i haven't been disappointed yet

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        June 5, 2012 6:25 PM

        I will, though I'm far from convinced that Nintendo will pull the 3rd party support they need. But I have no doubt they will have enough exclusives to justify the purchase, even if it doesn't get the play the 360 or PS3 do overally.

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        June 5, 2012 6:37 PM

        I probably will, mainly because it's a new console.

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        June 5, 2012 7:43 PM

        First Nintendo property I have no interest in whatsoever. I'm sure I'll have one at some point, but I'm sure Nintendo's going to fuck up the launch and once again have no Mario, Zelda or Metroid title at launch.

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          June 5, 2012 7:50 PM

          I can't believe that's what they are banking on to be the Wii Sports for the WiiU in terms of impact or whatnot. I can't wait to see the software showcase tomorrow, perhaps they will show more then that will surprise me, but as it is, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... Hell I even game Home a decent go so I can at least check it out if it's packed in.

          • reply
            June 5, 2012 7:57 PM

            This is a mis-reply and I can't even find what I meant to reply to. I'll just go for my 6 mile walk now.

      • reply
        June 5, 2012 8:08 PM

        Me, it is great. Shame about the battery life though. :/

      • reply
        June 5, 2012 10:59 PM

        just saw new pikmin, so me

      • reply
        June 11, 2012 6:38 AM

        Day-one buy.

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      June 5, 2012 3:03 PM

      All the more reason to buy a pro controller for when the main one dies.

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      June 5, 2012 3:26 PM

      Have they mentioned if the screen is capacitive or resistive?

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        June 5, 2012 3:45 PM

        I don't know, but there are pros to both methods. I've heard that resistive screens are more precise.

        Now that I think about it, these are probably resistive. The stylus that comes with the tablet doesn't look conductive.

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      June 5, 2012 3:38 PM

      Oh for fuck's sake.

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      June 5, 2012 4:01 PM

      It's just like a game gear!

    • reply
      June 5, 2012 4:50 PM

      Is it a built in battery like the PS3? Or removable like the X360?

      3-5 hours seems really short.

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