gdgt

The risky controller is another successful control innovation and there's a ton of promise on the horizon.

It's rooted in classic experiences, but adds weird new possibilities. Nintendo has always excelled in taking unexpected steps, and this is one of them, even if it lacks the immediate "aha" appeal of the Wii Remote, or whatever it was people saw in holding the middle of the Nintendo 64 controller.

While the new controller is unlikely to cause the stir that the original Wii Remote did, it's still a well-made product that brings a lot to the table.

It's comfortable, lighter than it looks, and mostly quite good. It also, importantly, feels like (and is) something your kid can drop, repeatedly, and keep on working.

While the GamePad is a nice little piece of kit overall, it has a critical design flaw: battery life is horrendous.

For me, using the GamePad didn't feel all that revolutionary simply because it feels like a souped-up 3DS.

There's a ways to go in terms of games that take advantage of the touchscreen, the GamePad's battery life, and we really do wish another controller was included in the box.

I haven’t been this impressed with a new interface since Nintendo put a joystick on a gamepad in 1996.

With any new console you might be wisest to give it a year, especially if you want to be able to compare it to what Sony and Microsoft have coming next. And if they don't put screens in their controllers, know right now that Nintendo will have at least that excellent advantage over them.

The 6.2-inch display is only a resistive one-touch screen, so it won’t trouble the iPad or PS Vita in tech terms, but it’s implementation that counts.

With a large display and both external and headphone-enabled sound options, it's almost like a portable game system. Almost.