On my way out of Gamestop, I had to do a double-take for my brain to register that they had a Wii U in the corner. Since I'm planning on getting the system, hopefully, this holiday, I turned myself around and went back in to get a little hands-on time with Nintendo's new machine. Despite only having a Rayman Legends demo, I'm very impressed with the hardware.
The Gamepad takes some getting-used-to, but that's the case with many controllers. Both analog sticks at the top felt very natural and using the abxy buttons below the right stick was fairly hassle-free. The touch screen is large, bright, and sharp enough for playing games, while remaining extremely responsive. What makes this even better is how light the whole package is. It didn't feel much heavier than a Xbox 360 controller.
One thing I didn't like about the Gamepad was how the grips were positioned on the back side. It doesn't fit as well to my hand as the Gamecube or Wii Classic controllers do. I think this is because the grips aren't as pronounced, and that the reasoning for this is to make the abxy buttons easier to access. It's a minor tradeoff that I should be able to adapt to in the long run.
As I wrote before, Rayman Legends was the only demo available. The game displays in gorgeous HD and makes thoughtful use of the Gamepad. It's a solid demo with some platforming elements that you'll expect(run, jump, attack, etc), but it packs a lot of unique environmental interaction that makes you turn to the Gamepad, such as cutting ropes and turning giant maze wheels. Rayman moves by himself in some areas, depending on if using the Gamepad and moving at the same time are critical.
Rayman Legends is obviously built with local multiplayer in mind. Like New Super Mario Bros U, there can be several players on screen moving around while one focuses on tablet based interaction. So, grab a buddy if you want to have total control over your character. I was not able to test this feature out, but it was shown in several screenshots on the home menu.
I was hoping that New Super Mario Bros U, NintendoLand, or Pikmin would be available for demo, but there are only videos for those games. Still, Rayman was enough to give me a base idea on Nintendo's new machine. Looks like I'll be waiting in line November 17!