There are many features that come packed in a new Wii U.  Some were ready when the Wii U initially released such as Wii U Chat.  Others like Nintendo TVii were available through console updates which arrived shortly after the console hit store shelves.  Even now there are Wii U features that have been neglected.  Near Field Communication (NFC) has been available since launch but there are no games on the market that utilize the functionality.  Last E3 Nintendo announced that two GamePads could be used with the Wii U and games supporting this will be coming sometime this year.  While the year is far from over we may see games featuring NFC before we see any games featuring the use of two GamePads.  In a recent conversation with Polygon, Shigeru Miyamoto the Senior Managing Director at Nintendo talked about Nintendo’s plans regarding dual GamePads, NFC, and future announcements.

As of right now NFC is taking priority over dual GamePads because NFC is a feature included in every GamePad rather than requiring consumers to purchase an additional GamePad.

“With NFC, that’s a feature that everyone that owns a Wii U can take advantage of […] 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.”

“With regards to the two GamePads functionality, from a gaming system standpoint we are developing games that will have that capability,” Miyamoto said. “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.”

During this same interview Miyamoto also discussed future announcements and using E3 versus Nintendo Directs to update Nintendo fans about upcoming gaming news.  Miyamoto explains that E3 holds ‘tremendous’ opportunities for game announcements but it is also better suited for people to actually get hands on time with new games.

“It used to be that we would save many of our announcements for E3 and we would announce them at the show, but what we’ve seen in the recent years is that there are a number of different ways and a number of different times when we have more opportunity to make those announcements. So I can’t today make any promises of what we’re going to do at E3, but I think, this in particular is going to be a year where we’re seeing more regular announcements from Nintendo about what’s coming and that someplace within the announcements that we’re making, hopefully we’ll have something to share about NFC.”

“But as I think Mr. Iwata has been saying lately, where we do see a tremendous value in E3 is it’s a place where people can come and they can actually get their hands on and try the software we’ve been talking about, so I think that’s what people can look forward to at E3.”