my complaints are against the games that only use the gamepad. that's not to say that the games themselves are bad. i just think they do not do a great job of representing the system. when i played them i kept wondering "why the hell does this machine hook up to my tv if i'm not looking at it/using it?"
Some of those single player games shine when you're not alone in whatever room you're playing in. The fact that you often have a different perspective than whoever's watching or aiding you on the TV pushes some nice communication around single player games that suddenly turn into cooperative ones.
I think they do a great job of representing what the system is about. What this system brings to the table in the end is simply a tool that game developers can use to serve their design philosophies.
In Nintendo Land's case, my opinion is that the design philosophy is not only to bring the kind of fun you'd have in exploring and discovering different attractions in a theme park, or as Neiteio pointed out in his excellent thread, the experience of going from one booth to another in an arcade. But also to expand on this and reach out to the people who are around the person playing. For me, one of the main objectives of Nintendo Land is to reach out to what I would call "passive" people in the house (gaming wise); much like the guy that would be silently watching you while you're playing in an arcade or parents waiting for their kids to finish up a theme park attraction, and involve them too in the gaming experience. This is done through a lot of clever little things that I've pointed out previously in this thread. The most interesting feat here is that this is achieved without the need for them to ever hold a controller.
In Zombi U's case, the philosophy is completely different. I'd argue that the unique relationship between the gamepad and the TV is used in that game to immerse the player alone in - and him alone - into the environment he is playing in. This is completely the opposite of Nintendo Land's philosophy but in both cases it works great in the right setting. (People to whom this appeals to)
Other developers will just look at it in a more simple and practical way, such as using the pad for added convenience to the player and not much else. One might argue that this will be the case for the most, but all in all, even for the few games that will be built from the ground for the Wii U, It will be very interesting to see what kind of design philosophies are going to be pushed. Nintendo Land and Zombi U are pretty nice examples of what is possible and I am hoping to see more games like these.
Those of you getting fast times on donkey kong - are you watching the TV to get a wider view of your surroundings (perhaps zoomed in)? The gamepad is great for precise navigation, but doing some shortcuts you can't always see where you are going to land.
I'm always focused on the gamepad since I know the courses pretty well now. But at first, I used to glance at the TV and quickly go back to the view on the gamepad from time to time. This was often when engaging a new part of the course for the first time. Also, my girlfriend is often around when I'm playing and since she's watching on the TV with the zoomed out view, she is responsible for me finding quite a few shortcuts by alerting me to some possible ways to gain a bit of time in particular parts of the course.
This reminds me of when sometimes a teacher would make me go to the board to try and solve a problem, way back in high school. I'd get stuck in some part of it, and then I would stop, get back a little bit to get a wider view of the black board (we had those at the time
) and after a bit I'd know exactly what I should be doing and it often worked!