This Is The WiiU's "Hardcore" Controller

The big new shiny thing of the WiiU is it's tablet-controller (now officially christened "The WiiU Gamepad"), which combines a traditional dual-analog button scheme with a touchscreen that can "swap out" the monitor feed if someone else want to use the TV (and probably other stuff, too.)

Beyond that, all we'd heard about the system's interface was that you can bring your old Wii Remotes and peripherals to the party, too... but now we know that's not the only option. To the surprise of... well, few who follow this sort of thing (given how open Nintendo has been about getting 3rd parties back onto the reservation being a primary goal this gen) but to the relief of many - including me - as part of their pre-E3 video tease Nintendo revealed "The WiiU Pro" - which moves the Gamepad's button-layout (sans touchscreen) onto the framework of a more standard controller:

I've gotta say it: I'm glad to see this. I'm a bigger proponent of motion controls than a lot of people in games journalism, but it's true that it's not right for every situation and it's a wise decision on Nintendo's part to make the development of WiiU versions of multiplatform AAA titles as easy as possible on 3rd party developers. Now I'm hoping that the next reveal is "one of these AND the Gamepad are solid with the console."

Having dozens of different controller-types would've been a mistake for the original Wii in terms of confusing consumers, but if the idea now is that WiiU will use this or the Gamepad as it's primary interface with Remotes "from your old Wii" as an option it makes sense.

Now, then... who do I pay to mod one of these into black/gray/beige/red NES colors?