The upcoming FIFA 13 will contain a “friends tab” on the Wii U GamePad’s touchscreen, according to producer Matt Prior. By tapping on the friends tab, a player’s friends list – from the Wii U console – will become accessible. Wii U gamers will be able to message and invite friends directly from the Wii U GamePad’s touchscreen, without being required to disrupt the television screen’s display. Prior claims that the Wii U GamePad’s messaging is “much better” than the Xbox Live’s virtual keyboard.

“A friends tab that’s always there in the front end on the [Wii U GamePad] so you can tap it, you’ve got a list of friends, the friends list from the Wii U console.”

“You can tap an invite to them, or you can tap a message to them. Obviously, touch screen messaging is much better than the 360 Live virtual keyboard where you’re moving it up and down. We really want to connect friends and allow people to game with friends as easily as possible.”