Lots of thoughts going around as to how much interest there is in Wii U. Well, Google Trends will tell you that combined interest for Wii + Wii U for December 2012 is already at a relative score of 70 compared to an all time peak of 100 for the wii in December 2009. This is getting reasonably close to the December 2006 Wii interest rate of 97. Interest was somewhat higher for wii in advance of it's launch, but through November and December Wii U catching up...perhaps due to the lack of promotion until just before launch. An interesting side note is that interest in Japan was well above the pre-launch wii interest. Searches skyrocketed in Dec '06 to an all-time Japan high (a score of 100) and that appears to be happening again (currently 56 through the first few days of Dec '12).
I find these stats intersting because there is a direct relationship between Google searches and purchases. Lots of people post anecdotal examples of whether the Wii U matches the Wii in terms of interst, but really it's a bunch of he said- or I think- stuff not looking at the greater picture. What we can say right now is on the web interest in Wii U worldwide seems to have been about 70% of wii pre-launch interest with that gap rapidly shrinking in the last month. Interest may soon match or exceed '06. Specifically in Japan interest is well beyond Wii interest and it hasn't launched there yet.
I think we will see sales of Wii U that match Wii worldwide. I think in Japan we may see total 3DS-like domination. I could see Wii U approaching PS2 levels in Japan.
