Well everyone knows that it's coming out 18 November 2012. Calling it now. Place your bets.

EDIT: Put Zelda HD on your confirmed list.

Why do you think that specific date?

Without guessing numbers I do want to say that because of the very large and devoted Nintendo fanbase the Wii U will definitely have a stellar launch. But I don't think all those grandparents and soccer moms are going to replace their Wii's with Wii U's. They were all the type of people that bought a Wii because of the gimmicks and they don't need anything else. They will probably be happy with the Wii's they have for the rest of their lives. That's why I think it's apparent that Nintendo is trying to charm back the core/hardcore gamers. I'm not sure if it's going to work because the Wii U is looking a lot like the next Dreamcast.

The Dreamcast was ahead of it's time and had great games. But because it hit the market early it's competitors could enter the market with more powerful machines. The Dreamcast was also all about really good first party games. Sure it had plenty of ports and 3rd party exclusives, but Sony and Microsoft hit the market with incredible 3rd party support. People skipped the Dreamcast because they were waiting for the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox. All for different reasons. People may do the same with the Wii U.

Like Sega fans, Nintendo fans go nuts for their next machine. They will wait in line and buy Wii U's in record numbers just like Sega fans did with the Dreamcast. But I'm afraid the larger portion of the consumer base will continue to play their Xbox 360s and PS3s while they wait for Xbox 720 and PS4.

Last two Nintendo home consoles have launched third Sunday of November. Plus the original DS.

Really?! Wow, Nintendo's not very secretive about launches then.

The dreamcast don't had the Nintendo games that will force many games to buy nintendo consoles.

The Wii U will be more like the PS2 and will sell millions and millions for sure.

Who knows 4-5m maybe?

Nintendo with a decent launch up (one Mario at the very least) with Wii U sports as an in-app game, a few more 3rd party games than listed, priced between $250-$300, I'm betting around 1.5M-1.8M.

Some key differences between WiiU and Dreamcast:

Nintendo is launching a new system after coming off of great success with its predecessor; Sega wasn't.

Nintendo's finances are doing great; Sega's weren't.

Nintendo's first party franchises are leagues more successful than Sega's.

Nintendo is specifically courting 3rd parties with blockbuster games, such as GTA.  Sega was specifically missing one of the biggest 3rd party games at the time, Madden, and was in fact competing directly against it with their own pigskin offering.

Nintendo's WiiU offers a new way to play with its controller; Sega's Dreamcast didn't.

Nintendo's system is backward compatible; Sega's wasn't.

And Nintendo doesn't have a clear-cut market leading competitor waiting in the wings to inevitably eclipse it like Sega did with Playstation 2.

Ryan, revive this thread after E3 and then we´ll talk!