If you think wii u has a lack of games prior to e3 is bad then how bored were you of the others when they came out? You need to look at this from a launch lineup perspective. Not a comparison of the others. If ninja gaiden, lego city undercover, monster hunter, aliens, bayonetta 2, wonderful 101 or pikmin 3 don't get you excited there is no please in you. That is a lot of stuff for the first year. Seems to me that people tend to forget how bad the first year of a console can be. And we can be pretty sure more is coming later. Think back man. Most of the games 360 and ps3 had announced didn't even surface until the second year and even way beyond that. Killzone 2 took almost 4 years to come. Gran turismo didn't come out until two years ago. And a final fantasy game that still hasn't emerged. These were all announced prior to ps3 launch.

A more valid criticism is the install.

Several reasons for this.

One, and among the most obvious would be "revenge", a lot of people are still sore after the Wii avalanche that took the market and buried the HD consoles and these doom threads are a sort of payback.

Another one is the relative justification for such threads, the overall expectations for the Wii U were fairly low and yet it has failed to meet them and it seems impossible for Nintendo to reach their fairly conservative shipment goal for the first fiscal statement. People like to cite how it beat the 360, which launched with no good software, massive hardware faults, a higher price and came off of a completely dead console with hardly any impact on the industry (from a manufacturer with no console pedigree what so ever), hardly the recipe for an obvious winner. They also go on to laud it for beating the PS3, which launched in february, a slow time of year with little to no software releases slated and at a crazy 600$ price point, it was also the very last console of the three to make an appearance, unlike the Wii U (and 360) which came first.

Another big contributor is negative press, the Wii U is riddled with smaller and bigger issues that bother the users and testers, slow loading times (really, really slow), sluggish updates, lack of implemented features from launch, poor storage solutions, few games which take into use the Gamepad in any meaningful way, lack of 3rd party commitment (old ports do not count as commitment) and exclusives, developers reporting in on a very slow processor and slow RAM etc, the list grows long and is bound to make an impact, especially with potential early adopters, which will typically be more tech savvy and more likely to read about it in the first place. It has also gotten a fair amount of flack in mainstream media. Launching unprofitable hardware is not an advantage either when you live solely off of games and gaming.

All in all, the Wii U launch has been a poor effort by Nintendo, widespread reports of stores not assigning dedicated shelf and floor space for it, people not understanding what it even is, practically no advertising for a consumer electronics product which launches at the busiest time of year, the above mentioned problems (one could almost say that they launched an unfinished product). The whole process reeks of stress and pressure. It has launched with a behemoth title and a stake in the biggest multiplat franchise of the generation (New Super Mario Bros U and Call of Duty) and has even gotten franchises like Assassin's Creed, the price is reasonably low for a launch console, it comes off of a supreme market leader and a company that has held the handheld throne since it was built, it has launched in the most favorable time of year possible and has had a good assembly line and few supply problems (unlike the 360 and Wii, for instance).

The Wii U has done okay so far, not horribly and not great but okay, all things considered. January, february and the summer months will be very telling. I wouldn't say that it is doomed but I do think that it could be in for some very early trouble. As a last note, to everyone saying; "Hah, oh yeah? Look at the Vita then! What a flop!" Resorting to that in and on itself proves that there is some trouble afoot, seeing the well and truly atrocious sales it has managed thus far.

Because the whole "Vita is doomed" thing is sooooo 2012, that's why!

There are always doom threads about new consoles, unless they sell incredibly well. The Wii U doom threads will probably continue until the Nextbox and PS4 come out, and have lower launch sales than the Wii U.

From a launch lineup perspective, both the PS3 and 360 (especially the 360) received support from virtually all major 3rd party developers. Once the PS3 and 360 released, it was clear that they absorded the focus of developers. Contrast that with the Wii U and there's quite a few games releasing on the PS360 in the next few months which still haven't been confirmed for the Wii U. I think mentioning this contrast between the Wii U's support and HD console's support is valid criticism, especially considering Nintendo stated that they are serious about attaining a healthy amount of 3rd party support.

And this is just with the PS3 and 360. If the PS3 and 360 are of a higher priority than the Wii U, then what do you think will happen with the PS4 and 720 release? The PS4 and 720 are likely to be of an even higher priority than the PS360, possibly pushing the Wii U even further down 3rd party's priority list. At the moment, it's looking like Nintendo's plan may not be accomplished.

Now of course the Wii U could turn around it receive a competitive amount of 3rd party support. But that's not how criticism works. Just because something could improve isn't enough reason to ignore criticism altogether. There's always the possibility for improve even in the most negative situations, but those situations still warrant criticism

PS3, 3DS, and Vita all got doom threads too. At least two of them got out of the woods, so doom threads are successful with 33% of their intended targets so far.

The threads make perfect sense, as somethings never change; Nintendo will always be doomed, no matter how well they are doing.

Another thing is, that the amount of "Nintendo is doomed" -threads is comparable to the consoles success. Now that Wii U isn't doing as good as it could (even as it doing better than I had expected), there aren't that many threads dooming it.

@Mummelman: Actually, PS3 was released a week before the Wii (11.11.2006, 19.11.2006).

But one thing that PS3 and 360 had it better at launch than Wii U, that would be the amount of (supposed-to-be-big-hit) games announced, and as we know, too many gamers base their purchase on the hype, instead of the substance.

People keep digging up this point and this is how I view it. You all have incredibly high expectations for these new consoles despite not knowing a thing about them and not considering what could possibly go wrong. I didn't witness much from namco at 360s front. Capcom only had two games announced and they didn't come out during the launch lineup. Ea had the typical need for speed and mediocre sports games but they didn't give 360 anything like mass effect on launch day. And its no secret that ubisoft are on board. Also, despite what certain people claimed, they are happy with the sales of zombi u.

So are people really being that hard on wii u? They have multiplats on ps3 and 360 because they are what people are currently playing. Its unlikely that it will be as different for the others as people make out. Plus, some of those big multiplats have still not been denied for wii u. People are assuming it because they haven't been announced. But what would having those multiplats on wii u really accomplish from a marketshare perspective? It would be great for me. I could get plenty of choice. Developers would get more money. But they will really be aimed at nintendo fans who want to play them. they aren't ideal for 'persuading' 360 and ps3 users to join in.

What nintendo want to do is secure more exclusive third party games. The multiplats help but unless you are like me you won't be as excited. In order to pull the wool under sony and microsoft's eyes they should steal that game in the corner while nobody is on it. Timesplitters 4 is a good example. Nobody else would publish it and crytek confirmed they are talking with nintendo. Take the chance.

As for third party support for wii u as a whole I think some of you guys are in for a rude awakening. There are things nintendo have better control over then some of you realize. There are factors concerning the others like rising development costs. Then you factor nintendo's head start. Nintendo is paying up for games themselves now. Something tells me wii u just won't have it as bad as wii did for third party support. There are more factors playing in nintendo's favor this time. I'd probably be wrong by saying third party support will be monsterous but I'd wager I'm right that it gets better support then a lot think it will. While wii u has this history of companies like take 2 or bethesda complaining not all third parties have failed on nintendo and support from those guys will be fine.

Japan first, NA one week later but not available in Europe and Oceania (Aus and NZ) (the biggest PS markets by far). Makes it kind of hard to align launches. Globally available, then, would that be a more correct term? Its almost like comparing 360 sales and then removing NA sales at launch, the figure would look drastically different. Mind you, I'm not denying that the PS3 had a dreary first year on the market, no wonder either.

Yeah, I would also like to see what a doom thread looks like.