This makes me cry.

The thread title doesnt make sense. Again confusing marketing and advertisement.

Your thread title's 2 options are the same thing.

I think advertisement and hype generation is in the low side cause Nintendo keeps things under wraps too much software wise. I remain unconvinced the marketing is a problem. I see great advantages on it, especially for people who share a big screen TV on the living room.

I think the casual audience just isn't interested in this system.

It's not as exciting as the Wii was in 2006, and we have to remember how much things have changed since then too. In 2006, most people didn't have smartphones, touch tablets really didn't exist in the way they do now, etc.

The spending habits of this audience have just been cannibalized by the Apples and Samsungs of the world.

The other problem Nintendo really hasn't come up with a new "craze" since Wii Fit in 2007/08. Wii Music kinda fizzled and Wii Relax never even came out. Nintendo Land is the best they could come up with for the Wii U.

Just Dance has kinda come in and filled some of that void on the Wii, but why pay $350 to play that when you can just pay $30 and play it on the Wii you already have?

A game like that really doesn't make much difference whether its on Wii or Wii U.

Marketing/hype/advertising whatever only goes so far. You have to first have a product that people actually want. 

NSMWU is a heavy hitter, it's the equivalent of launching with halo 3 for 360 or GT5 for ps3. i think for a launch they had a great lineup you can't release everthing at one time.

Not just that, Iwata is clearly undermining Nintendo creativity and ability to create new IPs. Worse, he is overusing existing IPs to the point of saturation. When did we get the last significant new IP from Nintendo? Pikmin perhaps? That was before Iwata. As Nintendogs and Brain Age proved on the 3DS, those are fads, not new franchises. I mean, Nintendo was even reluctant to give Xenoblade a proper worldwide release. Japan at least got a few more experimental and more traditional games during the Wii years, while they relegated NA to casual territory. The damage Iwata caused to the Nintendo brand is considerable IMHO.  I am all for expanding the video game populace, but not at the expense of the code audience, that is just dumb. Hopefully a second back to back annual loss will get the guy out of there... 

As someone mentioned the Wii U hasn`t seen the level of advertising Wii saw. TV wise, here in Portugal, Wii U commercials ran at late hours and there was no mall tour like they did with Wii prior to launch.

Personally i think Wii U`s problems started with name and design. People still think it´s an add-on to the Wii and the system resembles too much the Wii.
The thing that is more concerning to me is not the sales of the hardware but the SW sales. It seems that only titles selling well are those not present on other consoles which kinda leads me to think that these early adopters are PS3/Xbox 360 owners and purchased the big Wii U games already (BO2, AC 3, Batman, ME 3, etc.).
For example, Scribblenauts Unlimited is very close to BO2 in sales, despite being released only in the States.
Let`s see if things will improve when the Wii U gets more games that are exclusive or released at the same time as other versions.

I think that with better advertisement and with a good release schedule things will improve.
Maybe things will become clearer after the next Nintendo Direct.

Tablet controlling isn't as appealing as motion controls, that simple.

People's gut feeling about that tablet is very different from the feeling they get from motion controls. At least my feeling is different.

Well, this has already been discussed to death the last few...months >.> Advertisements were painful to watch and the price and the games are not enough to compete with any of the three 7th generation consoles. Heck, even the 3DS is competing with it as a cheaper alternative to play Nintendo games.

^Thank you for making the thread worthwhile! :D

People are not interested. What's so revolutionary about a controller with a (subpar) touchscreen? The DS did it almost 10 years ago.

DOA, average marketing, and it's not as interesting as the Wii was. i suppose no one believed me when i said casuals wouldn't transition into the 8th gen., but that doesn't mean WiiU won't succeeded.

I think that marketing is a huge problem. Nintendo has not done a very good job of showing people consumers why they should run out and get one. In that sense it is the exact opposite of the Wii.

In the end I think that it will be a successful console, but not on the level of the Wii. Sales will pick up when it gets a bigger library and after it's predecessor is phased out.