Not at all. For one, it would've cost a hell of a lot more back then. Secondly, no one seems to realize that Wii U has already launched with Nintendo's biggest franchise: 2D Mario. Something like Zelda really isn't big enough a deal to contribute significantly to the launch if even 2D Mario didn't do Wii U any good. As such, it would've failed as much as or even more than it did right now. Not to mention, 2010 in particular was a strong year for game consoles as a whole. If Wii U had launched then, the contrast between its low sales and the high Wii/HD sales would have been even more embarrassing.

What they should have done is kept the Wii alive longer. It wouldn't have been very hard and would have been much more profitable an endeavor. Sure, there was never any chance of beating PS360 combined in its later years, but the Wii could have easily held up with continuing big Nintendo games (and more Just Dance-esque third party games) and matched the HD consoles individually even last year. Then, they could launch Wii U sometime this year with a lot more brand momentum to fall back on.

yeh launching with HD Skyward Sword would have been amazing! I hope they remake Skyward Sword in HD for Wii U soon!

i was thinking more of a 2014-15 release.

I think if it didnt have the tablet controller it could released holiday 2010 at its current price and could have stolen some of the kinects thunder. DKC returns would have been wiis last system seller and super mario galaxy 2 as a launch title would have been huge. If this happened i think microsoft would have released there new console in 2012 and sony prolly would have still waited to release this year.

if they could launch at the same price and specs two years earlier? sure, why not. Of course, they couldn't do that so...

if they didnt include a tablet controller its possible and instead hyped it up as a wii with hd grachics could have countered kinect/move.

They should have supported the Wii until about now, announced the thing at this E3 with better specs and games that are actually close to being completed/games that we care about, and launched it for the 2013 holiday.

Wii U feels rushed in every sense of the word.

Imagine, a Wii U with better all around specs, Pikmin 3, Bayo 2, Wonderful 101, Rayman Legends all ready for launch+ original launch. All for roughly the same price. Nintendo screwed the pooch. It's funny to me, because they did the exact same fu**ing thing we the 3DS and they still didn't learn.

but the tablet controller is the main hook to the wii u.  Otherwise, it would just be an xbox that plays nintendo games...

No, the timing was right. The problem is Nintendo decided to sacrifice horsepower for a tablet-like controller that could have simply been released at a later point as an accessory. This is going to hurt them in the long-run as 3rd parties shift their focus to the PS4 and NextBox, while once again Nintendo is forced to mainly rely on their 1st party offerings, which are often too few and far between unfortunately.

Considering that the Xbox is currently the best selling console in North America, what's wrong with that?  That would be my ideal console... one that has the vast 3rd party library and top notch online service of the Xbox brand coupled with Nintendo's 1st party offerings.