Precisely. There are people in this world who buy and drive neon-green Peugeot's which look like flying saucers, have silly mechanical solutions and awkward spacing on the HUD and console, that doesn't mean that the product isn't unappealing in general.

The Wii U's main problem is the design and primarly the Gamepad, this is becoming more and more evident and I've held this belief since the first time I saw it in action. I feel like repeating the undying saying; "If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both", and this is what Nintendo has done, in essence, with the Wii U.

A) The Original Xbox was not a flop. For a brand new console, that was ONLY really popular in NA, selling over 20 million units was pretty damn good. That doesn't mean the console didn't suck. In my opinion it did. But it obviously did well enough to merit the 360.

B) I'm not sure where some of you folks get this, but the Gamecube did NOT cost Nintendo money. They have said in the past they made a profit on it. It's fairly well KNOWN that they made a profit. Not a HUGE profit. But they certainly didn't LOSE money. And the game sales of properties like Star Fox Adventures, Super Mario Sunshine, Wind Waker, Eternal Darkness, Wave Race, Metroid Prime, Smash Bros. Melee, Pikmin, etc. certainly made them money. YES, the hand-over-fist sales of the GBA absolutely were their major revenue source that gen. But to say that GC lost money, or that it was a failure, is false.

small44 said:
Because wii u is a home console and 3ds a handheld,all Nintendo handheld sold very well but expect wii and maybe Nintendo 64 all other Nintendo home consoles sold poorly.

Also false. The only Nintendo system that was ever a failure, sales-wise, was the ill-fated Virtual Boy. It was a risky venture for them that didn't pay off. Otherwise, the NES and SNES were astounding successes. The Game Boy line and then DS have ruled the portable universe since 1989. The N64 lost ground to the PSX, but still was a successful console. The GC struggled more than any other Nintendo home console, against the PS2 and new Xbox, but again, STILL held enough of it's own to turn a profit, and certainly wasn't a failure. So no, sorry, the idea that Nintendo portables sell great but home consoles don't is absolutely false.

Saying that ignores the fact that 3DS only had a handful of a months to wait before Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 hit the market. It also ignores the fact that the price drop happened. If the price drop had happened later down the line, and those big hit games hadn't come till later in the year, 3DS would have looked like it was "on life support" too.

Fact of the matter is, it is simply unprecedented in the history of Nintendo consoles, portable or home, for Nintendo to have managed to have, literally, what is amounting to a 6 month drought in Nintendo games for their own system, right after the console launch even. That was just poor development cylce management on their part, and they know this. Luigi's Mansion 2 and Paper Mario 4 both should have been Wii U games, and easily could have been. That would have filled the gap quite well in the first half of the year. As it is, the ONLY Nintendo published Wii U game of any sort that will have released in the first 5 months of 2013, was Lego City Stories, a game not developed by Nintendo .

THAT is why the Wii U "is on life support" sales-wise. And the only thing that is going to really cure it, is GAMES, from Nintendo. Once that happens, once 3D Mario, etc. finally drops, just like 3DS, sales will pick up. There are two specific camps of people who have yet to buy a Wii U that really come to the fore right now: those who have always planned on buying one but have been holding off for a big title to release, and then those who are still considering which, if any, of the next gen consoles they want to buy at all. The first will obviously buy Wii U when 3D Mario hits, most likely. The second might hopefully be persuaded to buy one after Nintendo shows off the goods around E3 time, and give some firm release dates.

I don't see it as the same. The 3ds is the optimal dedicated handheld device, where as WiiU's tablet is seen with mixed reception for a couch based console. The WiiU had some retailer specific price cuts and sales only had a minimal bump.

Vita and even the Wii are outselling it.....

3DS games can be made faster at cheaper cost. WiiU won't the games momentum that 3DS is enjoying.

3DS had arguably no noteworthy games after its March launch up until Mario Kart 7 late in November (unless of course one had never played OoT and SF64 before) I'd know as I bought a 3DS on launch. Its sales were never as bad as the Wii U's which is in a similar situation with its library. There have been instances where retailers have unofficially dropped the Wii U's price but to no avail. Such was not the case with the 3DS, as its first and second year library left a lot to be desired in the West, and yet following the price drop, it still sold extremely well.

Anyway like I said, its sales will pick up. It's inevitable.

What's interesting is that I started a thread in the Sales sub-forum with a poll asking whether the One will outsell the GameCube. Last I checked only 33% of people had voted 'Yes, easily'. I was quite surprised tbh.