No, the Dreamcast was ahead of it's time. The WiiU is 5 years behind

Sega was in such dire straits that then president Isao Okawa donated $695 million of his own Sega stock back to Sega to bail it out and they still went under.  He died a few days later from a heart attack.

Nintendo has over $10 billion in cash.


Sega could only wish their Dreamcast was the Wii U.

I am not in the least worried about the Wii U, but I'm willing to take the long view. This is going to be a long generation, and almost everything about the Wii U fits into an entertainment center. In fact, between the low price and a mostly exclusive library, THE WII U NATURALLY COMPLEMENTS ANOTHER CONSOLE, RATHER THAN COMPETING WITH IT.

That's a genius niche for a long cycle.

Once the PS4 and the XBone cool off from the launches and gamers figure this out (circa 2015) the Wii U will start to sell like wildfire. Especially if it gets a price-cut and titles like Zelda and X are there.

Yes...in the way that it will offer great first party and some 3rd party software to those who own the system, a misconception that the system is SEVERELY UNDERPOWERED, and unreasonable bias to it by publishers(ahem EA) and gamers who want the company to fail or go 3rd party.

NO...it will compete well if not decent with the PS4/X1 and will prove that the capabilities of the system isn't that drastic, Nintendo is in a much better financial situation than Sega was, IP's and brand name is much stronger than Sega ever was, Sega, Capcom, UbiSoft, WarnerBros, and Activision still supports the system despite it's slow start, Madden and EA isn't as significant in the market as it was during the DreamCast days, and missing big 3rd party games will be supplemented by innovative and charming indie development that is embracing the console.

Agreed.  I personally go for Nintedo systems first and supplement it with Microsoft/Sega systems for multi-plat games.  One would be foolish to dismiss the Wii U and miss out on great software on or coming to the system ie Bayonetta2, X, Mario Kart 8, Mario 3D World, Wonderful 101,  ZombieU,  NSMBWiiU, and host of upcoming indie games on the eShop.

Actually, doing as well as the N64 is probably the goal of the Wii U at this point. The N64 at least while 2nd place by a long shot, was still second place, had a strong following in North America along with setting the stage for the explosion of local multiplayer that the Xbox would later capitalize on via Halo and other games.

The Wii U needs to develop a niche like that in order to survive, the Wii U had it for a few years in motion controls before Microsoft and Sony stepped in with their options and 3rd parties began to leave the Wii outside of PSP or lesser PS2 ports. The Wii U is starting at a disadvantage because Sony is offering conectivity with the Vita and Microsoft with certain tablets, meaning the unique edge of the Wii U gamepad won't be special for long if at all should it ever gain traction among the audience. Nintendo needs to have the games capable of building or nurturing some sort of significant market because as it is as bad as people say the N64 and GC performed the Wii U may do worst, This won't really hurt Nintendo the way the Dreamcast's failure did Sega but it is akin to Saturn where it may force a Dreamcast type mid generation rushed console.

This has been discussed several times before, including a thread of my own. Yes they are similair in many ways.

Nintendo has what Sega don't (money).

If by "the next Dreamcast" you mean 10 million sales, and absolutely smoked by competitors, absolutely not. Wii U will definitly sell closer to the Gamecube than the Wii, but it already looks on pace to easily surpass 10 million, and I really don't see the competitions performing much better with their high-priced machines, especially in a depressed economy. Also, Nintendo is in a much better financial position than Sega was, and their franchises are much more powerful.

If on the other hand, you mean it will be a highly underrated console that will have a slew of awesome games and probably won't achieve the sales it deserves, I agree :)

Nintendo just came from their most successful Generation ever. 2 Consoles within the top 4 of best selling Video Game Hardware(DS, Wii). Sega actually never made profit (except genesis).

Nintendo made always profit since 1985 (except 2012 or 2011, don't remember correctly now) What makes you think that they will end like SEGA. SEGA f****ed it up like 10 times before going under