I am a fan of Nintendo but they deserve the low sales of Wii U. What were they thinking believing a touchscreen on a controller would bring back the masses for the Wii successor? Nintendo should have been bold with another revolution by going AR Glasses gaming. This is the obvious (to me) next step in moving gaming forward.

Imagine wearing the AR glasses playing a Wii tennis game where the tennis ball coming towards you 'jumps' out of the screen onto the floor of your living room and hitting the ball more realistically with the Wii remote as it approaches you? Or imagine playing a Metroid prime game where the HUD is outside of the TV screen and head tracking for with minor head movements for more accurate and quick viewing? Or imagine a Wii Fit game where the whole room is a virtual gym and your virtual trainer is standing right in front of you and you can walk around your  virtual trainer to get a better vantage point on a certain pose or exercise she is doing? Or a new Wii Boxing game where you actually dodge punches from a virtual boxer right in front of you with head movement and perhaps the AR Glasses are equipped with rumble for extra immersion so you "feel" getting "punched"?

Nintendo missed the boat by revolutionizing gaming again but played it safe and that's why the 100 million Wii owners won't come back for a second round. A touchscreen on a gamepad is not innovative, creative, fresh, nor exciting. Nintendo needs to really think outside of the box for their next console to get another stampede like at E3 2006 for the Wii. I wouldn't doubt they are considering AR glasses for their next console.

It would be something like this but with conjunction with the TV + Wii remote and nunchuck (SpaceGlasses) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7I7JuQXttw and (CastAR Augmented Reality Glasses) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c5qrOqiFt4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1YvP7CtBKU

I think a while back Miyamoto said he wanted a video game to fill a whole room. This is something that can realize his vision. It could look something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuF8wllPKcM The "prototype" is probably not real but something like that is feasible.

Too expensive? They could have just reused the Wii hardware to get it under $450. At least this hypothetical console would have sold more than Wii U.

remember Viritual Boy? Nintendo is done with that.

Trading powerful hardware for a bulky touch screen controller was a terrible error. I think they should have kept the wii mote and nunchuk as the default controller, made the hardware as powerful as possible for a $300 console without making big losses and called the console wii 2.

We have a winner here. This would have been the best option by far, and failing so badly when you already have a winning formula is the reason why I think Iwata has to go.

Hmmm not sure about the AR glasses from a technical perspective, but do agree that the tablet controller was a pretty big mistake. I'm biased though because I love things like the WM+ and the Move. I loved Sports Resort, and I loved the things that the WM+ let you do in Galaxy. I tried the tablet controller in a Game store and just thought it felt awkward and too large. Much lighter than I thought it would be though. But yeah, I miss WM+ and the nunchuck.

I agree. Iwata is a nice guy but he seems to have lost touch with Nintendo gamers, It is time to wield the axe.

Perhaps the audience that made the Wii a huge success would´ve moved on regardless of what Nintendo did, but still, they could´ve done a much better job at trying to keep it.Right after 2010 was over, the Wii was practically abandoned and remained so for two years.

It´s been said over and over that the 'casuals' have moved on to smartphones and tablets.I wonder if Nintendo had managed to do a better job during the Wii´s latter years, and made its successor a 'true' Wii successor, that audience wouldn´t have gone away completely, even in the face of smartphones and tablets.

It's two things; the name of the console, and the tablet.

They should have distanced themselves from the Wii brand. And that tablet is just god awful.

Wasnt the point of the tablet to try and bring something unique to the table? i mean not so long ago people were calling Wii "a fad" and motion controls dated. I love the gamepad but for some reason it hasnt caught on, you win some you lose some. If Nintendo keep pumping out games as high Quality as Pikmin 3 and SM3DW then the Wii U doesnt deserve to sell badly, If 2 good systems like Wii U and Vita have failed to ignite major interest where do you go from there?? In Nintendos case i think they should go all out with great first party titles like they have with 3DS and cater to their loyal fans. Also Focus on trying to bring the Wii U into profit, which im sure they are doing.

Virtual Boy was like 20 years ago and the technology today is light years beyond Virtual Boy.

I doubt most of the 100 million Wii owners would find a more powerful Wii appealing to buy. If shiny graphics was appealing to them they wouldn't have bought the Wii in the first place.

The Wii market wants novel experiences more than anything else it seems like.