The Wii U will be in 3rd place next gen

[VGKing]

RolStoppable said:

There are a lot of flaws in your analysis. It all starts with you subscribing to the price and gimmick hypothesis. If you know the actual reasons for the success of NIntendo consoles, you will be much more accurate in predicting success or failure.

NES and Gameboy define the Nintendo experience and it is defined by games. The farther away Nintendo goes from that, the lower their sales will be.

Nintendo is setting up the Wii U for massive failure, but we'll get a much better picture next week. Maybe they will be able to reduce the damage, but games development takes some time, so it's not possible to switch gears on a whim.

EDIT: Like amp316 correctly pointed out, Nintendo isn't doomed to third place per se, because somebody else could screw up worse.

Nintendo 64 and Gamecube had arguably the best Nintendo games of all time, yet they are the least successful Nintendo consoles from a marketshare and sales standpoint.