In my opinion, there are essentially 2 sides to selling videogame consoles:
1) Providing incentive to buy the system
2) Removing barriers to buying the system
On incentives, the Wii U is an interesting mix. While the system's hardware is not bleeding edge it is a dramatic improvement over the Wii and Nintendo should be adequate to attract support from some good developers; I'm not suggesting exclusive support from the elite developers, but studios like Grasshopper Interactive and Platinum Games (smaller developers who have yet to have a massive hit) that are on smaller budgets may be happy with the hardware. The tablet controller is less groundbreaking than the Wiimote but developers already seem to have a better grasp on how to take advantage of it. But I think the most powerful incentive may be the social gaming and Miiverse; in both cases it uses people's family and friends to encourage the purchase of the Wii U.
On disincentives, while the price of the Wii U is more expensive than the Wii was, the Wii U is still being released at an affordable price; and when you consider that it still operates will people's Wiimotes and Nunchucks and people won't need to buy accessories at launch the price increase doesn't look too bad. The price could be improved and (in theory) I may be saying that it needs a price cut 6 to 12 months from now, but at the moment I don't see it as being a high barrier for (most) people.
