Nintendo compromises their consoles to cater to the part of the market which doesn't care so much about their games. The core gamers don't care if the console is bigger or obtrusive and they certainly don't really care for displaying a whole game on the side screen as a main attraction for a console. Nintendo spent a lot of money and directed a lot of their attention/effort away from areas which the core gamers appreciated. So if I was to buy a Wii U I would have to pay for their Wii backwards compatibility and their streaming/encoding system which I don't particularly care about as well as their packaging of the console into a small space with a low power consumption which I again don't care about. Had they come out with a console which was bigger, used the touch screen as a basic menu and was more powerful for the same price then I would be a lot more receptive to it.
In relationship terms it's like ignoring your best friend who is a girl that is madly in love with you because you're assuming she will always be there and going after some fickle girl who just really isn't that into you.
If the 'casual'/non core gamers aren't into the Wii U then they have produced a badly compromised system which satisfies noone. They can't give the core gamers what they want and if the casual gamers don't pick up on the Wii then they have effectively lost both. The core gamers aren't going to stick around forever and they haven't as we have seen with a lot of them moving on to other systems. The Wii was a great opportunity because the PS2 outright sucked for a lot of gamers as the controls were difficult, the frame-rates were wonky and low and the controller was a little unresponsive at times. A lot of people got the Wii because the PS2 wasn't that great for the non core gamers so the real question is whether or not these people also got burnt by the Wii. The PS3 is a lot better than the PS2 and the games are considerably better made, the same applies to the 360 so the window of opportunity there has effectively closed.
Tease.
Essay Pro