I totally agree with most people in this thread. But honestly there's a few simple things Nintendo can do to make the Wii U almost unbeatable.

1. And this is the most important, is the launch. Ever heard of first impressions? Reputations follow you and once you've made it clear what your like in the beginning, its hard to change people's minds later on. Nintendo must launch STRONG, and I mean STRONG. Launch with a true Mario successor like the 64 did. Launch with a Pikmin 3. I would say Zelda but we'd be looking at a 2013-14 launch period which is fine with me. Launch STRONG. Not only that, a worldwide launch would be greatly appreciated but its not necessary. Launch STRONG.

2. Advertise intelligently. Why is this number two? Because advertising is the backbone determining the rest of the Wii U's "fate". If people know the Wii U exists, and it appeals to the widest range of gamers, (hardcore, casual etc.) they will buy it and 3rd parties will see that and more reason for them to support. Sorry, but the reality is that the mass of gamers rely on some form of advertising so that they know it exists.

3. Consistency. If gamers have to wait 5 months to get the next great AAA game, sorry thats a bit too long for our liking. Most gamers will jump ship, that's reality. This is where third party support comes in.

4. Third party support. I don't really need to say anything here most of us know what this is.

5. Internet. Basically this will tie into making the Wii U more of a media center and all this is the butter on the popcorn. But basically, gamers nowadays like more butter on the popcorn, so Nintendo needs to make the Wii U more like a personal computer with internets and what not.

And those are the most important. Although some people people would say harddrive but thats arguable, its not a necessity.

Everything else such as price, harddrive, colors perhaps, capabilities such as video chat which is there, thats just more butter on the popcorn and will somewhat effect Wii U's performance. Anyone else agree with me?

1) Well, with Skyward Sword coming out this holiday season, I think it's safe to say there won't be one at the launch of Wii U. I think Pikmin 3 and a new Mario would be ideal for launch for first party. If they could get some big third party titles at launch, too, then they would be set.

2) Advertising is always a big thing for companies to do to sell their products. With this being a new console, they do need to advertise strong, big and smart.

3) That's something Nintendo dropped the ball on with the Wii. They had way too much space in between big name releases, and the lack of big third party support killed the chances of some people sticking around. I also think that having new IPs will help with this.

4) If they can coordinate with third parties and time their first party titles in the off periods of the big third party ones, they will do very well.

Before you make a statement like that, you have to:
A. Provide a reason why Wii was so much more successful than any previous Nintendo console in its opening months - when the main addition was Wii Sports
B. Provide explanation why the other new IP games (aside from Wii Sports) had such incredible success, selling tens of millions of copies, if people didn't really want them.

I will add to my original point. This generation Nintendo added several new Wii-based IPs and increased their userbase in the most effective way they possibly could. The userbase has increased 450% from the last generation (from 20 to 90 million users), and there was not much need to create new traditional gaming IPs because they already very obviously had existing IPs which were still very relevant today - which is not necessarily true for other gaming companies who were forced into creating new IPs. Nintendo not only held onto their existing IPs, but transformed them in a highly successful manner from their previous iterations - the easiest case is Mario Galaxy, the highest rated game this generation according to gamerankings.com - and selling nearly 10 million copies according to this site. It is NOT just the same old Nintendo.

Pretty much exactly this gen, but with better online and more 3rd party games.

Oh, and more frequent game releases. Maybe some new IP's?

But what I've seen, they're on the right road.

I am quite interested in Wii U. It would be good time to get back to Nintendo home console. I've mostly been owner of their handheld's.

So a few points as other's have mentioned: -
1) Launch price of $250 or $299 with a game (It might be more)
2) Nintendo Store with the likes of PS store and XBOX live. Heck make it like steam (One can dream)
3) Better online set up and infrastructure (Pretty much given. Parity to current PS3 atleast)
4) Nintendo FPS (I guess metroid or something new)
5) Mario GTA (Oh just kidding hehe)

Pretty much that is all for now.

A) It was more successful because the appeal of the Wii was much broader than previous generations. For the first year or so, EVERYONE wanted to get a Wii and they were impossible to find in stores. I know I had to camp out at Best Buy like 2 hours before they opened one morning whenever Brawl released. The Nintendo fans from the Gamecube era didn't exactly seem to be running to the stores to get Wii Fit, Wii Sports and the like.

B) What other new IPs, besides the Wii series of games, did Nintendo themselves release? Like I said previously, the appeal to a larger crowd made those games sell more. I don't think they would've sold as much, if there wasn't that broader market there.

Off the top off my head, I can name: (I'm including all new IPs Nintendo made this gen that have have featured on the Wii)

Wii....

Disaster: DoC

Zangeki no Reinglev

Xenoblade Chronicles

Big Brain Academy

The Last Story

Line Attack Heroes

Flingsmash

Captain Rainbow

Eco Shooter 530

Endless Ocean

Another Code

And Kensaku

Pandora's Tower

Bonsai Barber

As one can clearly see, there have been many new IPs this gen on Wii.  Anybody that denies that is just misinformed.  However, Nintendo is lacking in a high profile, high quality, so called 'hardcore' New IP that can sell millions of copies.  The closest they have is The Last Story.  I've mentione this many times on this forum, but I don't think Nintendo need more IPs, they could probably get away with less of them.  They instead, need to change their culture regarding new IPs.  Currently, many of their new IPs are low profile, low selling, not exactly critically acclaimed and not always released in PAL/US.  This is what needs to change, not the actual number of New IPs which is fine.

Zangeki no Reinglev was developed by Sandlot, a third party company.

Last Story was developed by Mistwalker, which as far as I know, is still third party.

When I meant released by Nintendo, I didn't just mean published. While those two above are exclusive and most others are made by companies that are either exclusive to Nintendo or are a part of Nintendo themselves, most of the games never came out of Japan, which is a limiting themselves.

They do need another IP to bring some fresh air to the company, a series that has the potential to sell a lot of units.

1) This is true. Unless Nintendo is hiding something -_- lets hope for the latter haha

2) Exactly

3) Yeah, hopefully it'll be different next time around.

4) Nintendo needs to go all out this time. Do whatever it takes to get exclusives and whatnot.