In rebuttal to Michael Pachter's response that there will be weak 3rd party support on the upcoming WiiU, I decided to make a list of possibilities of franchises that we will see on the console.

Metal Gear Solid -- Plausible, since 3DS is getting a title (granted, it's a port, but still)

Castlevania -- I'd love to see this one, but who knows.  There hasn't even been a 3DS title for it.  At least not yet anyway.

Final Fantasy -- Hopefully (but needed).  Square-Enix DID express interest in bringing FF to WiiU and there's also the rumor of FFXV also being a WiiU (multiplat) title, so... it's possible.  Nintendo will need this, though, to win Japan, as well as...

Dragon Quest -- Already got.  DQX is on its way.  As well as...

Monster Hunter -- Absolutely.  MH did GREAT on Wii, it did very good on 3DS, and it'll definitely be a killer app for the WiiU.  The system really needs it to win Japan.  All three of these major IPs will have to be on the system.

Ninja Gaiden -- Already confirmed.  NG3 will be a launch title.

Resident Evil -- I'd love to see this; with the upcoming release of RE: Revelations, I'm hoping for the WiiU to get a similar title.

Rockman -- Who knows?  Capcom's actions with this franchise has been... questionable lately, so, I doubt it.

Assassin's Creed -- Already confirmed.

Tekken -- Hopefully. (Or is it already confirmed?  I'm sorry, I don't really remember.)

Street Fighter -- Needed.

Ridge Racer -- Needed. (Sorry about this)

Tales -- I'd love to see it.  But will it happen?  3DS has already got a port of TALES OF THE ABYSS, which is on its way here this year.

Star Ocean -- Up in the air.

Kingdom Hearts -- Very likely.  3DS is getting a title, and WiiU can handle high tech graphics, so why not?

Silent Hill -- Shattered Memories did solid business for a Wii Mature title, so why not?

Mana -- More of a wish than a confirmation.

Contra -- Same as above.

Grand Theft Auto -- Rumored.

That's all off the top of my head.

Oh Pachter. Will he ever learn?

I think it will depend on the direction PS4/Xbox720 go - if they aren't too much more powerful than WiiU and feature mandatory motion controls, I can see WiiU doing great with third parties because they can release games across all three platforms. If there is massive difference between WiiU and the rest, it probably won't get the ports - like it failed to do this generation, and if third parties weren't enticed enough by Wii's dominance I don't know what chance WiiU has.

All of which are very true, although at this point, I'm willing to bet the former; I really can't see Microsoft OR Sony catching up this time, especially if Nintendo is really going all out for WiiU.  They even said it was simple to port over games.  I don't see the major issue here.  Of course we don't know anything about PS4/720 so... best to take it with a grain of salt.

Do you really have needed by Ridge Racer, or is my mind playing tricks on me?

The need for third parties to tap into as many markets as they can should certainly help, this merely has to fight their natural bias against Nintendo

Do not forget Just Dance 4 and No More Heroes 3.

Tekken is not confirmed?

Sorry about the inaccuracy concerning ABYSS. I simply changed that entry to "coming to the U.S." We'll see if it does any better here (Namco said they expected about 250,000 sales; it's approximately at 180k overall counting Europe, maybe U.S. numbers will push it closer to that amount), but who knows. Considering that Namco likes to bring TALES to just about every console, WiiU is possible.

For the record, I DID enjoy Dawn of the New World, if not as much as the original. Simplified it may have been, it was still a lot of fun, and I don't regret the 74 hours I put into the game in the least.

No, not at all. Ridge Racer is no longer what it was.

OT: Other confirmed games/franchises are

+DarkSiders 2

+Aliens: Colonial Marines

+Batman: Arkham City