There is truth behind that. Where the matter becomes tricky, however, is that people keep looking at what makes the PS1/PS2/HD Twins as successful as they are, and deriving the wrong answers. Nintendo is not immune from this, and neither, funnily enough, are Sony and Microsoft. There is certainly a way to capture the existing market while aggressively pushing boundaries outward, but people are trapped in a manner of thinking that the two sides exist as a dichotomy. Hence the Wii U, where the idea is that you need to out-complicate the HD Twins in order to gain an edge against them.

While there is a large market for the traditional experience, most companies seem to be viewing "traditional" too narrowly, which is where the problems come in.

I completely agree with you. They are not mutually exclusive. As a manufacturer intent on being #1, both need to be fully satisfied.  As much as the WiiU controller secures that base via trad controls, as much as it extends above and beyond by acting as a trad/tablet hybrid, leading to various forms of play on one single controller device (rather than 2, which there would lead to confusion and diluted identity).  Then, to also ride the Wii wave, keeping the Wiimote backwards compatible is a stroke of genius, since people won't have to re-purchase the Wiimotes (which would lead to possibly segemented audiences), but would likely have them from their prior purchase of the brand (90M+ sold in total). A bundled wiimote would definitely help to banish any doubt at securing the userbase and 3rd party support, especially given the fact that it is now aged hardware that is probably very cheap to make. Boo at lost margin, but it's worth the risk reduction. ;)

This is true, and something I considered as well (although coming off of the Wii's success is nothing to sneeze at), but a few things to consider are the fact that Nintendo hasn't had a serious visual upgrade in console tech in over ten years (since N64 to GC), the fact that the WiiU offers a new type of controller (which is something the PS2 didn't), and that WiiU is launching first in the 8th gen, whereas the PS2 launched second (not that it mattered... poor Dreamcast).

I truly believe that with a year's head start, a $299 price and, most importantly, compelling software, WiiU has the potential to be the victor next gen IF Nintendo plays their cards right.

Great price. Hopefully I'll be able to convince all nearby PS360 users to pick this up early on :P

One can only wish. But if the way they handled Revolution post-cube was any indicator, and with the 3DS' current trend, I think we can have faith in Nintendo. Even when they do make a mistake (3DS launch price), they ensure the situation is remedied.

The things that do worry me for now and of which we are uncertain of the future of the trends are (despite their reasons of being):

• Sales of Wii Play Motion
• Zelda Skyward Sword
• Super Mario 3D Land (as good as sales are, they aren't as high as I would've liked)
• Sales of Nintendogs + Cats
• The future of the Brain Age series due to fatigue and competition of pick-up and play games from social and mobile platforms.

lol, sounds like you bought into all the next gen hype a bit prematurely.  I agree that Nextbox is definitely going to hit by late 2013, but it's gonna be really tough for Sony to launch a new console by then.  Are they going to have enough software ready in time for such a launch window, and, more importantly, will they have the massive amount of funds available ready to launch a new console in less than 2 years?  We're talking numbers in the billions for a WW launch, and Sony's financial status isn't exactly in the best of shape these days.

I'm now thinking that they will 299$/€ (yep they don't do a good change here) only if Nintendo want to put, at least in the first months, the company in danger de-pricing the console to have more sales from the start.

In any case, any price depends on the development costs of the Pad.

I think the price point will also depend on when the competition releases their new consoles. If it's a year away they will likely go for the 300-350 range all of us think, but if it's more than one year away they can go higher and drop the price later. Maybe they want to stay firm on one price during the first few years (just like the Wii) and 300 could keep people's interest.

EDIT: The WiiU (SNES) is just the evolution of the Wii (NES), that's why some people want to name it Super Wii. It has the SNES controller as the new feature, but it's somehow compatible to all the NES hardware/software. Next generation we could see another revolution.

It's releasing with something better than a HDD, a SSD.

Truer of course.

I'd buy it at that price, and I am a tough sell (for a gamer/nintendo fan).