We know that Nintendo survived the sixth gen largely due to the success of Gameboy that had continued onto DS and finally the Wii.

Having recognized Wii as a financial success by Nintendo, I then noticed that Nintendo seemingly abandoned it and shifted their resources with heavy focus on the 3DS.

With 3DS' lower than expectations sales within six months of its release, a price cut was then put into effect for temporary boost as well as a rushed Mario game was released to further help the sales on a more steady basis until they can release more software.

E3 came and showed us more 3DS info, yet another Mario was announced. Soon after 3DS XL followed.

I interpreted the alarmingly lack of any solid Wii U news was so that 3DS can blossom and garner steady success needed to further cement it as a real viable platform.

More importantly, I believe this is defensive move on Nintendo's part should Wii U achieve only moderate success similar to Gamecube. They cannot afford to have a failing home and handheld consoles.

I expect to hear real info once 3DS XL is announced in North America and the release of NSMB2. On a smaller factor, after Gamescom as they will have a clearer picture on Sony's approach with the Vita from here on out.

“When we make some new announcement and if there is no positive initial reaction from the market, I try to think of it as a good sign because that can be interpreted as people reacting to something groundbreaking. ...if the employees were always minding themselves to do whatever the market is requiring at any moment, and if they were always focusing on something we can sell right now for the short term, it would be very limiting. We are trying to think outside the box.” - Satoru Iwata

I agree with you PSWiiTripleixty :)

I don't think the outcome of the Gamescom plays any role to Nintendos approach from here on out. This is how I think it will go from here on:

Nintendo has been very silent and secretive about information regarding Wii U because they know that the mass market (aka not us) has a very short attention span. So they are saving up as much information as possible and come september, when like u said the 3DS XL and NSMB2 are well on their way, they will start to carpet bomb the world and stuff every news channel with a flood of information to create as much buzz as possible. They want to get the level of curiosity as high as possible for when they launch the Wii U in November because curiosity is important for the blue ocean strategy to work. Nintendo will aim for the initial sell through to be as high as possible and then they want to keep this momentum going. This strategy worked well with the Wii, let's see how they fare with the Wii U.

I am not really sure of your point/stance here.

There is just no way Nintendo will repeat the failure of the Gamecube with Wii U. Also, the 3DS is doing 'OK' right now in the handheld sector and will continue to do so.

Now back to Wii U....here are several reasons it cannot sell like the Gamecube.

One, the market has expanded too wildly. As far as gaming has gone, its userbase expands with every generation. I'm not sure if one gen contracted or not, but if it did, it was before the 80s. As it stands, the home console market has a userbase of about ~230 million owners and will probably end around ~265m. Assuming Nintendo's marketshare dwindles to 23% or worse like in the Gamecube days, that still gives them 60 million consoles sold Next generation; not much different than the healthy spot the Xbox 360 is in now.

Two, they were the market leader this generation. Sure, Sony had a fall from grace from PS2 to PS3, but the Wii U will not be more than $350, and customers will still go out and purchase consoles after somewhat trusting the last Wii brand.

Three, software. If Nintendo's hardware had some Titanic crash, I would expect a new Smash Bros., NSMB, Mario Kart, and Donkey Kong created to assist sales just like they did from 2008-2010, along with a strategic price cut. In short, I expect aggressive maneuvers like with the 3DS early on.

As for the 3DS... I do not have to say much: Monster Hunter 4, New gen Pokemon, Dragon Quest XI. That is all.

Hm, are you saying that Nintendo is being stupid with the Wii U?
If so... I agree!!!

They need to get the hype up soon, because it's coming out SOON. But so far I see really nothing on it.

AND WHERE THE HECK IS THE PRICEPOINT?!

i dont get the point of your write...

I eagerly wait for Galaki opinion.

Also, in my opinion, 3DS is selling ok-good because of the DS brand, not for its own. Many games are sequels for DS games that make the handheld a success: NSMB sequel, Nintendogs sequel, Oni Training sequel and next year Friend Collection sequel.

I'm expecting 3DS sales to start to fall soon after XL release, with maybe another revision for holidays 2013 or Q1 2014. It could end with something like 90M at the end, which is good, but that's all. Maybe replaced at holiday 2015 for a very different handheld.

About the Wii U, I expect to sell very well initially, and while never will reach the peaks we saw with the Wii, its sales will be more consistent during its life.

Like Chandler said above the hype for the non-gamer masses doesn't last really long, that's probably the main reason they want to wait a little bit more, but they have to do it right, it can't be too long before launch because they will lose interest and it can't be too close from launch because not many people will even know about it, I believe mid to late September is a good date to start promoting the system

With DieAppleDie on this one, I don't know what's your point either!