Interesting that Ninja gaiden gets such a big spot on the box

Well the launch / holiday sales of the Wii U were never in doubt... it's the first brand new console in 6 years, it's made by Nintendo, and it's launching with a Mario game.

What is still very much up in the air however is the Wii U's ability to sustain its launch success over the long term.  The 6-12 months following launch are going to be absolutely critical for the Wii U, because with a ton of big 3rd party titles coming in 2013 which may or may not be on the Wii U, coupled with the impending launch of the next Sony and M$ consoles, could keep the core gamers away from the Wii U and kill any momentum it had, unless there's a repeate of the Wii phenomenon with the casual market, which isn't as likely this time around.

Nintendo trying to court the "hardcore" gamers. Pikmin and P-100 wouldn't really get the job done.

This was sooner than expected to me, tought this would start by the end of August. Awesome none the less!

There were some moaning fans boys; nintendo and non-nintendo ones. But it wasn't really negative for most. Skeptical maybe.

Every single article I read from any site (videogame or otherwise) was negative about the prospects of the Wii U and how Nintendo chose to execute the unveiling at the show. 

I'd say within the first 6 months their focus should primarily be on reaching that casual base. When those 6 months are over and E3 rolls around, they can discuss their plan for 'hardcore' software in the future and take away some of the excitement that is sure to come when MS and Sony reveal their new consoles in 2013. Surviving the summer months seems like the most critical time period for them, because if a Vita situation happens, you can forget about support.

I don't think we'll have to worry about a "Vita situation" with the Wii U.  No matter what happens, it's guaranteed to sell plenty of units within the first 6 months of launch since, as you correctly pointed out, Nintendo seems to be focusing the launch period on recapturing the casual market and pleasing some of the die hard Nintendo fans with games like NSMBU, Nintendo Land and Pikmin 3.

The problem I forsee is that, despite more powerful hardware than what is available on current gen consoles, many 3rd parties are still balking at bringing some of their top multiplatform games to the Wii U, instead trying to play it safe with ports.  We've got companies like Crytek who've made their bread and butter pushing current hardware limits saying they have no plans for Crysis 3 on Wii U despite developing the game on 6-7 year old consoles in the first place.  Many other big games like Far Cry 3 and Bioshock Infite which you would think benefit greatly from being on Wii U are nowhere in sight.

And then there's GTA5, arguably the most anticipated game of 2013.  If it is not announced for the Wii U, you can pretty much start putting nails in the coffin right there when it comes to core gamers.  All the criticisms of Nintendo being "kiddie" and family-oriented will come rushing back too, since there's no reason why a game like GTA5 shouldn't be released on the Wii U other than Nintendo doesn't want it to be associated with their console, or R*/Take Two still view Nintendo systems as not being part of the focus of their primary audience.

Aren't Nintendo publishing ninja gaiden 3?

Nintendo Direct incoming?