I think Nintendo is well positioned in Japan.

The Wii U's tablet screen addresses one of the big problems with home consoles -- most Japanese households only have one TV, so once that's being used, most people have opted to use DS/3DS/PSPs instead for their gaming fix.

They also seem to have deals in place for the Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest franchises and the mainline Final Fantasy series should also return to Wii U (multiplat anyway) soon.

The Western markets is where I'm more curious about. I think they'll have a good launch, but I'm a bit more skeptical of their ability to carry that momentum in those markets.

Relative to the Vita though it's not like that matters, it will squash the Vita in the West easily.

I've said end of March i will stick to that prediction

Before the end of the launch window. Vita will see a small boost during the holyday season (not significant but will make the process for the wii u to pass the vita a little longer neverless). I would say February.

Summer 2013, but it really does depend on the fact the PS vita continues to sell poorly. What's stopping the Wii U from selling badly too, it could easily sell like the 3DS in it's first year

Nothing stopping the wii u from selling badly. People are exited cause the preorders sold out, the ps3 preorders sold out first day, some say first hour. And look how that turned out. There's not a lot of console available day one, and most people ordered to resale expecting to double thier money on eBay. It took the 3ds near a year to take off, im expecting the same for wii u, along with a price cut pretty quickly when things don't skyrocket.

Longer than PSV doomsayers would like, but faster than most Sony and PSV fans would like. February 2013.

Sinobi said that Iwata said during the retailer meeting yesterday that there are going to be less Wii U units available than what people seem to be thinking. Plus the basic set is going to take up the largest portion of what will be available, despite the premium set and MH3GHD bundle seemingly having the most demand at the moment.

Sinobi is a japanese retailer that's an informer for lots of sites, including the extinct Andriasang

昨日の「Direct」で岩田氏がお話していたように「Wii U」について流通向けに説明がありました。某大手サイトに悪用されないよう台数は控えますが、皆さんが想像している以上に少ないです。予約は争奪戦になると思われますので、購入予定の方は相当覚悟しておいて下さい。

— 忍之閻魔帳 (@sinobintage) October 4, 2012

「Wii U」はベーシックセット、プレミアムセット、モンハンセットの3種類で発売されますが、ベーシックセットの配分が最も多くなるようです。当BLOGのアンケートでも大半の方がプレミアかモンハン希望でしたから、その2種類を購入予定の方は輪をかけて困難になりそうです。

— 忍之閻魔帳 (@sinobintage) October 4, 2012

By January, I can see the Wii U higher than the Vita. Sad to see a handheld sink this much.

End of the fiscal year.

This is important: define "less than people are thinking", cause I'm thining 3 mil, tops, for the holiday season.