For me it's really hard to define the 'hardcore' gamers. I mean is it geared towards people who play COD (or other) all day? There is no proper definition. I play Pokemon, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, and Mario among others but don't play these games aggressively. It's more every now and then, when I have the time. I don't always complete them. Thus, am I a casual gamer?

And the 3DS is by no means a failed handheld. From 2013 and onwards, we will see sales exploding with titles like Pokemon 3DS, Dragon Quest, Monster Hunter 4, Final Fantasy (Type-0 believeeeeeeee lol). The 2006-2009 years from Nintendo are coming back ladies and gentlemen. Strap yourselves in.

I will be hard, that's for sure, but if Nintendo it's smart with their marketing I think they can pull it of. Will it be at the same level as the Wii? highly doubt it, too many of those casuals have move away from the consoles and are now playing on smartphones or facebook. Luckily for Nintendo (also Sony and MS too for that matter) there are still some experiences that you will never get from those devices which are the Just Dance or Sing type games, casuals love those games so there will always be room to target the casuals with those kind of experiences.

Honestly is anyone going to miss a big bulk of them if they leave?

Goodbye, take a hike if you're only in it for $1 Angry Birds and get into a fitness craze once a year that you end up bailing out on after a month of use.

I know Nintendo's business suits may not feel the same way, but I'll take a 50 million userbase that is more active and receptive to deep game experiences (be it ZombiU or F-Zero or Fire Emblem) rather than 96 million where Sony/MS are given basically carte blanche to the entire third party/core gaming catalog sans Nintendo franchises.

I still think Nintendo TVii and Miiverse if done exceptionally well (and that's kinda the question, because 3DS online sounded really good on paper too ... the actual experience ... not so much) can draw in enough casuals.

But really I don't think it's a big deal if a chunk of the casual audience who only got into Wii because it was the hot thing for have for 2-3 years there ... if they go, so be it.

Better really, because that didn't lead to anywhere all that great, remember the E3/holiday where they focused pretty much entirely on Wii Music and a barely upgraded version of Animal Crossing? That was where Nintendo was getting too cocky with their success and sure enough Wii Music wasn't a big hit.

It will be difficult. There is a good chance most of the casuals have become engulfed in smartphones and tablets, then others might remember how they bought a Wii and realized they don't like video games.

Oh, no doubt. Nintendo has a massive ability to attract parents to purchase the system for their kids. What changed for the Wii was those same parents were buying one for themeselves even though they don't really care about games. The casual gaming market has really attracted people who otherwise stayed out of gaming all together or at least since the 8 bit era.

The Wii U is a better system for the core this time around while still having the kid's present of choice appeal in stores. I highly doubt the Wii U is going to attract as many casuals as it once did but I wouldn't doubt for a second the Wii U is going to sell 50-100 million by the time things are said and done. Substantial player for sure.

Most of the casuals they will draw will either be fans that still play the Wii (the Just Dance, fitness game crowd among them) and a few others that might be drawn by the prospect of Nintendo TVii if it is implicated well.

It will not get all of the casuals that once floated to the Wii but it can get another of them back, along with some traditional gamers.

I've seen similar threads with "hardcore"instead of casual.

Nintendo seems to lose all customers and yet misteriously they continue to sell crap loads of consoles and games.

I think many companies would like to lose customers like that.

No, I think it will struggle to find any audience beyond the usual Nintendo fans. To appeal to the existing 360/PS3 fans they would to prove existing ports are superior on the platform and also prove that online is a real focus for them. Casual gamers will become confused by the hardware, they haven't done a good enough job explaining that it's an entirely new console. The new ad barely shows the console itself, and also shows a lot of shots of people playing with Wiimotes. Nintendo Land also lacks the physical play style that non-gamers found so attractive in Wii Sports.

Bottom line is the Wii U is going to have a hard time, and I believe it will until Nintendo realizes they're aiming their ads towards the wrong audience. The product is too complicated to reach the casual audience and it will be hard to get them away from their super simple smartphone games.

After the brillance of Wii, I am confounded by WiiU. It makes no sense to me at all.

Core: If WiiU offered substancially more power than the current HD systems, or at least of handful of 'must have' exclusives, then they could win back some core gamers. WiiU has neither. Instead it has what most core gamers will consider a 'gimmick' in the gamepad. Yes, it might enhance gameplay in some games. That's not nearly enough to entice them to purchase another system to play the exact same games they have already.

Casuals: Wii offered accessible gameplay and controls. That's why it worked. The WiiU's gamepad is not accessible. It's a backwards steps in almost every concievable way. Yes it has a touch screen but to an audience now accustomed to smartphones and tablets the WiiU's offering is extremely weak. It's single touch (meaning they must use those complex controls), can only be used in the house and has no apps at all. And the games are basically the same games that were on the Wii. The only one that entices me as a casual is ESPN.

Wii offered an inventive new ways to play, to exercise and to socialize. WiiU feels like the same old thing in comparison minus the accessibilty. Must casuals who want Wii-type games I feel will just keep their Wii's. There's really no reason at all for them to upgrade.

The casuals are on apple products now. I don't think this will appeal to casuals because of the games on offer. It seems more like it is aimed at the core audience. In a sense apple holding the casuals is a good thing because the shovelware will be thrown on i-phone.