For the core there's nothing on WiiU to be excited about. Maybe ZombiiU if it gets rave reviews.

For the casuals, they are largely ignorant of WiiU but also, have largely moved onto iOS/Android and I don't see WiiU being innovative enough to pull them back.

That just leaves the Nintendo fanboys and they seem plenty hyped.

Whats strange is that there doesnt seem to be any reaction at all. At least with Wii it was getting positive and negative attention. Hell PS3 got the same thing. but with Wii u there seems to be some indifference.

I don't think there was any excitement in the air when the Xbox 360 launched.  In fact, I planned on quitting gaming because it looked like it was such a tiny leap in quality.  Yeah, there were staged events, interviews with some hardcore people that said they were getting the premium model (two models--Nintendo ripped them off!), and the commercial with the guy running along the beach screaming "I got an Xbox 360!  This is the best day of my life!" but there really was no buzz.  We were all just waiting for the PS3 or to see what kind of crazyness the Nintendo Wii (aka the Revolution at the time) would bring.

Thinking back, the only time there was really a huge buzz was when

• SNES launched:  follow up to the console that everybody associated with video games at the time
• Playstation 2 launch:  same as above
• Nintendo 64 launch:  Mario 64 blew people's minds back then.
• Wii launch:  The media was downplaying PS3 so much that it was almost a non event.  They made it seem like it was no jump over the Xbox (which didn't really have a lot of buzz when it launched, either--though it did sell out thanks to early adopters).  The Wii was just so fresh and new.

Now, that's just my recollection of things.  Somebody else may remember the time when their home town had the TurboGrax-16 launch parade.  I just know that the launch of a console isn't always something people lose their shit over.  When it does launch and people are going crazy trying to find one, that's when the excitement begins.  Don't worry about the apparent lack of exitement.  In two weeks, you will know.

not a good comparison, the 360 launched on the back of a system that wasnt really popular(xbox) but the WIi U is. but no one seems to care(outside of Ninty fans) strange

Nintendo knows that they'll sell 5M consoles without any special effort so why push more when they are already supply constrained? The real battle for hearts and minds starts in 2013 as they'll need something impressive to go up against the new generation of consoles as the bejesus will be hyped about them so above all the chatter they need to deliver product against the infinite expectations of the gaming population.

When developers start designing games to run with many gigabytes of RAM the Wii U whilst being more powerful won't look it given very few people lack the eye to see the technical details. So whilst it will run titles which cannot be done on the HD consoles it won't look any better because developers will design to higher constraints. This is the same reason why there was so much angst about the use of the Wii's performance and the perceived lack of effort by developers.

The Wii U will be another Wii because that was what it was designed to be. It'll combine a next gen interface and OS with last gen performance. What the Wii U won't be is unexpected so it cannot rely upon surprise and shock/awe to drive sales as both Sony and Microsoft will target them from day 1 as they cannot afford to ignore it. Microsoft already offers Smart-Glass before the Wii U is even on the shelves and Sony are likely thinking about designing a cheap cut down Vita as a similar control scheme to the Wii U.

The major difference between the Wii and the Wii U is that both Microsoft and Sony can affordably offer similar values to the Wii U when they couldn't do the same for the Wii. If third party developers give great support then dropping it into a PS4 or Xbox Infinity game will be easy, and if third parties don't support it then it doesn't cost them any extra effort as they are only looking to counter with entirely existing technology and not a completely new paradigm.

Just play this commercial with the music turned up a little louder.  That should totally convince anybody!

its not a bad commercial IMHO, thats just me. not the best, but ive seen worse

Nintendo is the one to blame for this lack of excitement .

Never understood Why they kept Wii U in secrecy for a whole year since E3 2011.