The longer it takes the better it will be... and it's not necessarily delayed more than a month or two. For all we know Nintendo could be planning on releasing it the second week of April... that would only be two weeks past the end of the "launch window" they previously promised.

Luigi's Mansion 2 will do really well, I would imagine.  Game has been getting a lot of attention, and that series definitely has gained a huge following since the GameCube's launch. 

I'm cautiously optimistic about Pikmin 3 sales.  I think it will do better than Pikmin 2 because that series as well has gained a lot of attention since first being on GameCube, but I wouldn't expect the game to pass 2 million until well after release...probably after being marked down as a Nintendo Selects game two or three years from now.

I honestly expect Luigi's Mansion to sell much better than Pikmin.  3DS install base advantage, coupled with all the attention as a "media darling" game, and the fact that it's been so long since the previous title.  It'll probably end up being 3DS's fourth biggest-selling first-party game overall, behind NSMB2, 3D Land and Kart 7.

Is anyone else starting to think that announcing games at E3 prematurely is a way of satisfying the Nintendo fanbase enough to STFU while Nintendo keeps on "delaying" the games while they work on it further?

I have to wait even longer for Pikmin! Disappointing, but more time to make an even more amzing game!

How does no Mario help?

There wasn't a Mario launch game so people bought Luigi's Mansion and Smash Bros. Melee at launch (thus helping Luigi's Mansions total).  Ask any GC owner that got a system at launch and I am sure that most of them own LM and SSBM.  If there was a 3D or 2D Mario game at launch then that would have eaten into LM sales.

This is standard practice in the video game industry. Not just Nintendo.

Geez, the time I have been waiting for this game. With all these games it better be the second coming of Pikmin 1, not 2!

Will give Neentendo more time to announce some other first party stuff to help justify my purchase of a Wii-U, though, which is no bad thing I suppose. I wouldn't have been able to play it at launch in March regardless.

Also new footage, awesome. Hearing the Pikmin chants again made me smile so widely :)

Oh, yes I agree. I thought you meant no Mario in the game helped it's sales (which would also be strange because Mario was in the game). 

Mario was in the game... You had to rescue him!