Wii U sales are going to be ugggggly in North America for Jan-March, I predict it will drop like a rock. Expensive console, few games, no real big sellers being released post-launch, the fanbase getting restless, etc. It's going to be like the 3DS launch all over again. 

They better hope a lot of kids care enough about Lego City to spend $350 on a new console for it. 

Nintendo will be forced to price cut by summer. 

Hmm... I wasn't aware. So I shouldn't get too caught up on launch dates then, huh? :s

keep waiting for that my friend..... lol

Well they can sit there and watch their sales sink even further. 

The PS3 has God Of War, Grand Theft Auto V, BioShock Infinite, etc. coming in the first few months of next year for example. 

The Wii U ... has crap all lined up. It's going to be the same story for Nintendo ... post-launch drought with a big drop in sales. Same thing happened with the 3DS and GameCube. They don't have a Wiimote + Wii Sports craze to bail them out this time. 

Iwata will be stuck in late March apologizing to investors again for a weak post launch Wii U period and missing sales targets, making the same types of excuses (we couldn't get Nintendo TVii finished on time, not enough content, need to work more with third parties, blah, blah, blah). 

The Last Guardian is a textbook example. Nintendo has been doing this for a long time, definitely. Letting consumers know what to expect in the long-term, as well as the short-term, is a good strategy as long as a few surprises are kept under wraps.

Right about not having Wii Sports but they still have the Wiimotes.  Nintendo Land isn't as good of a system seller as Wii Sports was but it still does a decent job.   Wii U Fit is launching in the first half of 2013.  Let us see how that does with the "casuals".  If it doesn't take off then you can boast more.

The Wiimote stopped being a selling point years ago (see: Wii sales plummeting the last few years). That was once a blue ocean product, but it isn't anymore. Every platform has some variation of motion gaming nowadays being shoved down every gamer's mouth. In 2006/07 obviously the Wiimote + Wii Sports itself was such a huge attraction that it could drive sales for months on end.

Nintendo does not have this luxury this time around, they needed to make up for that by doing their homework and getting sticking to solid fundementals on selling a game console this time around -- notably releasing good content in the post-launch window. Which from the looks of things, they've managed to screw up -- again.  

How many times did we hear from Iwata that Nintendo learned their lesson from the 3DS and they wouldn't allow this to happen again with the Wii U? I like Iwata, he's a well spoken, affable guy, but when it comes to actual results behind his talk ... there's a lot to be desired. 3DS library this fall is crap too. 

If the Wii U struggles post-launch like the 3DS did, it's time for him to maybe think about stepping down IMO. He's largely squandered all the incredible momenteum Nintendo had 5-6 years ago and driven the company into large losses recently. Ken Kutaragi could do no wrong with the Playstation + PS2, but Sony dropped his ass after Playstation 3 and rightfully so. 

While I agree that sales will slow down, I wouldn't bet on a price drop that soon particularly with Wii Fit U releasing during the first half of next year.

Also, comparing WiiU's situation to 3DS' is grossly inaccurate; the 3DS had nothing in its first 6 months remotely close to the selling power of Mario or Nintendoland.

From the looks of things I don't think they screwed up.  I own Wii U but not NSMBU and that is a 2D Mario launch game.  That is huge (for Nintendo to release a 2D launch Mario).  You know what the fundamentals of selling a video game console is?  Releasing games people want.  I still believe Nintendo knows more what gamers want than Microsoft or Sony.  Compare Nintendo Wii titles to Sony and Microsoft titles.  You know what?  They can't compete.

Fundamentals as in ensuring a steady flow of strong releases for a game console. Which Nintendo themselves has said for like years now is vitally important. Yet, once again they fail to deliver on their talk. This is not that different from the 3DS launch at all, only big difference is they managed to scrape together a NSMB game (thank goodness, maybe next time they can add some new music) from the start this time. 

Post launch looks about the same, won't be long until the inevitable "wait till EAD Tokyo's Mario!" chants start I guess.

And no offense, but it's not like Nintendo has some trademark on making good games. Halo 3/4 and Uncharted 2-3 are as good/if not better than anything Nintendo released on the Wii not named Super Mario Galaxy and those platforms have far better third party support.