Not bad, not bad at all. Let's hope it does perform well these weeks.

Lower than Vita launch? Doomed confirmed. xD

Now seriously, looks like a good launch - look at those PS3 launch numbers, that was atrocious. 4k copies for TTT2 is kinda sad though; guess everyone already has it on PS3.

Yeah, the success of that title SHOULD ensure that WiiU's 3rd party support in Japan will gradually get better, despite what the opening launch week says.

I think you'll see a fair bit of PS3-Wii U multi-plats in Japan for a while. It's too bad most Japanese franchises have gone down the toliet even in Japan things like Tekken, Ridge Racer, Street Fighter, Tales, Silent Hill, aren't what they used to be and Final Fantasy has declined massively too. Monster Hunter will probably always stay handheld centric. 

But Nintendo should have some ammo to make some kind of deal with a Japanese third party. 

Like I don't know which "big" third party Japanese games are even coming out for any non-3DS platform in the first half of next year. DQX on Wii U, OK, but being a MMORPG basically caps it audience. Then ... uh, Metal Gear Rising for PS3/360 I guess ... and uh .... *crickets*. 

Nintendo will as usual have to do most of the heavy lifting on Wii U until probably next fall, maybe even 2014, when better third party options are available. 

They gotta push the Mario Kart team, expand it, double the size, whatever it takes, that game they need to have it as soon as possible for all territories, but Japan especially since I think it's the next biggest Nintendo franchise that could reasonably be finished this year. Smash Bros. is probably at least another year out, and Sakurai is not going to be rushed on that. 

Yeah, this will DEFINITELY ensure that most of those titles will at least make an appearance on WiiU.

RIDGE RACER is a probability because of Namco's partnership with Nintendo.  TALES may take a while, but I'm sure we'll see it eventually despite what Hideo Baba says.  STREET FIGHTER seems a given, while SILENT HILL could go either way.  FINAL FANTASY may have lost its luster, but I still think Nintendo WiiU WILL get the franchise, especially since S-E and Nintendo are on good terms now.

MGS SHOULD be on WiiU, but that will ultimately depend on whether Konami thinks it'll be worthwhile.  It COULD happen, though.  We'll see.

"Nintendo will as usual have to do most of the heavy lifting on Wii U until probably next fall, maybe even 2014, when better third party options are available. "

Yeah, by then the WiiU will have captured a fair size of the Japanese market AND third parties will have gotten the hang of the system.  That's when we'll see the most 3rd party titles on WiiU there.

Either way, this first week sales in Japan is very promising.

It's an OK first week, it's not neccessarily "lets pop the champange" type of first week. It's decent. 

Nintendo's problem is what they're going to have for January-June of next year, they better be sitting on some pretty big games, because Pikmin and Wii Fit U is not going to cut the mustard. I think Wii Fit is going to decline massively from the original ones because it's an idea that's had its day, much like Brain Training and Nintendogs did virtually nothing for the 3DS. 

Japan is a market where if you don't have games, your sales are going to plummet and fast, the 3DS has Dragon Quest VII and Monster Hunter 4 for the first half of next year, Wii U could very quickly get lost in the 3DS' shadow if it's relying on the Raymans and Pikmins of the world to carry the load.

There's always the next Nintendo Direct.  They can announce it at any time they want.  But yes, having a 2013 line up WILL be important.  Still, I wanna give the benefit of the doubt.

"Japan is a market where if you don't have games, your sales are going to plummet and fast, the 3DS has Dragon Quest VII and Monster Hunter 4 for the first half of next year, Wii U could very quickly get lost in the 3DS' shadow if it's relying on the Raymans and Pikmins of the world to carry the load."

Which is why Nintendo will have to make sure that that doesn't happen.  Something tells me that we WILL see something eventually, though; I don't think N is going to rely just on RAYMAN and PIKMIN.  We'll just wait and see what happens.

I think they're sitting on Yoshi's Land, which is probably a 2D platformer. Reason they don't want to show it yet is because it would probably take a giant dump on any buzz Rayman has, so they're doing Ubi Soft a favour and probably won't show it until after Rayman releases (it already has to compete with Mario, which is tough enough).

So that helps a little, though how much more mileage you get from a 2D Yoshi game when you already have a 2D Mario game as the centerpiece of the system is questionable.

The problem with other stuff is I'm just not sure what other big Nintendo IP can reasonably be out anytime soon.

Smash Bros. definitely not anytime soon. Mario Kart probably is a November-December game, maybe Nintendo can really whip the horses on that and get it out by summer time.

Pikemen sold 560,000 that pretty good for Japan that is consider good.

WiiFit, Wario, Pikmin will be the launches through summer. I think you will also hear of a third party game coming (GTA maybe?) but the system is going to sell regardless. There is already enough incentive for the easy, early adopters. They will get it and play Mario Bros., NLand and ZombieU. There are millions who are going to buy it just because it's a Nintendo system. The more interesting part is one year from now and what will be released to combat new systems and keep momentum. I think you can be sure that some visually-impressive Mario game will be out (over 3 years since Galaxy 2) but what else?