Of course if there weren't any 360s available for sale since they were sold out it would kind of be difficult for it to sell rapidly.

Consider that in the second holiday season for the XBox 360, after it had launched worldwide and there was plenty of supply, it only sold 2,407,892 from November 18th 2006 to December 30th of 2006; and (unlike the Wii U) it was available in all regions from the beginning of that time period.

I think that it is highly unlikely that, even with systems being readily available, the XBox 360 could have sold better than the Wii U did at launch.

Considering that in its second holiday season there were two new competing consoles on the market, it's not surprising that the 360 didn't do as well its second holiday season as it could have its first.

Wanna bet? Something like:

Bet over 1 month sig-control: Will Nintendo release a successor (next-gen not SKU) to the WiiU until end of 2015? EdHieron says yes, I say it will be later.

Agreed?

No, this gen will last about five years.

I would make a bet that it will be annouced at E3 2016.

That would be a late announcement, if you expect them to release the successor 2015. Not much time to build hype.

No, that bad I wouldn't take, that is normal console-cycle only a year short.

Read this

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/385270/wii-u-sales-hit-600k-in-december-in-the-us-analysts/

Nintendo is trying the limited console tactic that they tried with the Wii. The demand is lower than the Wii which is why the only time you couldnt find one at launch until mid december. By late december Wii U's could be found anywhere and werent sold out. Explain how six and seven year old consoles are outselling the Wii in fourth quarter. When the Wii was out demand was still sky high through the end of the year and beyond. This is showing that Nintendo is competing for the same crowd the 360 and PS3 are dominating right now. If the casual audience was truly being sought after we wouldn't even be talking about this right now because the Wii U would've gone through the same commercialization as the Wii.

I find it hard to believe Ps3 and X box360 customers now are so-called "hardcore" gamers. Surely hardcore gamers wouldn't wait until this late in the gen to become adopters?

Twenty years has changed a lot about gaming. It used to be Sega vs Nintendo and now its Microsoft vs Sony. Win or lose Nintendo is kinda...well...just there making consoles families can enjoy. The Wii sold double what the PS3 and 360 sold but remarkably the more active gamers were not on the Wii console, in fact their percentages were nearly double that of the Wii. This means the more serious gamers are not on Nintendo consoles. I believe this also correlates with the reason most western third parties pay no mind to Nintendo.