Sure they are ready to make the step, but how many of them are going to buy a $400+ console? And the point I stayed before still stands, big developers and publishers with high budget games will find hard to move to the next consoles with an install base of 0.

Most games at the beginning are going to be "shovelwares" with only a very few very good tittles (like usually happens with all consoles launch). Big devs aren't going to support the system until there's a big install base and that might take a while. 

Before this wan't a big deal because video games weren't as popular (so the risk was lower) and development cost weren't as ridiculously high.

games or no games, the system shouldn't be selling this bad, i mean its just came out and nobody cares, its more about brand, look at the 360 in japan it had all the games catered to japanese in the first 2 years, tons of great JPRPGS and still sold like crap, samething is happening for the wii in us and europe, the brand is a joke with gamers just like the 360 brand is in japan.

Casuals and mainstream audience - no idea. You need a surprise hit, I guess, something new altogether (like Wii Sports / Fit / Play / Party back then).

Talking about longtime Nintendo fans, I'm sure most of them are going to buy a Wii U at some point (I know I will), but launching the system without a must-have for them was a mistake :( Getting the loyal fans on board quickly would have been essential. The rest of the market is a gamble anyway.

NSMBU treads some sort of weird middle ground in that respect. It does not come across as revolutionary enough to be a must have, being the 4th instalment in a very uniform series. It's the type of game every owner is going to buy, but it doesn't make anybody buy the system.

I don't think it'll be popular as the previous ones, Wii Fit was popular thanks to the Wii, they promoted each other. WiiU is not healthy in sales.

With the Nintendo Direct this past week, I am so damn excited for the future of the Wii U.

It will be fine. Just wait until Christmas and all of this will be just a memory.

I think the transitional period when you have both the current and next generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft while be harsh on Nintendo as you say, but eventually it will only be WiiU/720/PS4 and I think the WiiU will benefit from being the cheapest current gen/1st party supported console on the market again.

Things looked pretty bad for the 3DS, too: http://www.vgchartz.com/article/85877/nine-weeks-in-3ds-sales-have-dropped-to-wonderswan-levels/

Man cannot live by core alone. They need the casuals to at least look at the system.

Yeah me too, but why can't Nintendo release one of those mouthwatering games at launch? They do it like this all the time, and I just don't get the point of it. I'm hyped now, but Wii U will be 1 year on the market when I buy one. They could have had my money right at launch.

Looking at their earlier system launches: Super Mario World, Mario 64 were games you couldn't afford to miss. Twilight Princess doesn't really count, cause it came out on GC too (that's what I played it on, only bought a Wii when Galaxy came out).

Maybe it's just me, but I'm as frustrated as I am hyped, cause all the fantastic games are still far away.