C'mon man. If they wanted to hit the 2011 lauch window, they would have to start working on the console way before 3DS was released and entered it's slump. Plus the 3DS was saved by software and price-cut, I really can't see how this could influence the hardware development of the Wii U. The problems with 3DS couldn't have impacted the Wii U's development. Nintendo messed up because they waited far too long. Wii has been dead for a long time before we got the announcement of a Wii U and the console was released a year after that. It really beats me how they could have predicted that this console would stay alive for that long. A miscalculation that will cost them dearly in the next gen.

Are you suggesting Nintendo took their game developers to work on the Wii U's hardware? And Wii has been dead for a very long time, but it's still selling better than Wii U. This shows that even an earlier release wouldn't change a thing for the Wii. Not at this point in its lifecycle. People who buy Wii U for $350 are not the same people who buy Wii for $120.

You say Wii U has a year head-start. I say it's a year too late.

Wii U is struggling to sell more than the Vita for Christ's sake! It loses to Vita in Europe! And Vita is currently in between a fairly successful Christmas sale and a new wave of games which will hit the market fairly soon, while Wii U is still in it's launch window. It won't hit its groove until Sony and MS release their next gen consoles, which will take all the hype away from the N console. Wii U will get good games for Christmas this year, but we all know that PS4 will get Uncharted 4 from Naughty Dog and we know what that means. X-box will get its share of exclusives that gamers are interested in as well, 3rd parties will embrace these two consoles and Wii U will struggle to survive with no casuals to save the day.

This wouldn't have happened, had they released the console in 2011. The impact Wii U makes is too small to make Sony and MS pull the trigger on next gen earlier than they plan to as it stands, but it would allow Nintendo to establish the console on the market, 3rd parties would been more keen on developing for the console. Nintendo messed up, Wii U will become a console that people only play 2-3 time a year to play a 1st party game. GCN 2 - I preach that ever since they announced the console.

It will be profitable for Nintendo, but will sell the least of all 3 consoles. I plan to pick it up when it reaches the price of $150 and might I add, Wii was my first current gen system.

5 million in a year is something that Sony and MS will need years to chase? Vita sold 4 mil and many people consider it dead. It will take some time to get ahead, but it will happen fast and surely won't take years. A solid Christmas lineup will help Wii U, but I can easily see MS unleashing a hell of an ad campaign that will steal the hype from every other console in the US and in Europe Wii U pretty much doesn't exist and everyone is waiting for PS4.

It's hard to predict the sales of PS4/X-box 8 and estimate when they get ahead of Wii U, but everyone knows this will happen. It may even happen in the first year, it can easily happen in the second year (this is my bet). 3rd parties ignoring the Wii U guarantee that this will happen very, very fast.